Chicago isn’t ready to let the Bears leave for the suburbs just yet.
Despite the Bears repeatedly making it clear that they want to build their own stadium, likely on a plot of land bigger than anything available in the city, the team and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson released a joint statement today saying they are continuing to discuss the Bears’ future home.
“We continued our productive discussion this week that began in early June,” the statement said. “We plan to have regular dialogue with each other, and across our respective staffs, as we work together to meet the needs of the citizens of Chicago and Bears fans.”
The city would like to keep the Bears at Soldier Field, where they have played for half a century, but Soldier Field is old, small and antiquated, and the Bears won’t stay without significant renovations.
The Bears appeared poised to move to Arlington Heights, where the team purchased a racetrack and began tearing it down so they could build a stadium. But when the county tax assessor said a new stadium would entail a property tax bill far higher than the Bears were anticipating, the team said it was no longer sure it would build the stadium.
Other Chicago suburbs including Naperville, Aurora, Waukegan and Richton Park have expressed interest in becoming the new home of the Bears.
