Oh No!!!
It's the Indiana Bears....
The Bears’ board of directors met Thursday and decided to move forward with their plans to build a stadium in Indiana, positioning the team to play its home games out of state for the first time in its 106-year history.
The Bears’ Friday announcement to “advance our stadium development project in Hammond” tips the scales significantly toward Indiana — but falls well short of eliminating Illinois from contention.
The precise stadium site in Hammond depends on which permutations of the Wolf Lake property the Bears choose. The Bears have a long list of boxes to check, too, ranging from environmental reports to traffic surveys to financial agreements.
A league source cautioned the announcement didn’t eliminate Arlington Heights as an option, were the state to find a way to give the Bears property tax certainty on the 326-acre plot they own. In fact, the source said, there was “still a lot of ballgame left to play” for Illinois lawmakers. It’s unclear whether waiting until the Senate and House reconvene this fall would be too late for the Bears, though. The team considers Arlington Heights — not Chicago — the only viable choice in Cook County.
So this is yet another ploy in a long series of ploys over tax breaks and such.
There's still a long way to go, but voters are getting a bit fed up with all the posturing. We are having a hard time finding anyone who actually cares as most season ticket holders already live in the suburbs and would like nothing more than to skip the downtown trip.
Labels: sports
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
89 Comments:
The Bears are staying in Illinois. Our fine principled politicians just want a bit more from them complete the deal.
What the county needs to do NOW is reassess the Arlington Park property the Bears own at a ridiculously high rate. Maybe the Bears are moving but they still own that land. The franchise has a ton of money. They are good for it. Good luck trying to offload the property with the new higher tax. They might just have to give it away for a write-off… or maybe reconsider the folly of their ways.
Once they leave Chicago I’m never voting for the bums again!
So tired of this blm bears story.
Just GO already and take all your kneeling followers with you!
Most leaders offered bloviating comments. Darren Bailey and Blago's comments were very succinct.
The hell with the bears
The Bears are worth 8.9 billion dollars. They can pay for their own stadium.
Our pension is only 17% funded. Watch how our politicians will give the Bears billions in handouts while we get $0.00 for our pension.
Surprised there's no protest by someone in the NFL over Indiana new must cooperate with ICE laws
Rich company playing to get more money and tax breaks, politicians acting like they know what their doing..
Taxpayers eventually get the donkey
Congratulations Indiana
I hope the bears win the superbowl in their new home
After all the BS around pro "football" why anyone would give a rats ass about any of these "teams"?
Screw these owners and players/crooks.
College sports is headed same way with the new hell I'll make enough $$$ in college and not have to obey the pro rules.
and how many more days, weeks, months and years are we gonna hear about where the bears are moving to? those multi-multi-millionaire's keep crying about how they only want to go to where they can save the most of their money and take the most of the taxpayer's money
This is all bullshit, bears know that BJ is an imbecile who is in way over his head. Zero comprehension of basic economics or business management. Bears will play this game until the imbeciles, BJ and Pritzker, both realize that this will destroy any chance for a future political career for them. Once they do, they will give the bears everything they want and more. Even BJ will have to give up on the back door pay to play demands.
Upscale, ticket holding Bear fans are largely centered in the north burbs. The HQ is in Lake Forest. Nobody wants to drive 100 miles round trip through Shitcago to nasty ass Hammond. It’ll be Arlington Heights. Nobody wants to pay suburban school property taxes. They’ll get some sort of a deal.
This is a great way to negotiate. The bears will get what they want and the state will fold.
Right going to bears game is not good. Crime and crap parking.
So tired of listening to this bullshit already..Get the Fuck Out!! No one cares...thr Bears only play 7 season games in Chicago..so what money does a 5 Billion dollar franchise bring to Chicago?? They want tax breaks and charge ridiculous ticket prices.GTFO!
They might find Jimmy Hoffa if they start digging around Wolf Lake.
The soil contamination in Hammond is thru the roof, if it’s gonna be Indiana it will be Gary.
But the libtards say MANY MANY Bears fans stay downtown for the night after the game............................... I seriously doubt that.....................
I am sure Illinois democratic legislators will fall for the Bears bluff and give them all the taxpayers money.
99.9 on the internet betting site.
As a protest to the move of the beloved Chicago Bears, I'm sure all season ticket holders in Chicago will give them up as soon as possible. Yeah, right! As a 61-year-old lifelong Chicago resident, I'm still waiting for my free tickets. Even a food or beverage voucher from Levy Restaurants or the Wirtz Family would be nice, for all the contracts the city council has given them.
You do realize they are paying for their own stadium right?
The Bears are worth $9 billion & if the rotten to the core grifting criminals known as the McCaskeys put the team up for sale, they would get about $12 billion in a bidding war from crazed billionaires who would want to own one of the two most historic NFL franchises.
So they could walk into any bank & say how much they needed to build a stadium & the bank would lend it to them in a second, with the team's value as collateral.
But since they are without a doubt the cheapest, most money grubbing family in the Midwest, they want want us taxpayers to pay for their palace.
So let them go to Indiana & force the dummies in Lake & Porter counties see their sales tax go to 10% from 7% & the tax on food go from zero to 3%, with a 50% increase in their real estate taxes to pay for this football Palace of Versailles!
I & most others don't want our tax money going for this, it never works out.
Oh & the Indiana deal is, the Bears get to buy the stadium from Indiana after 40 years for exactly ONE DOLLAR!
But I can guarantee you, they will demand a total reconstruction of it after 20 years, because that's what every other greedy as hell team owner has done everywhere else!
look at all of the empty stadiums with nobody playimg with their balls
I concur … no one cares.
How about Arlington Park being a "Welcoming Center". State Rep D Mark Walker said it out loud in 2024:
https://www.arlingtoncardinal.com/2024/03/are-politicians-prioritizing-migrant-welcome-centers-affordable-housing-for-arlington-park-property-instead-of-chicago-bears-stadium/
Greed driven AH Teachers are another part of the problem
Wake up old man. The schedule hasn’t been 14 games since the 70’s.
The pension is now 26% funded, but the rationale of how the accountants get at that number is flawed. You’re probably right with 17%, but that is not the published number.
No one grows tomato’s in Gary either. The dirt is bad there too.
Soldier field will be renamed Wildings Park and the yutes will have a place to go and act like fools
All this as Crook County informed me the reassessment on my home just went up 23 percent. I'm paying as much in property taxes as I paid in Mortgage.
All this as Crook County informed me the reassessment on my home just went up 23 percent. I'm paying as much in property taxes as I paid in Mortgage.
I don't know about Hoffa but it certainly will change a lot of missing person cases.......
Sounds like the Illinois politicians are too inept to figure out how to fix this. They are so preoccupied with "fighting the oligarchy" bullshit that nothing can get done. They are gone.
Fuck pritzker fuck Illinois and fuck the bears. No reason to be in this state ever again
9 NFL teams that don’t play in the city they’re named for. Two the Giants and Jets play in New Jersey. Let the Bears go to Indiana, it wont make any difference, fans will still drive there. The construction of the new stadium will still be done primarily by people from Illinois anyway.
Actually, a lot of of them do.
Disagree the bears are the ones that want a little more. They will also get it from the state. The bears are by far better negotiators. This is how negotiations are done.
Don’t live in Chicago and don’t care.
Once they see the Bears leaving the Sox will get there new stadium. City and state will pay for it.
Not happening. Let them go they bring nothing and they have sucked for years, except last year when they got lucky
Oh that will hurt them
It’s 8 home games a year. Who cares
Who cares about a few north suburbs residents. Dont want to inconvience them 2 Sundays a month for 4 months the season ticket holder leave early to tailgate. There has been a lock on season ticket holders. Leave there is a mile long list of people who have been waiting for years.
That's all it took? Forget the high crime, high taxes and stupid, corrupt politicians. It's a sports team that will make you think twice about voting for democrats? You're a clown like the rest of the voters.
That’s BS If they can drive from Soldiers Field to the hotels they can drive home. Most of their home games start at noon and end before 4PM
Keep saying that. The Bears won’t be the first NFL teams to change cities and became successful
It is difficult to raise taxes on an unimproved property. The Bears knew that when they tore down the Arlington race track and structures. Its kind of like Pritzker taking the toilets out of his mansion in Chicago.
On another note thanks to all the CPD officers for making this a safe event!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVF_hTMVLrM
Totally agree, the dragging out of this story is approaching “maryland dad” length of nausea. FUCK the bears/nfl !!
I think it is a good time to buy property around the Gary Indiana airport. That is all.
Lots of moneyed douche bags do that. It’s also quite common for moneyed suburban libs to own condos downtown that they use on the weekends. Avoid DUI while “enjoying all Chicago has to offer”. Like them or not, they do contribute $$$. Better them than me………
Heard they are considering Cairo, Illinois after they offered them tax breaks and parking meter revenue.
If the Bears are smart buisness owners they will settle in Indiana. Dealing with Fatso and BJ the clown is just an exercise in futility. They are both bullshitters and egomaniacs. It's hard to do buisness with that type. It is becoming more clear as well that the Bears are waiting for one or both of these fools to open up the taxpayers purses. In that scario, it is like three sharks circling each other looking for weaknesses. The taxpayer is being used as chum here. We are tired of the drama. Go to Indiana already.
Who Cares. Fund our Pensions already
the bears aren't leaving IL. They might not even be leaving Chicago. They are just playing the state of IL for all they can take and using the chumps in IN as live bait. I wish they would go. So tired of the media drama with this crap.
Will the new stadium have a “shot spotter” installed inside?
The Bradley sisters might be there also.
https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/family-holds-out-hope-sisters-tionda-diamond-bradley-20-years-n1273617
Well said!
The REAL WELFARE recipients ....Corporations
Indiana gives : cheaper land, easier approvals, lower taxes, less political chaos, more space, better infrastructure, they build it with Chicago labor
Illinois gives: delays, political messaging,high taxes, uncertainty, no urgency.
NY Giants and Jets both play in New Jersey same distance wolf lake is from Chicago. Fans will drive that without any thought spend the same money pay the same prices they would pay in Illinois and the Bears make more money. They are stupid if they don't go. They will sell Arlington Hts to some developer and make money on that too.
They've been doing this easily for YEARS! The Bears I guess, have patience.
Take your kneeling a-hole and even the Sox with you. As the old song goes "Indiana Wants Me."
Go kneel in indiana
who gives a fuck.
I hope they don't mess with the Wolf Lake Yacht Club.
next Mayor of Chicago May 2027 will invite another NFL team to play in the Historic Soldier Field Stadium . F the Bears
Don't let the door hit you in the ass
It’s just a tax break it’s tax certainty. Would you leave the UNK tax levy in the hands of the fucking scum Illinois politicians? Hell no.
With no guarantees once it’s built the scum have the bears by the balls for 50 years.
I can’t believe the nfl can’t get involved and make this deal work and placate the outfit or whatever connected group that has its hand out that not being filled.
I agree. Why anyone would care about a group of anti-American thugs is a mystery. Fuck the NFL, especially the Bears.
The sharks in Springfield want their end. No Zort No Bears. Simple as that.
It's a well known scam millionaire sports team owners demanding tax breaks and subsidies to build stadiums on the taxpayers dime. Promising supposed benefits to the city that as often is the case never come to fruition as well as threatening to move the team to get their way.
It's sort of ridiculous especially when you consider the ticket/food prices they charge local residents to go see a game at a stadium their tax dollars paid for. Don't forget the city also has to provide police service crowd control sanitation clean up the mess afterwards.
I hope they don’t get rid of my trailer park!!
9:05:35…….I certainly don’t care about Bears ticket holders. Just a fact their freight paying fans are on the north shore. Hegwisch and Clearing Bears fans aren’t in the same league.
But, but, but they're the Pride & Joy of Illinois!
You do realize you’re wrong right? Indiana will give the Bears over $1 billion of taxpayer money to pay for the construction of the stadium in Hammond. In addition this mediocre multi-billion dollar sports team will not pay taxes for 40 years! What a middle-finger to all the Indiana citizens and small-business owners. Let the BLM Bears go dangle.
Picture the traffic on a late Sunday afternoon with all the Michigan retreaters coming home.
how much do the bears generate for the city ??
Nothing to steal or no one to rob/torment. No midnight basket ball. Neighbors are more fun for the jus funnin crowd
they bring a lot of revenue in to this state / city.. we can't keep bleeding businesses . our pensions will evaporate eventually.
Winner! Teacher unions have all the assholes paying through the nose to live in places like AH.
I think they're going to stay at Soldier Field. Like it or not.
Of course this is a mess…. That is the definition of Chicago and the entire state of Illinois as a whole. Who ran the state for 40 years? Where is he right now? Prison.
Anyone who does business in the city and state will by proxy be a part of that mess. The city and state has dug itself in a huge political and financial hole they refuse to be accountable for. The Bears fiasco is just an effect of what has become the reality. It will get worse before it recovers. Because that is how the voters respond.
When you elect an activist as mayor and. an out of touch billionaire as governor, this is the result. Especially, after 40 years of running the finances into the ground. It’s not complicated.
But, at least we have a Police Department who recognizes their implicit bias when dealing with the criminal elements.
I’m laughing after moving several hundred miles from all that bullshit.
You sound like a liberal! People can decide what they watch & support! That decision has not impact on your life. How about everyone do the best for self & not what the next dumbass wants them to do! Grow up clown
8 games a year doesn’t bring in much money. Especially for a just a group of season ticket holders people will still watch on tv and go to bars and restaurants to watch making up the revenue
We are still paying for the Sox. Thompson gave them a great deal even guanteeing them money if attendance was low look up the agreement with the state. Once again the taxpayer got screwed
No way
The Bears should just make up their mind and move on. Too much deama
The City of Chicago earns an estimated $1 million to $1.2 million in direct taxes and fees per home game. This revenue is generated through the city's 9% amusement tax on tickets, which applies to all in-person sporting events, and a share of parking and concession revenues.While individual game contributions are roughly $1 million, the broader financial breakdown reveals the following regarding the Chicago Bears and city revenues:Annual Stadium Lease: The team pays the Chicago Park District roughly $6.5 million to $7 million annually in rent .Gameday Operations: The Chicago Bears keep the vast majority of direct gameday profits, including primary ticket sales, merchandising, and premium seating.Debt Burden: Though the city brings in game-day taxes, Chicago taxpayers still carry roughly $356 million in debt from prior Soldier Field renovations, which is slowly paid off using dedicated hotel taxes
Idiot Brandon and Jumbo Pritzker will immediately spun it that the year long revenue from the upcoming Obama Cooling Center will triple anything that those Fall/early-winter only Chicago Bears brought in. Tourists will be ‘flying in, dining, renting hotel rooms and spending tons of cash to visit the temple of Barry.’
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