The Chicago Bears are expected to publicly present their latest plans for a new stadium in Arlington Heights this fall, officials said, with the hope of breaking ground by spring.

Bears President Kevin Warren and other officials are meeting regularly to refine their plan with Arlington Heights village officials. Sometime in September, October or November, the team will make a public presentation and answer questions about the 326-acre site, according to Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia. Then the village planning, design and housing commissions will review the proposal before it goes to a Village Board vote. The whole process could take a few months.

The latest push for a new stadium comes as a new NFL season kicks off, and as competitors throughout the league are in the midst of a building boom. New stadiums in Nashville and Buffalo are getting record public subsidies, and teams in Cleveland, Jacksonville, Kansas City, and Washington, D.C., angling for their own deals.

While the Bears have raised fan expectations with a new coach and players — the team will play its season opener Monday night — they have yet to finalize the stadium proposal, four years after they first pitched a dome in Arlington Heights.

The Bears have said they will finance the new stadium themselves, but the deal still hinges on state lawmakers allowing the team to negotiate its property taxes. With other pressing matters to consider, legislators are a long shot to act in the brief veto session in October, and are more likely to consider the issue in the spring.

Despite opposition to the move from Chicago officeholders, Tinaglia said the huge project would generate jobs and an economic boom for the city and the suburbs.

“This new construction of a couple billion dollars is a win-win for everybody, including Chicago,” Tinaglia said. “I’m hoping that cooler heads prevail and people will see that it’s good for everybody.”

Nationwide, from 1970 to 2020, taxpayers paid nearly three-quarters of the costs of sports venues that received public funding, according to research done by professors at Kennesaw State University, University of Maryland and West Virginia University. But more than 130 studies have come to the consensus that the economic benefits of new stadiums fall far short of the public investment. Economists are skeptical of team projections of economic benefits, saying much of the spending on sports is simply shifted from what would otherwise be spent on other entertainment.

Nevertheless, the Buffalo Bills recently received $850 million in public funding for a $1.4 billion outdoor stadium, and the Tennessee Titans got a record $1.2 billion in taxpayer contributions for a $2.1 billion enclosed stadium.

Last year, when the Bears asked for a subsidy of up to $2.5 billion to build a new stadium on the Chicago lakefront, Gov. JB Pritzker and state leaders shot down the idea, saying they didn’t want to subsidize a private enterprise.

The researchers at Kennesaw State, University of Maryland and West Virginia University suggested that voters should at least be asked before they’re forced to finance a stadium.

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In Oklahoma City residents voted in 2023 to levy a sales tax to generate $900 million to build a new arena to house the NBA’s Thunder. But in Kansas City, Missouri, voters last year rejected paying for a new stadium for the then-champion Chiefs football team.

Given the budget problems facing Chicago and Illinois, the Bears have decided to finance their stadium themselves, which is rare. Only three of the 30 NFL stadiums were completely built and renovated with private money — SoFi stadium near Los Angeles, MetLife Stadium outside New York and Gillette Stadium near Boston. Each is in a suburb outside one of the largest markets in the country, and SoFi and MetLife each are home to two teams. Each stadium also has the help of property tax breaks, a nearby entertainment zone or tax-funded infrastructure.

Sports business consultant Marc Ganis, president of SportsCorp Ltd. in Chicago, said Illinois should leap at the Bears’ proposal, which would cost the state nothing for stadium construction.

“What the Bears have proposed is an outright gift of epic proportions,” Ganis said. “If the lawmakers don’t find a way to do this, they should look for new jobs, because this is as one-sided a deal as any sports facility project.”

After buying the former Arlington International Racecourse for $197 million, the team reached a short-term property tax deal with local schools last year. But now officials say they need state lawmakers to let them negotiate taxes for up to 40 years to complete the deal.

“We are making progress toward building a world-class, enclosed stadium and entertainment district in Arlington Heights,” a team official said in a statement. “The Arlington Park site is the only Cook County location that is feasible, and our plan to finance a new state-of-the-art stadium requires zero state dollars for its construction.”

Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia talks with attendees during a Village Board meeting on May 5, 2025, in Arlington Heights. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

The team projected the entire project, which would include restaurants, entertainment, and housing, would create more than 56,000 construction jobs, 9,000 permanent jobs and millions in new annual tax revenue. It also would allow Illinois to finally host major events such as the Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four.

“Our overall commitment to the city of Chicago and its people will never change,” the team statement read. “We will ensure that Chicago businesses and workforce are part of building this transformative project. We have spent $41 million on community programs in Chicago since 2011 and we’ll continue to grow our programs that serve the people in the city of Chicago.”

The Bears’ home at Soldier Field, which now can’t book other events five days before a game, would also be freed up for more concerts and other events.

Two pending bills in Springfield provide that very expensive construction projects — not just for the Bears, but for any large development — would be eligible for a freeze on property tax assessments, subject to agreement by local taxing bodies.

Chicago lawmakers generally don’t want to be seen as enabling the Bears to leave the city, and some want the team to pay off the now-$534 million debt from the 2003 Soldier Field renovation. The team has a lease at Soldier Field through 2033. If it left early in 2026, its contract calls for the team to pay a penalty of $84 million, with lesser amounts in succeeding years.

State Rep. Mary Beth Canty, a Democrat from Arlington Heights and sponsor of one of the mega-project bills, said Chicago could also benefit from mega-projects, but the legislation can’t be rushed.

“This creates real opportunities,” Canty said. “We’re trying to do right by my constituents and the state of Illinois to create jobs and entice companies to come here. We want to focus on getting it right, not getting it fast.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/08/nfl-chicago-bears-arlington-heights-stadium/