The Chicago Bears’ plans to build a new stadium in the Cook County village of Arlington Heights have taken a stunning twist.
Last year, the NFC North club finalized an agreement to purchase 326 acres of property in Arlington Heights with the plans to build a new stadium that would replace Soldier Field. The venue, which opened nearly 100 years ago, is the oldest NFL stadium.
A stunning new report from Greg Hinz of Crain’s Chicago Business states that the Bears are no longer focused on building their new stadium in Arlington Heights. Rather, Hinz reports that they’re looking at construction of a new stadium on Chicago’s lakefront, via NBC Chicago:
“According to Greg Hinz of Crain’s, multiple sources in government and close to the Bears have said that talks of building in downtown Chicago are not merely a plan to achieve better tax terms in Arlington Heights, but are now a sincere goal.
Hinz said that in plans that could go public soon, the Bears will look to construct a new state-of-the-art domed stadium in the parking lot south of their current home of Soldier Field.
The new stadium would leave the city capable of not only hosting a Super Bowl, but an NCAA March Madness Final Four and other major year-round events, Hinz said…
Hinz reports that the stadium would be financed thanks to a bonding clause in the law that governs the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. To ease possible difficulties with building on the lakefront, Hinz suggests that Soldier Field would be converted to public parks and athletic fields.”
Both the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans are in the early stages of building new stadiums that are currently slated to open in 2026 and 2027, respectively. The Bills play their games at Highmark Stadium, the fourth-oldest current NFL venue. The Titans play their games at Nissan Stadium, which opened in 1999.
