What to know about the Chicago Bears’ possible move from Soldier Field to suburban Arlington Heights

The Chicago Bears embarked on a new era in February 2023 with the purchase of a site in Arlington Heights where the team hopes to build a new enclosed stadium with a massive entertainment and residential development.

In April 2024, the team laid out elaborate plans for a new publicly owned domed stadium, but now, the storied NFL franchise’s sights are focused on the northwest suburbs.

Here’s what to know about the long road to a new stadium.

The latest development

The Bears released an economic impact report that included architectural renderings of the proposed stadium in Arlington Heights on Sept. 30, 2025. (MANICA Architecture)

Construction of a new Chicago Bears stadium in Arlington Heights would generate thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity, but would also require substantial taxpayer support for infrastructure, according to team projections released on Sept. 30.

Infrastructure such as entrance and exit ramps from near Route 53 and changes to the adjacent Metra train line would cost $855 million in public funds, the team’s consultant estimated in its report. The report attempts to assuage concerns about the price tag by pointing to gross state tax revenues of almost $1.3 billion over 40 years, according to projections from HR&A Advisors, Inc.

Kevin Warren all but shuts the door on Chicago Bears staying in city in letter to fans

Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren looks around Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London before the start of a game between the Chicago Bears and the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 13, 2024. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

The Bears all but slammed the door on building an enclosed stadium in the city, with team president Kevin Warren writing in a letter to fans on Sept. 8 that the team’s “future home” is in Arlington Heights.

“Moving outside of the city of Chicago is not a decision we reached easily,” Warren said. “This project does not represent us leaving, it represents us expanding. The Bears draw fans from all over Illinois, and over 50 percent of our season-ticket holders live within 25 miles of the Arlington Heights site.”

Warren made it clear the team is committed to building a stadium, saying “this is the year” to finalize plans so the team could bid to host a Super Bowl “as soon as 2031.” He said the stadium would “require zero state money for construction,” but the team would need the legislature to pass a bill in October to start construction this year.

Bears face a long drive to get passage of stadium legislation in the fall

Team president Kevin Warren, from left, Brian McCaskey, chairman George McCaskey, Patrick McCaskey and general manager Ryan Poles listen as new Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson speaks after being introduced on Jan. 22, 2025, at Halas Hall. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

The Bears’ playbook for constructing a new domed stadium and football entertainment complex in Arlington Heights calls for state lawmakers to act in October to approve property tax break legislation that would allow them to break ground this year.

But it is the Bears’ pocketbook that may be more important in getting legislators’ votes, particularly those from Chicago, to ease the way for one of the NFL’s founding franchises to leave the city it has called home for 104 years, since George Halas moved the Staleys from Decatur.

Already, there is $525 million in outstanding public debt from the controversial 2003 Soldier Field renovation, a tab currently covered by city hotel taxes and, when that falls short, by Chicago’s share of state income taxes. The Bears’ lease at Soldier Field expires in 2033, but it can be broken early with a penalty, and the team says it will take three years to build its new stadium.

But even if the Bears were forced to pay off the outstanding debt, that alone is unlikely to be enough to satisfy city lawmakers who are key in providing the necessary votes to advance any legislation to help the team.

Arlington Park’s rebirth

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The former Arlington International Racecourse facing east at sunrise on May 23, 2025, in Arlington Heights. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

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One week before his inauguration as the new mayor of Arlington Heights, Jim Tinaglia walked through the downtown streets he’s called home for more than 50 years. What was once a “sleepy little town,” as he described it, has become a bustling community, a place Tinaglia has had a hand in building, himself, through his work as an architect.

He’d built “at least a dozen” places here over the past 35 years.

If there’d been a constant amid all the growth in one of Chicago’s largest suburbs it was probably the horse racing track a little ways northwest of downtown, the one now locked away and waiting for new life. For decades, Arlington Park had been a deeply-ingrained part of the culture here, and a source of pride.

Incoming mayor Jim Tinaglia in downtown Arlington Heights on April 28, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

“Our identity,” Tinaglia said of the track. “For 100 years.”

Now it will be his mission to lead Arlington Park’s rebirth — to complete the long, winding journey of bringing the Bears to Arlington Heights. It’s a large part of why he ran for mayor, and also why he believes he was elected: to finish a deal that has proven elusive since a rush of early momentum, and to help convince Bears leadership, once and for all, that they should move from Chicago to the northwest suburbs.

A domed stadium on the Chicago lakefront?

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An artist’s rendering of a new state-of-the-art enclosed stadium with open space access to the lakefront was released by the Chicago Bears on April 24, 2024. (Manica)

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Warren envisions a stadium just south of the Bears’ current home at Soldier Field, on the site of what is now a parking lot. The facility would seat about 65,000 for football, with standing room up to 70,000, and a capacity of 77,000 for basketball.

Unlike Soldier Field, it could hold events year-round, including concerts, soccer, college basketball playoffs, or, once in a great while, the Super Bowl.

Soldier Field would be torn down, but its colonnades would be saved and 14 acres of athletic fields and open space added in between and to the north of the colonnades, for use by local sports teams, graduations and other events. If approved this year, the stadium would open in 2028.

The Bears say they would pay $2 billion, a huge private investment, plus $300 million requested from the NFL. The rest of the $3.2 billion cost of the stadium alone would be paid with $900 million from the state. The team said another $325 million would be needed for infrastructure, including improved road access and utilities as part of up to $1.5 billion for full build-out with extras like a hotel.

The public money would be borrowed through bonds issued by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, or ISFA, which previously financed construction of Guaranteed Rate Field, where the White Sox play, and the 2003 renovation of Soldier Field. The bonds are to be repaid over 40 years by the city’s 2% hotel tax.

“I remain skeptical about this proposal, and I wonder whether it’s a good deal for the taxpayers,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. “There are a lot of priorities that the state has, and I’m not sure that this is among the highest priorities for taxpayers.”

Friends of the Parks, a not-for-profit group that advocates for the city’s Lakefront Protection ordinance, which limits the lakefront to public use, criticized the stadium plan as rushed and not transparent, comparing it in a statement to other faltering mega-developments like The 78 and Lincoln Yards.

Could Indiana be an option?

The Indiana legislature moved a bill aimed at attracting the Bears to Northwest Indiana just yards from the end zone, with final approval by the Senate on April 9.

House Bill 1292, authored by Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, would establish a Northwest Indiana professional development commission and a professional sports development fund. The commission would be tasked with exploring and implementing strategies to attract one or more sports franchises to Northwest Indiana, Harris said.

The bill passed the Senate 46-2.

“The Bears are the big boy, so that has received the most attention,” Harris said. “Honestly, I would love it if the Bears moved their location over to Northwest Indiana, but we are open to any sport.”

What about another site in Chicago?

The former Michael Reese Hospital site, between a truck marshaling yard and Prairie Shores apartments on April 26, 2023. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

The Bears are reconsidering the former Michael Reese Hospital site as a potential location for a new stadium, a source said, but the team remains focused on the lakefront.

The team is open to any alternative that would work, but officials have said previously that the former hospital site was unworkable because it’s next to Metra train tracks that pose a security risk. The 49-acre site is limited because it’s long and skinny, sandwiched between the tracks and DuSable Lake Shore Drive on the east, apartments on the west, 31st Street on the south and the Stevenson Expressway to the north.

The advantage of the site is that it’s mostly open land, not far from the Loop and the lake, and next to McCormick Place Convention Center. It would also avoid a legal fight over the Bears’ proposal to build a $3.2 billion roofed stadium on the lake to replace the team’s current home in Soldier Field.

Other options in Illinois

Other cities and municipalities around Illinois have previously expressed interest in talking to the Bears about a future stadium.

Naperville

Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli wants to develop underused properties along the Interstate 88 tollway, where the former BP Amoco site would be more than big enough at 187 acres.

Waukegan

Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor said several locations have the space for a stadium and entertainment area with access to Interstate 94, U.S. Route 41 and public transportation. The Bears already train in Lake Forest, nine miles south of Waukegan.

Aurora

In a letter from Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin to the Bears, he touts Aurora’s history, location and track record of getting developments done. The letter comes on the heels of President/CEO Kevin Warren saying recently that the Bears are “in a position to start exploring other places and opportunities and no longer considers Arlington Heights as a singular focus.”

Rockford

State Rep. Dave Vella, a Democrat from Rockford, told the Tribune he’d like his city to have a chance at bringing the Bears there. While acknowledging that Rockford is 90 miles from Chicago, he touted Rockford’s transportation development and how that could be used at Bears fans’ convenience.

Richton Park

Richton Park Mayor Rick Reinbold touted large expanses of available land and the south suburb’s proximity to highways and the Metra Electric Line: “Allow me to interest you in greenfield opportunities awaiting the Bears in Richton Park!”

Country Club Hills

Cook County Commissioner Monica Gordon is encouraging the football team to consider Country Club Hills, throwing what her office described as a “Hail Mary pass” to encourage the team to consider the south suburb. “We’re taking our shot in the dark here,” Country Club Hills Mayor James Ford said.

What would happen to Soldier Field without the Bears?

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Soldier Field on the lakefront on March 11, 2024. where the Bears have proposed building a new domed stadium. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

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