As the Lightfoot administration and the Chicago Bears figure out whether the team will leave, it’s worth revisiting what the area in and around the historic lakefront stadium could look like if it is stripped of its longtime, highest-profile tenant.
Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears, in Chicago on Sept. 29, 2021. The Chicago Bears have signed a purchase agreement for Arlington International Racecourse, a move that takes the team a step closer toward securing property for a new stadium and leaving their longtime home at Soldier Field.
Friends of the Parks Executive Director Juanita Irizarry served on a 2022 panel Lightfoot created to figure out what a modernized Museum Campus could look like with or without the Bears.If the team leaves Soldier Field, Irizarry said she hopes the stadium can host many more concerts each year, easing the increasingly controversial burden on neighborhood parks for big musical events such as Riot Fest in Douglass Park and the recently announced Re:SET festival in Riis Park.
A Chicago Bears fan takes a selfie while standing in the rain before a game between the Bears and the San Francisco 49ers at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sept. 11, 2022.parcel could actually make it easier for the city to try to work a deal for them to stay, while the Lightfoot administration prepares for a potentially Bears-less future.
“I think really now that they’ve seen the other side of the fence, and the grass is greener, I think they’re really going to pursue Arlington Heights and this is not really being used as a bargaining chip,” Cobb said. “I think they see a way to have multiple revenue streams for themselves, where they didn’t before and I think that’s what’s really driving this whole decision.”
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