As officials in Arlington Heights on Friday renewed their pitch to lure the Chicago Bears to the northwest suburbs, leaders in Gary, Indiana offered three potential sites to move the Bears across state lines.

Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia and other local leaders on Friday called on Illinois lawmakers to approve a "mega projects bill" that would support large-scale developments, like the Bears' development at the former Arlington Park Racetrack, which the team purchased in 2023.

The law would create clearer predictions for future property taxes on these major developments. 

"We all know when we have our own homes that you're going to be taxed a certain percentage," Tinaglia said. "Right now, the Bears don't know what that is, and it's a little bit of a scary number."

Tinaglia said, without legislation allowing the Bears the chance to negotiate their property taxes with local officials, Illinois risks losing the Bears to Indiana.

"We can't fumble this opportunity," Tinaglia said.

Tinaglia said the mega projects legislation Arlington Heights is seeking would not only allow the Bears to negotiate their property taxes, but would apply to other large-scale development projects throughout the state.

"This is not a Bears bill. This is a tool that will exist in the Illinois governmental toolbox to attract major projects across Illinois," he said.

Meantime, Indiana lawmakers have introduced legislation that would create a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to acquire land and issue bonds to finance a stadium project and enter into a 35-year lease with the Bears. The team would have the option of purchasing the stadium from the state at the end of the lease.

Officials in Gary, Indiana, on Friday launched a new website detailing plans for three separate stadium locations, on the city's West End near the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, at Buffington Harbor, and at Miller Beach, calling a potential Bears stadium "Gary's Greatest Comeback Story."

Gary released renderings of the three sites, which officials said all are ready for immediate development as a stadium.

The Bears have been oscillating between several possible sites for future stadiums, pressing Chicago politicians for a new domed home on the lakefront that would have cost $4.7 billion including $2.4 billion in public funding; purchasing the former Arlington Park property in Arlington Heights for $197 million; and even sending a letter to season ticket holders asking what they think about a move to Northwest Indiana.

Illinois lawmakers and Gov. JB Pritzker, have staunchly opposed using taxpayer dollars to help fund a new NFL stadium in Illinois, but have said they are willing to help fund infrastructure improvements such as roads and utilities that would be needed for the project..

Pritzker called the lakefront Bears stadium proposal a "nonstarter," and said public funding for a stadium would be bad for taxpayers. Illinois House Speaker Emmanuel "Chris" Welch agreed, saying on Jan. 7 that lawmakers were focused on affordability during their spring session, not a football stadium.

"I don't know anyone that has knocked on a door and [had] someone say anything about the Chicago Bears," Welch said, "and we have to stay focused on the things that people care about right now."

Bears President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Warren has said in Arlington Heights, the team is not asking for state taxpayer dollars but instead are looking for a commitment to local infrastructure like roads, utilities and site improvements, and reasonable property tax certainty.

In September, the Bears told season ticket holders in a letter that they hoped to break ground on a new domed stadium in Arlington Heights soon so they could bid to host a Super Bowl as early as 2031. They also said in that letter, officially, that their future seats would not be in the city of Chicago.

Wherever a new Bears stadium lands, the goal is to be able to host a Super Bowl, meaning it would have to be a domed facility.

"It's time to stop arm wrestling over this. This is something, if it's going to happen in Illinois, it's going to happen in Arlington Heights," Tinaglia said.

Arlington Heights officials claimed, if the stadium were to come to the village, it would come at no cost to homeowners.

The Bears declined to comment if they would view the Arlington Heights site any differently if the mega projects legislation were approved.