The Chicago Bears are tearing down the former Arlington Park horse track, even while conspicuously eyeing possible moves to places other than Arlington Heights. Naperville, Waukegan or even Soldier Field may be in the running as the Bears’ long-term future home — or so the team would like us to think.
Northwestern University has no such options for its stadium quest. Evanston’s Big Ten school wants to transform its Ryan Field football stadium into a multipurpose venue that would offer football games, plus a regular schedule of concerts.
The university’s biggest benefactors, Pat and Shirley Ryan, have offered to cover a large chunk of the construction cost as part of a landmark $480 million gift to the school. With the Ryan pledge for a stadium rebuild in the Northwestern kitty, that makes Northwestern a highly motivated developer.
What these two proposed projects most have in common is their reliance on local governments to make them happen. And what the local governments need to keep in mind is that they, not their would-be coliseum constructors, have the controlling seat in negotiations.
Northwestern and the Bears have little bargaining power. Evanston is Northwestern’s only viable rebuild option: It couldn’t hope to recruit top Big Ten football talent with an off-campus gridiron. And that big Ryan pledge puts momentum behind the project that makes it unthinkable Northwestern would walk away.
The Bears, meanwhile, plunked down $197 million to buy a 326-acre Arlington Heights site that includes the former racetrack. The football franchise can paw the ground and snort, using Naperville or Waukegan as stalking horses, but nothing the Bears say or do should propel Arlington Heights into offering enticements that make no economic sense.
So what should Evanston and Arlington Heights do in each situation? Make the most of it.
Neighbors around Ryan Field are hoping a not-in-my-backyard campaign will prevent the project from moving forward. That’s wishful thinking. The suburb has amusement taxes to gain, and Northwestern has a habit of getting its way with the Evanston City Council.
But Evanston has leverage and reasonably could require a binding community benefits agreement with the university to build in some direct benefit for neighbors affected by the new stadium.
Now is the time for Evanston to push forward on securing a payment in lieu of taxes from Northwestern too.
Northwestern, as a nonprofit institution, is exempt from real estate taxes and has resisted any talk of a pilot program. But Harvard University, Yale University, Dartmouth College and other elite schools have worked out deals with their local taxing authorities. Harvard made a $4.4 million pilot payment to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the 2021-22 school year, according to the city, and Boston for years has obtained similar amounts.
Northwestern in 2015 began paying $1 million annually toward services and minor construction projects in Evanston as part of a five-year “Good Neighbor” initiative. Large grants have continued since, for projects deemed to advance racial equity.
But such grant-making comes and goes at Northwestern’s discretion — increased, decreased or abandoned at will. A binding pilot program would put the city in charge and obtain far more for Evanston residents. Boston’s pilot sets payments at 25% of what universities and other nonprofits would pay if their property were taxed at market rates.
Northwestern owns some of Evanston’s most valuable lakefront acreage and neighborhood tracts too. And the city can use Cambridge; Hanover, New Hampshire; and New Haven, Connecticut, as models for what it can achieve from Northwestern, leveraging the university’s desire to rebuild Ryan Field and stage profitable concerts, as an opportunity to persuade the college to finally pay its fair share.
There has been talk of a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal for the Bears’ development in Arlington Heights too. In this case, the suburb should be very wary.
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A pilot in this case would allow the Bears and partners in the expected mixed-use development to negotiate their taxes rather than just pay based on assessed valuation. But why should Arlington Heights negotiate against itself with these for-profit investors?
A more common inducement, in the form of a standard tax increment financing district, also has been discussed.
Neither is needed. The Bears have put down their money already. The McCaskey family that controls the team likely does not have the resources — much less the expertise — to put additional capital at risk for an alternative project in Naperville or Waukegan. They’re not going anywhere but Arlington Heights.
The fact that demolition has begun is a sure tell. And the economics of the unique former racetrack site, and its multiuse development potential, likely cannot be matched by the other suitors.
This is a once-in-forever chance for the McCaskeys. Finally, the NFL’s only remaining mom-and-pop franchise has a shot at joining the club of billionaire owners that the modern-day NFL has become. Arlington Heights should see that the McCaskeys won’t miss that chance — not for Naperville, not for Waukegan, not for anywhere else.
Tax breaks can have their place in making economic development happen. In these two cases, Evanston and Arlington Heights should make the most of their opportunities — just as Northwestern and the Bears absolutely intend to do.
David Greising is president and CEO of the Better Government Association.
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