Bears Contacted Chicago About Potential Lakefront Return: Report

CHICAGO — As a bill aimed at keeping the Bears in Illinois appears to stall in Springfield, Mayor Brandon Johnson is still trying to engineer a late-game comeback for Chicago’s lakefront proposal.

Johnson, who traveled to Springfield earlier this month to lobby lawmakers to keep the team in Chicago, may have helped stall the megaproject bill just short of the goal line.

According to Illinois State Sen. Bill Cunningham, a Democrat who has represented the 18th District since 2013, the Bears contacted the city in late April about a hypothetical return to discussions over a lakefront stadium if the Arlington Heights proposal does not move forward.

Cunningham told NBC Chicago this week that recent outreach between the Bears and the city may have strengthened opposition to HB910, legislation designed to help move the team to Arlington Heights instead of Indiana.

“One of the problems that we’ve run into is that some of the outreach the Bears have done to the city of Chicago as late as four weeks ago has breathed new life into the mayor’s opposition to the bill,” Cunningham told the outlet. “We learned that there was contact between the Bears and the city sometime in late April when they talked hypothetically about looking back at the lakefront if the Arlington Heights site did not work out.”

While Cunningham tied the recent outreach to growing opposition in Springfield, the Bears have not publicly commented on whether the discussions affected negotiations over the megaproject bill.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed Tuesday in Orlando that the Bears are now focused on two “viable” stadium sites — one in Illinois and one in Indiana — and said the team provided league owners with an update during league meetings, according to talkSport.

“There was a specific update on the Bears with respect to the two sites that they are evaluating that are viable in the Bears’ mind and others, in ours,” Goodell said.

Goodell also stressed urgency in resolving the issue, echoing comments he made earlier this spring that the Bears “need to find a solution” relatively soon.

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Gov. JB Pritzker, meanwhile, said Monday that only the Arlington Heights and Hammond, Indiana, sites remain under consideration and criticized Johnson for not presenting a viable plan to keep the Bears in Chicago.

"We're three years in now and he still has no plan," Pritzker told reporters Monday. "The Bears have said publicly, and I believe they said last Friday again, that they now only have two options and that's the state of Indiana or Arlington Heights."

In April, ESPN reported league sources viewed two Chicago options — one near Soldier Field and another at the former Michael Reese Hospital site in Bronzeville — as “not feasible.” Johnson pushed back at the time and continues to do so.

"Well, I mean, the best thing to do for Soldier Field is to make sure the Bears are playing there," Johnson said May 5 at City Hall when asked about the future of the NFL's oldest stadium. "Look, I still firmly believe that the best place for the Bears to play is in the city of Chicago."

In April 2024, Johnson and the Bears announced plans for a publicly owned domed stadium adjacent to Soldier Field on the Museum Campus lakefront.

At the time, the stadium project carried a reported $3.2 billion price tag, with the broader development expected to cost roughly $4.6 billion.

The Bears said they would privately invest more than $2 billion into the project, which team officials said would cover more than 70 percent of construction costs.

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Last month, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed Senate Bill 27 into law after it passed the Indiana Legislature. The measure allows the state to commit up to $1 billion toward a proposed stadium project in Hammond.

In response, the Illinois House passed an amended version of HB910 on April 22. The bill would allow megaprojects involving investments of at least $500 million to negotiate freezes on property tax assessments. The legislation is now under consideration in the Senate.

The Bears purchased the former Arlington International Racecourse property for $197.2 million in 2023 and later demolished the racetrack as part of plans for a proposed $5 billion domed stadium development.

Illinois’ current legislative session is scheduled to conclude May 31, with many saying Indiana could gain the upper hand if lawmakers fail to pass the bill by then.