Chicago Bears: Pritzker, Goodell meet on keeping team in Illinois

For the first time, Gov. JB Pritzker and Illinois legislative leaders met in person with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and a Chicago Bears representative — a Thursday meeting that is the latest sign that the team hasn’t given up on a possible option to keep the Bears in Illinois.

The downtown Chicago meeting follows August comments from Bears Chairman George McCaskey and President and CEO Kevin Warren that the team remained focused on building a stadium over the state line in Hammond. At that point, the two used the word “minimal” to describe ongoing communications with Illinois lawmakers over the summer.

But on Thursday, billionaire businessman Pat Ryan, who has minority ownership of the franchise, and Goodell met with Pritzker and various Democratic lawmakers, including House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside, state Sen. Bill Cunningham and state Rep. Kam Buckner. Cunningham and Buckner, both of Chicago, have been the General Assembly’s primary negotiators on the Bears stadium matter.

Notably absent were both McCaskey and Warren, who has spearheaded the stadium talks but whose dealings with Illinois lawmakers have at times left them frustrated.

In a prepared statement, the governor’s office expressed hope that Thursday’s in-person meeting with the top NFL executive in attendance means the Bears could potentially stay put in Illinois. Pritzker’s office said it “has remained in conversation with the Bears about their plans in Illinois throughout the summer,” adding that the governor was “grateful” for Thursday’s meeting.

“The Governor and General Assembly leadership were glad to participate in a productive meeting focused on keeping the Bears in Illinois and protecting taxpayers,” the statement said.

In its own statement, the NFL said it “appreciated the opportunity to meet with Governor Pritzker and legislative leaders today. Timely action is essential as the Bears work to find a long-term stadium solution for the club and their fans.”

The meeting also comes after the General Assembly was unable to advance legislation last spring that would create property tax incentives for the Bears to move to the site of the former Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights. In the meantime, the Indiana legislature passed legislation earlier this year to help incentivize a possible Bears move to the Hoosier state.

So far, Warren has said the team has focused on due diligence for two sites in Indiana that include a topographical, geological and environmental analysis of the land, as well as putting together a “capital stack” to finance the $2 billion the Bears proposed to build a new stadium and a surrounding multiuse development.

The two sites being considered in Hammond are the Lost Marsh Golf Course and the Wolf Lake Terminals. Warren has said due diligence has been completed on the Lost Marsh location and that it is viable for construction, while the process is ongoing at nearby Wolf Lake. But he also said a merger of the two sites is possible.

Pritzker and Goodell have been in regular communication about the Bears stadium negotiations since at least January, when the governor’s calendar showed he had two scheduled conversations while the commissioner was in Chicago for the Bears-Packers playoff game on Jan. 10.

During his time in Chicago for the game, Goodell joined Warren and McCaskey on a tour of the Arlington Heights site the team owns, and sites in northwest Indiana, including the one near Wolf Lake.

The governor’s calendar entries show the first conversation between the governor and Goodell was a scheduled half-hour phone call on Jan. 9, and the second was a half-hour discussion on Jan. 12. The governor’s office earlier this year declined to comment on how the conversations went or what was said.

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The two exchanged messages again in February after the Bears surprised Pritzker and Illinois lawmakers with a public statement praising a rival proposal from the Indiana legislature, and they have continued exchanging texts throughout the year, according to messages the Tribune obtained through public records requests.

“Four days left in session,” Pritzker wrote in a text to Goodell just before 5 a.m. May 28, updating him on the status of talks in Springfield. “Senate is hard at work. Not much to report that the media hasn’t.”

Lawmakers went into overtime but adjourned their spring session June 1 without sending a proposal to the governor’s desk to help keep the team in Illinois.

Pritzker and Goodell communicated throughout the summer, records show, with the commissioner reaching out by text in late June, mid-August and late September to check the governor’s availability to speak by phone.

Ryan, meanwhile, appears to have entered the conversation in August, joining a call between Deputy Gov. Andy Manar, Pritzker’s point man in the negotiations, and Bears Chief Operating Officer Karen Murphy, the team’s lead on the stadium project, according to emails the Tribune obtained through a public records request.

About an hour before their Aug. 20 call, Murphy emailed Manar’s assistant to inform the governor’s office that Ryan would be joining the conversation, records show.

The developments follow years of action — and inaction — by the Bears and lawmakers since 2023, when the team bought the Arlington racecourse property for a little over $197 million. Legislation has struggled in the General Assembly since, partly because Chicago lawmakers are reluctant to help the franchise leave the city.

In 2024, the Bears unveiled a multibillion-dollar plan for an enclosed stadium just south of Soldier Field, their home since 1971, along with lakefront improvements. When that plan fizzled, the team refocused on Arlington Heights and pressed lawmakers to pass a measure allowing the team’s property tax assessments to be frozen for 25 to 45 years in exchange for payments to local taxing bodies.

That proposal passed the House in April but lacked the votes in the Senate. A month later, in the final hours of the spring session, the Senate instead passed its own bill allowing Cook County cities with more than 70,000 residents, most notably Arlington Heights and Chicago, to create stadium finance authorities. This would have let the Bears build on land that is or would become publicly owned, sparing the stadium from property taxes.

The House declined to take up the bill before adjourning, saying members needed more time to evaluate it. In the meantime, Warren and McCaskey announced the team’s focus on a new stadium in Indiana.

On Thursday, Arlington Heights officials said they were “encouraged” by the meeting.

“The village has remained engaged with stakeholders at the state level over the past several months regarding the future home of the Chicago Bears,” Mayor Jim Tinaglia said in a statement. “We welcome continued progress toward keeping the Bears in Illinois and continue to believe that Arlington Heights offers the best opportunity for the Bears to build a state-of-the-art stadium and entertainment district.”

Ryan’s participation in Thursday’s meeting came a day before Northwestern University opens its new, roughly $875 million football stadium in Evanston, largely funded by the Ryan family.

It remains unclear whether the General Assembly will take up more Bears stadium legislation this year. Lawmakers are scheduled to meet in Springfield for three days next month and three more in the first week of December before their two-year term ends in early January.

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The Tribune’s Brad Biggs contributed.