The Chicago Bears said they are moving forward with plans to build their new football stadium in Indiana, the biggest step to date in the out-of-state flirtation by one of the NFL’s charter franchises.
The statement is the most definitive so far by the Bears regarding a potential move across state lines into Hammond, Indiana, the city bordering Chicago on the southeast.
“Yesterday, the Chicago Bears Board of Directors met and voted to advance our stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana, with the exact site to be selected,” team Chairman George McCaskey and President and CEO Kevin Warren said.
They added that “we believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city. It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.”
The statement follows an aggressive push in recent months by Indiana lawmakers to lure the team to a project heavily backed by state taxpayer subsidies. It follows the failure of efforts by Illinois lawmakers to support a new venue by approving legislation to provide “tax certainty” over property levies as well as other rule changes.
It is the latest move in a long and twisting search by the Bears to build a domed stadium to replace the team’s longtime home at Soldier Field along Lake Michigan in Chicago’s South Loop. Any indication is followed closely in the commercial real estate industry because professional sports stadiums draw crowds that can visit nearby restaurants and other retail businesses.
Changing plans
At various times in recent years, the team has issued definitive declarations that its sole focus was on a new stadium near Soldier Field or on a site that the team already owns in suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois.
The team has increasingly expressed frustration with the lack of progress on potential public backing of the project from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and other state officials.
Friday’s announcement regarding the Indiana focus is not binding, and it remains to be seen whether more changes are in store.
Warren said in December that the Bears were expanding their geographic search for a stadium site because “our efforts have been met with no legislative partnership” in Illinois.
Indiana’s efforts to land the team ramped up in February, when a committee of the state's House of Representatives voted to create a new stadium authority to help finance and build a new stadium complex in an area called Wolf Lake. The swampy area is along Interstate 90 and the state line with Illinois, close to a major oil refinery.
If such a move were to happen, it would dramatically alter the legacy of McCaskey, the grandson of team founder George Halas. Halas moved the NFL team to Chicago from Decatur in central Illinois in 1921.
The Bears’ focus on Indiana follows the recent announcement that another NFL team, the Kansas City Chiefs, will move to Kansas from Missouri in a taxpayer-backed deal.
The Bears have played home games at Soldier Field since 1971. The team’s lease in the city-owned stadium ends in 2033.
Property investment
In 2023, the Bears paid more than $197 million for the 326-acre former Arlington International Racecourse property in the northwest suburbs, a site that the team at previous junctures had said was its primary focus for a stadium.
But in 2024, the team unveiled plans for a new stadium near Soldier Field, saying that site was its preference.
By fall 2025, Warren had pivoted again, announcing a focus on the team’s “future home in Arlington Heights” in an open letter to fans.
Most recently, the Bears had said they were focused on either Arlington Heights, pending new state legislation, or Hammond.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson recently asserted that the team also has remained in talks to remain in the city, which the Bears have publicly denied. Crain’s Chicago Business recently reported that city and team officials had at least six calls and virtual meetings in April.
As the Bears’ stadium saga has played out, Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire, the team that shares Soldier Field with the Bears, broke ground in March on a 25,000-seat stadium along the Chicago River in the South Loop.
Owners of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks broke ground this week on a $7 billion mixed-use development around the United Center arena that those two teams share on the Near West Side.
Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox, meanwhile, are exploring options for a new ballpark that include going next to or near the Fire venue along the river in the South Loop.