Expert says Illinois politics are to blame for failure to secure stadium for Chicago Bears in state

An expert blames Illinois lawmakers and "internecine political problems" for the failure to seal a deal for a new stadium within the state for the Chicago Bears.

Earlier this month, Bears executive leadership said the team's "sole focus" is on a potential move to Hammond, Indiana, where they continue to do due diligence on two potential sites for a new stadium.

Bears chief executive officer Kevin Warren said the Bears have selected two sites near Wolf Lake — one in the Lost Marsh along Calumet Avenue, the other at the Wolf Lake Terminal site. He said the two sites may be merged.

Bears chairman George McCaskey said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has already visited the Lost Marsh site. He also compared the Bears' plans with the Kansas City Chiefs' plans to move from Missouri to Kansas.

However, the executives have not ruled out other options, and Illinois state leaders continue to be in contact with the team.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said earlier this month that he believes the Bears would like to stay in Illinois, but said they haven't yet come to the legislature with a bill they want passed to address building a new stadium in Arlington Heights.

But Marc Ganis, a stadium expert with years of experience in negotiating on projects and the president and cofounder of Sportscorp Ltd., said Illinois lawmakers were to blame for holding things up

"I've got to say, I have been shocked by the dysfunction in Springfield," Ganis said. "They received everything that they asked for — a stadium with no public money on land that does not involve any relocations, any movement of any people or businesses; that the team would be contributing to it."

Ganis said the Bears only asked for property tax certainty and infrastructure work, and emphasized that property tax certainty was not a special privilege the team was requesting.

"People don't understand that property tax certainty is actually necessary. You can't get financing to build a stadium if you do not have property tax certainty," he said. "The Bears haven't done a really great job of explaining that. It's come across like it's just for their benefit when it's a threshold light switch issue."

Meanwhile, the Ganis noted that the Hammond deal still has some more hurdles to cross, including taxation and environmental work.

"That often takes time, especially for 300-plus acres — and that timeframe, that need for that time, is what's allowed Illinois to be able to play in overtime if it chooses to," he said.

But Ganis said Springfield has so far failed to do that.

The Bears announced their intention to move to Northwest Indiana after the Illinois General Assembly failed to pass legislation supporting a Bears stadium project in Arlington Heights, where the team had been expected for years to build a new stadium. Illinois legislators adjourned in June without figuring out a Bears property tax solution.

As the spring session of the Illinois General Assembly wound down at the end of May, a so-called "megaprojects bill" that would have facilitated the construction of a new stadium in Arlington Heights ended up failing. This bill would have allowed megaproject developers to freeze property tax assessments for 25 to 45 years, and rather than paying higher property tax bills that would come with rising assessments, developers would have been allowed to negotiate long-term Payments in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, with local taxing bodies.

Late on the night of Sunday, May 31, just before the official end of the spring session, Illinois state Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) introduced another bill geared toward keeping up the Bears in-state.

The legislation would allow local municipalities in Cook County with a population of more than 70,000 to set up their own stadium authorities. Arlington Heights and Chicago both meet that threshold.

The Bears would put up the cash to build the stadium but would then lease it — thus avoiding property taxes altogether.

The Illinois House of Representatives adjourned without voting on Cunningham's bill.

Ganis said there is still an opportunity to pass such a bill, but state political leaders — Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch (D-Westchester), Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), and Gov. Pritzker — must come together to agree.

"It's not for the Bears to tell them what they want. They've been doing that for two years," Ganis said. "It's for them to agree on a single bill that meets the minimum necessary parameters."

Ganis also took aim at Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, with a proposal for a new Bears stadium in Chicago having fizzled some time ago.

"The demerit I would throw at the Bears is wasting time with Mayor Brandon Johnson, who couldn't get anything done, still can't get anything done in Springfield, barely can get anything done in Chicago, and they wasted a year and a half or so on working with him," Ganis said.

Ganis also held up Illinois Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates as "arguably the most powerful figure in the state" who has a role in the machinations among state lawmakers with regard to a new Bears stadium.

Published reports noted that Gates and the CTU, as well as the Illinois Federation of Teachers, opposed the megaprojects bill for geared toward a Bears stadium on the grounds that it did not go far enough to support public schools. Again, the bill ultimately failed.

"She has enormous influence on Chris Welch, obviously she got Brandon Johnson elected mayor, and especially the Chicago delegation in the House," Ganis said. "It is amazing — I've heard her name so many times in discussions with people from down there as the most powerful person in Illinois politics."

CBS News Chicago Angle insider Pat Brady, former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, questioned Ganis' claim about the power Gates wields.

"I'm not involved in these negotiations, but I'm not sure I believe that necessarily is true. I think a lot of people in Springfield would take offense to that," Brady said. "And I think the Springfield buzz on this is more that the Bears were more at fault than anybody in this process."

CBS News Chicago Angle insider and former Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) likewise said Gates is not as powerful as Ganis claims.

"I think if that Stacy had the power that he talked about, then we would have a deal [for a Bears stadium], and we wouldn't be having these conversations now," she said.

The ongoing talk of a new Bears stadium goes back to June 2021, when the Bears made a bid for the Arlington International Racecourse property in Arlington Heights. The Bears purchased the former horserace track property in February 2023 for $197 million.

In April 2024, the Bears proposed a city stadium on Chicago's lakefront just south of Soldier Field, but Pritzker said he would not support any public funds for the project.

By September 2025, the team was back to focusing on Arlington Heights. In December 2025, a letter to fans announced that Northwest Indiana was on the table after a tiff over Illinois property taxes.

In February, Indiana lawmakers in the state House Ways and Means Committee unanimously approved an amendment to Indiana Senate Bill 27 that would pave the way for the Bears to move to Hammond. The proposal would commit up to $1 billion in public funding towards a stadium, and create a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority with the power to issue bonds, acquire land, and finance construction.

While Indiana has agreed to help finance a Bears stadium, the team plans to commit $2 billion towards the construction of the facility.