The Bears — one of the National Football League’s charter franchises — unveiled plans for a new stadium project on the lakefront partly funded by the public that would give the team a facilit…
Renderings of a new lakefront stadium were released by the Chicago Bears on April 24, 2024. Renderings of a new lakefront stadium were released by the Chicago Bears on April 24, 2024. Renderings of a new lakefront stadium were released by the Chicago Bears on April 24, 2024. Renderings of a new lakefront stadium were released by the Chicago Bears on April 24, 2024. April 24, 2024 at 1:56 p.m.
The Bears would commit more than $2 billion into what she called one of the biggest private investments into a public facility in Illinois history. All of the team’s investment would pay for 72% of the stadium itself, with a Chicago hotel tax helping fund the rest plus all the infrastructure costs.The proposal includes 14 acres of athletic fields and recreational park space, with restrooms for the public.
There will be a project labor agreement and a stadium oversight committee to keep the project accountable, Warren said. As for the Bears’ plans, “I remain skeptical about this proposal, and I wonder whether it’s a good deal for the taxpayers,” Pritzker said. “There are a lot of priorities that the state has, and I’m not sure that this is among the highest priorities for taxpayers.”
Fans wait for the start of the Bears first quarter against the Seattle Seahawks at Soldier Field on Sept. 17, 2018. Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles fans arrive, Jan. 6, 2019 for an NFC Wild Card playoff game at Soldier Field. Bears quarterback Justin Fields runs in the end zone for a touchdown against the Lions at Soldier Field on Nov. 13, 2022.Fans walk past a sign during the Bears NFL draft party at Soldier Field on April 29, 2022.
Fans make their way into Soldier Field before the Chicago Fire play the FC Cincinnati on June 23, 2021. Fans walk through the concourse before the Chicago Bears play the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field on Oct. 17 2021. Fans watch as players take the field before the Chicago Bears play the first quarter against the Houston Texans at Soldier Field on Sept. 25, 2022.
Sources said the Bears’ plan calls for the debt to be repaid without raising the 2% hotel tax that currently goes to ISFA. The nonprofit Friends of the Parks opposes building a stadium for a privately owned team on the lakefront. The group successfully drove “Star Wars” creator George Lucas away from plans to build a movie art museum on the same site, now used for parking lots.
“Everybody wants to keep the teams — the question is, on what terms?” he said. “There’s not a lot of information necessary to say one of these actually is viable, or whether it’s a way to take us to the cleaners when we’re already carrying hundreds of millions of dollars of debt for the last time we did something like this.”
Sports economist J.C. Bradbury, voicing a common concern among economists, said whatever public money is earmarked for the stadium would be better spent on other public projects, or returned to taxpayers.
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