The Chicago Bears have tried for three years to get some form of cooperation from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker on helping them build a new stadium. It even reached the point where the organization agreed to fund the construction entirely on its own. All they required was help with infrastructure. Pritzker refused to budge. He even doubled down by basically telling them not to ask in 2026 either. That message reverberated throughout Halas Hall and seems to have been the breaking point for the McCaskey family. They gave team president Kevin Warren the green light to reopen the search for a new location, this time including northwest Indiana.
Most people think the Bears are bluffing. Chicago has been their home since the 1920s. There is no way they'd leave. Except a report recently came out that the Bears are already doing early tests on potential sites in Hammond, Indiana. If that weren't enough, a big story broke in Kansas City, revealing that the Chiefs plan to leave Missouri for Kansas in their own new stadium in 2031.
If the three-time Super Bowl champions are willing to leave a hallowed place like Arrowhead Stadium after so many years, that should signal to Pritzker that this idea that the Bears are bluffing might be dangerously misguided.
The Chicago Bears aren't asking for nearly as much as the Chiefs.
Keep this in mind. No less than 70% of their new stadium will be publicly funded. That was the big lure to get them to move. By contrast, the Bears' request accounted for approximately 17% of the projected total costs of the project. That is a pittance compared to what Kansas will pay the Chiefs. Pritzker still said no. Now he's threatening to become the first Illinois governor to let a professional sports team leave the state in over 75 years. That doesn't seem like a smart political move, especially now that the Bears are finally winning.
Make no mistake. This announcement from the Chiefs is a dose of cold water on Prtizker. He's felt like he had the leverage in negotiations from the start. Once the Chicago Bears decided that leaving the state was a real option, that completely flipped. Seeing them leave the city for a local suburb is one thing. Seeing them leave the state entirely is another. Pritzker fell into a trap many before him have. He overplayed his hand. Now it might be too late to reel things back in.
