By WMBD TV
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Republican Gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey was in Peoria Monday, criticizing Gov. JB Pritzker and Democratic state lawmakers for being unable to pass a bill to build a new Chicago Bears stadium.
The NFL team, who’s been in Chicago since 1921, made a move to potentially build a stadium in Hammond, Indiana, after years of state lawmakers putting off funding for a new Bears stadium in Arlington Heights.
House lawmakers, to keep the Bears in Illinois, passed a measure earlier this year to give tax incentives for the Bears to build in Arlington Heights, but it stalled in the Senate. The Senate tried its own proposal, potentially giving the Bears a full waiver on property taxes, but their last-minute play failed to make moves in the House.
So now Illinois is without a deal for the Chicago Bears, while Indiana is offering $1 billion in incentives for the Bears to cross state lines. Former state Senator Bailey said this has been a disaster.
“This is going to be a bad deal for Pritzker if we lose the Bears,” the Southern Illinois Republican said. “Why are we in this situation? Why does Indiana have $1 billion to offer that Illinois doesn’t? And that answer simple. Pritzker has wasted money for seven years.”
Bailey, who lost to Pritzker in the 2022 gubernatorial election, said if he had won that election, he would have used the federal COVID-19 relief funds to help the Bears build a new stadium.
“He had stared a gift horse in the mouth with all of the COVID money that came in, just billions of dollars since 2020. And he wasted it, he wasted all of it,” he said. “We would have been in a situation, I believe, where Indiana wouldn’t even have thought to come over and make the offer.”
Pritzker was in Springfield on Monday after the state legislature successfully passed its fiscal year 2027 budget. He took questions from reporters, with most journalists asking what’s next for the Chicago Bears.
Pritzker said he would be sad to see the Chicago Bears potentially become the Hammond Bears, and he’s worked hard to stop that reality. He said, however, that it shouldn’t come off the backs of working families.
“The reality is I wasn’t willing to give up billions of dollars of taxpayer money in order to give it to a billionaire-owned team,” he said. “As much of an emotional connection as many of us have to the Bears and to keeping them in the city of Chicago or in the state of Illinois. Number one principle is we’re not going to put this on the taxpayers of the state of Illinois.”
The NFL team bought the old racecourse at Arlington Heights for over $192 million back in 2023.
Chicago Bears spokespeople said they need a new stadium, as their current one, Soldier Field, as one of the oldest stadiums in the nation, does not have the modern amenities and infrastructure found at other stadiums.
“The Bears could say, look, Indiana’s a much lower tax state, they really want us, they were able to get things done quickly. We’re going to go there. That stadium would only be 20 to 30 minutes away from the current one. But it’s still leaving Illinois,” state Sen. Li Arellano said.
After this development, the NFL team has yet to indicate where they will build their stadium. Earlier in the year, they said they’d make a decision in the coming months.
WMBD TV was first to report this story. You can read the original story online at CIProud.com.
