Team president Kevin Warren has spent months making a determined push to build a new lakefront stadium for the Chicago Bears south of Soldier Field. The plan was for it to be established on the Museum Campus, driven by a massive private investment. It sounded great on paper. The problem is it immediately ran into opposition from several local groups, especially Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and his state legislature. They have zero interest in using public money to help fund what would be a ludicrously expensive gloried vanity project.
Since then, there has been no movement on talks. With 2024 coming to a close, it appears Warren has elected to shift gears. Rather than keep banging their heads against the wall, the Bears have discussed a different downtown option. Justin Laurence of Chicago Business revealed the details.
The Chicago Bears are calling an audible after their push to land a deal in Springfield to finance a new domed stadium south of Soldier Field appears to have stalled out.
After publicly labeling the former Michael Reese hospital site as unsuitable for the new venue, the team is said to be reconsidering the 49-acre property south of McCormick Place in hopes of jump-starting discussions with politicians to keep the team in Chicago, according to sources familiar with the talks.
The advantages of this move are straightforward.
Building on the Michael Reese campus would demand less public money and fill an area of downtown land that has been vacant for several years. Putting a stadium there might finally bring back tourists to the area, driving up revenue for the local businesses. Jim Reynolds of Loop Capital is getting credit for swaying Warren on the idea.
The financial structure for a Michael Reese campus is not known, but the Bears understand a larger private investment is needed and may hope planting the stadium on a long-vacant South Side development could gain more political support, especially among the Chicago delegation in the state capitol…
…Loop Capital CEO Jim Reynolds is said to have played an instrumental role in convincing Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren to take a second look at the site and has emerged as a broker between the team, politicians and the developers.
The advantages don’t end there.
Since the plot of land isn’t owned by the Chicago Park District, it won’t result in a battle with local advocacy groups, particularly Friends Of The Parks. For years, they have put up the strongest resistance to building anything along the lakefront. Word is they are much more open to the Michael Reese idea.
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Despite the team’s initial reluctance, there are advantages the Michael Reese site has over the Museum Campus, including that it could avoid a fight with Friends of the Parks, a park advocacy group that has threatened a lawsuit to prevent a new stadium south of Soldier Field on land owned by the Chicago Park District.
Friends of the Parks joined local politicians, including Robinson, earlier this year in calling for the Bears to consider the Michael Reese site.
The Chicago Bears have finally accepted reality.
It was clear from the jump that a lakefront venue just south of Soldier Field would never get off the ground. Pritzker had his heels dug in and made it clear there would be no discussing the matter unless the Bears planned to fund the entire project themselves. Warren had hoped with some discussions, the two sides might reach a compromise. That hasn’t happened. Remember, the Bears president made it clear his goal is to have shovels in the ground by next year. If things kept going at this pace, he would’ve had to move that deadline back. That isn’t something he seems prepared to do.
Moving to Michael Reese feels like a viable compromise. It’s still downtown, close to the lakefront, not currently in use or protected by rights activists, and is still plenty big enough to build a sprawling, revenue-generating property. The biggest hurdle remains the same, though. Can the Chicago Bears bring Pritzker to the negotiating table with a proposal he would accept? It appears this might be their best shot.
I think the Arlington Heights property would be more spectacular! More space allows them to be creative in the use of the property and getting out of the downtown area means better traffic control.
More garbage from Warren. He’s dead set on building in Chicago. It’s simply because he thinks it will benefit the minority community in Chicago. He hates the rich white suburbs and doesn’t want them to get the benefits in AH.
Fans should immediately oppose any and all plans for a new stadium. Why? Because that’s essentially the only thing that would pressure ownership to sell the team. Ownership of a sports franchise is the ultimate real estate grift for the billionaire class: They get to steal public funds to build out a private property that they will own and monetize for a generation. Dwindling ticket and merch sales don’t really have the same impact. TV rights get handled by the league. To hit ownership where it really hurts, you need to nix their stadium plans. The McCaskeys absolutely will not… Read more »
Okay I have words. Either Kevin Warren is the most badass 3D chess playing negotiator there ever was and driving down Arlington Heights, or he is just fundamentally wrong in his core belief system and understanding. I believe he’s just fundamentally flawed. He has no love affair with Chicago after all, he’s new and doing it for his salary. I actually wish Ted Phillips was still in charge. Ted would already have a Casino built and the stadium would be the 100th floor of it. Is Kevin Warren really this broke-ass stupid to pound the table for a claustrophobic crime-ridden… Read more »
Really? There’s a reason that land “has been vacant for several years.” Duh.