Bears again expand stadium search, including outside Illinois - ESPN

CHICAGO — Three days before hosting their biggest game at Soldier Field in years, the Chicago Bears are exploring moving outside the city for which they are named.

In an open letter to fans Wednesday evening, team president and CEO Kevin Warren said the Bears will explore other locations — including outside of Cook County, where the team owns a 326-acre property in Arlington Heights, Illinois — to build a domed stadium.

That includes moving the Bears out of Illinois altogether.

«In addition to Arlington Park, we need to expand our search and critically evaluate opportunities throughout the wider Chicagoland region, including Northwest Indiana,» Warren said. «This is not about leverage. We spent years trying to build a new home in Cook County. We invested significant time and resources evaluating multiple sites and rationally decided on Arlington Heights.

»Our fans deserve a world-class stadium. Our players and coaches deserve a venue that matches the championship standard they strive for every day. With that in mind, our organization must keep every credible pathway open to deliver that future."

The Bears purchased the Arlington Park property that formerly housed the Arlington International Racecourse for $197 million in 2023, shortly before Warren replaced Ted Phillips as team president and CEO. The Bears proposed building a 60,000-seat fixed-roof stadium within a $5 billion mixed-use development.

Not long after closing on the land in Arlington Heights, the team began exploring options for a new stadium site when it announced its plans to build at the Arlington Park site were «at risk» as negotiations over property taxes reached a $100 million impasse.

Shortly before the 2024 draft, the Bears shifted their focus to