EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsCHICAGO -- The Chicago Bears took a significant step towards leaving Illinois on Friday.The Bears' Board of Directors voted Thursday to advance their stadium development in Hammond, Ind. with the exact site still to be determined. This is this first time that the Bears' board has voted on any stadium site.The Bears plans to leave the state they've called home since their inception for Indiana comes just days after the end of Illinois' spring legislative session."We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana and the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across the neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city," Bears Chairman George H. McCaskey and CEO Kevin Warren said in a statement.After the "megaprojects" bill died in the Illinois senate last weekend, a proposal that would have allowed the Bears to negotiate payments in lieu of paying property taxes on the Arlington Heights, Ill. property they currently own, a late push was made with alternative legislation.At 11 p.m. Sunday, Illinois state Senator Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) introduced new legislation that would allow Cook County cities with more than 70,000 residents (like Arlington Heights and Chicago) to create their own sports stadium authority. The Bears would pay for the construction of the new stadium, which the franchise has dedicated $2 billion in funding toward, and the land would be publicly owned.The new bill passed the Illinois Senate 37-17 at 3:39 a.m. on Monday. The House adjourned after 4:30 a.m. without taking a vote.The Bears currently own a 326 acre property on the former site of the Arlington International Racecourse, which the team purchased in 2021.The team has maintained that they cannot build a stadium without property tax, certainty, which Indiana passed legislation to ensure in February.
