Bears say Chicago stadium options exhausted, Arlington Heights now likely home

The Bears have told Chicago they have "exhausted every opportunity to stay in Chicago," narrowing their stadium search to Arlington Heights and Hammond and setting up a fight over who would pay for one of the NFL’s most expensive public-money plays. The team says there is "not a viable site in the city," even as Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson tries to keep the suburban plan from advancing.

Arlington Heights is the clear front-runner. The Bears bought 326 acres at the former Arlington International Racecourse site in February 2023 and now say they plan to build a fixed-roof stadium there. The franchise says it has committed more than $2 billion toward the development and believes more than half of season-ticket holders live within 25 miles of the site. On its stadium site, the team projects more than 56,000 construction job years, more than 9,000 permanent jobs, about $60 million in new annual tax revenue and roughly $10 billion in economic impact during construction.

The public financing fight is still the obstacle. Kevin Warren has said the Bears’ design is complete and that the team has been meeting weekly with Arlington Heights officials, but the project still depends on an Illinois "mega-projects" bill that would open the door to negotiations over property-tax assessments. That bill faces a crucial May 31 deadline in the Illinois legislature’s spring session. Johnson has argued that lawmakers should not grant a major tax break to a professional sports team valued at nearly $9 billion, and the Chicago Sun-Times reported that his opposition has already cost the bill support. Concerns also remain about traffic, property-tax impacts under a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes structure and Johnson’s friction with Gov. JB Pritzker over where the stadium should go.

The team’s timeline shows how long this leverage campaign has been building. In April 2024, the Bears unveiled a lakefront museum-campus stadium plan south of Soldier Field. By April 4, 2025, Warren said the team’s focus had returned to both downtown Chicago and Arlington Heights. In September 2025, he said the franchise had thoroughly evaluated other Chicago sites and found none viable, while also saying the Bears wanted to finalize stadium plans in 2025 so they could bid to host a Super Bowl as soon as 2031.

League pressure is rising too. ESPN reported that the NFL’s stadium committee held a virtual meeting with Bears brass during the week of April 27, with the team’s stadium plans the only agenda item. The committee includes owners Mark Wilf, Art Rooney II and Amy Adams Strunk, along with NFL executives, and Commissioner Roger Goodell has urged the Bears to reach a decision "relatively soon." The franchise says a late spring or early summer decision is the goal, and the next home could hinge on whether Illinois lawmakers are willing to write the rules that make it possible.