Less than 1½ years after presenting their dramatic vison for a domed stadium along Lake Michigan in Chicago’s South Loop, Chicago Bears executives have kicked off the 2025 season with the most definitive statement yet that one of the NFL’s original franchises now wants to move to the suburbs.
Hours before a season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football, Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren said in an open letter to fans posted on the team’s website that the team’s future home will be in northwest suburban Arlington Heights, Illinois.
“We are at a pivotal juncture of the Chicago Bears franchise to build a new stadium, our future home in Arlington Heights, which will require zero state money for construction,” Warren wrote in the letter to fans. “This is the year to finalize our stadium plans so we can officially bid to host a Super Bowl as soon as 2031. This is the moment to begin moving toward that future, and we want you with us.”
After appearing to change course multiple times in recent years in the search for a new stadium home, Warren made unequivocal new comments as the team tries to convince state legislators to act during a brief session in October to approve rules that would allow the Bears to negotiate property tax breaks with local municipalities and school districts. The team has said that tax breaks are needed to make the suburban project financially viable.
State officials including Gov. JB Pritzker previously balked at the Bears’ plan to finance a new stadium near Soldier Field with $900 million in public bonds for the stadium and $1.5 billion in public dollars toward infrastructure such as new roads, improved transit access, retail and other public attractions.
Pritzker’s continued resistance to public backing for a stadium led the Bears’ owners, members of the McCaskey family, to shift their focus to financing their own stadium — albeit with decades of property tax breaks to soften the cost, on the former site of the Arlington International Racecourse property.
“In evaluating options for a new stadium, the focus of the McCaskey family has been clear: build a world-class stadium that requires zero money from the state of Illinois for its construction,” Warren wrote. “We are partnering with political, labor, business, and community leaders across Illinois to develop a plan for property tax certainty and a fair contribution toward essential infrastructure that will benefit the entire community. Arlington Heights is the only site within Cook County that meets that standard. It allows us to better serve our fan base and deliver a truly transformative and elevated gameday experience.”
Long-running question
The Bears’ long-term home has been in question since the team bought the 326-acre former horseracing venue for $197.2 million in early 2023. The Bears have since demolished grandstands and other structures on the site to clear it for redevelopment.
Yet even as the team took steps to create a mixed-use development anchored by a new stadium in Arlington Heights, the team publicly waffled on which site it preferred.
During a news conference in April 2024, Warren outlined a $4.7 billion plan along the lake near Soldier Field, for the first time unveiling renderings of a dome.
One shortcoming of that plan, aside from pushback against public funding, is that the lakefront site is publicly owned. That would prevent the Bears from owning the stadium and creating a mini-city of commercial and residential buildings around the stadium, following the model of SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles.
With the Bears’ plans for the Chicago lakefront now apparently stalled, the team in recent months has been signaling a renewed focus on Arlington Heights rather than on other potential sites in the city, such as the former Michael Reese Hospital site not far from Soldier Field.
Unlike the Chicago site, the Bears have not yet shared images of an enclosed stadium in Arlington Heights. Previous renderings showing a mixed-use development on the site had placeholders where the stadium would be constructed.
City roots
Many major-league sports markets have some of their teams in suburban locations, where there is room for huge facilities such as NFL stadiums. Chicago is a rarity, with Major League Baseball’s Cubs and White Sox, the NBA’s Bulls, the NHL’s Blackhawks and Major League Soccer’s Fire all in the city.
The Bears, whose corporate offices and training facility are in north suburban Lake Forest, Illinois, have played games at Soldier Field since 1971. Before that, the Bears played at the Cubs’ Wrigley Field on the North Side.
In the Bears’ public relations push to gain support for a domed stadium in the suburbs, Warren has tried to downplay the idea of one of the NFL’s original franchises cutting ties to Chicago, where the team previously known as the Decatur Staleys moved from central Illinois in 1921.
“Moving outside of the city of Chicago is not a decision we reached easily,” Warren wrote. “This project does not represent us leaving, it represents us expanding. The Bears draw fans from all over Illinois, and over 50 percent of our season-ticket holders live within 25 miles of the Arlington Heights site.”
Warren said the development will create 56,000 construction jobs and 9,000 permanent jobs, eventually generating $256 million in annual new business and tourism impact for the state annually.
A dome would allow the Bears and the team’s owners to host the Super Bowl, NCAA basketball Final Four and other sports and entertainment events, Warren wrote.