Kevin Warren Just Made A Crafty Political Move In Bears Stadium Pursuit

The Chicago Bears didn’t get the results they hoped for after showcasing their plans for a new lakefront stadium south of Soldier Fields. This project could rival SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles for grandeur upon completion. Unfortunately, it will also cost a lot of money. Projections have it sitting around $5 billion. Team president Kevin Warren has stated the Bears and the NFL have pledged to cover around 72% of that price tag. What they need is help with the infrastructure required to make it happen. That will take public money.

Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker immediately made it clear he had no intentions of giving the organization a dime from the taxpayers, not without a plan he felt actually benefitted them, not exclusively the Bears. The state legislature adjourned without even hearing the team’s proposal. While disappointed, Warren was not discouraged. He’d expected resistance. It appears he’s enacting a new phase of his plan. How? By becoming more familiar and friendly with Chicago’s business community. Dan Petrella of the Chicago Tribune revealed the details.

Chicago Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren is joining the board of a statewide economic development organization that works closely with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration to help attract businesses to Illinois.

Warren’s appointment to the Intersect Illinois board comes as he is deepening his outreach to the state’s business community after the Bears’ proposal that the public help pay for a new domed stadium on a reimagined lakefront failed to advance during the state legislature’s spring session.

Warren was quick to downplay the move.

His sole goal is to help further harmonize sports and business in the city. Accepting this invitation is a good way to further that agenda.

“I am not at all looking at this to have any impact on our stadium project that we’re working on,” Warren said in an interview with the Tribune. “My whole focus in accepting this invitation to join the board is the value that I am focused on bringing to the state of Illinois.”

Previously as commissioner of the Big Ten and now as president of the Bears, Warren said he has seen “a convergence of sports, business, finance, entertainment, people, culture that is occurring in our society.”

“My whole goal is to try to provide as much value, insight, relationship-building that I can to benefit the state of Illinois,” he said.

Kevin Warren isn’t fooling anybody.

Yes, accepting the position will help improve Illinois’ economy. Even so, his primary role is president of the Bears. That is his primary beneficiary in everything he does. He does not accept that job unless he feels it is a way to help them in their stadium pursuit. After all, Pritzker may hold the political power right now, but that can change. Warren is smart enough to understand the true reality. If you want to get anything done, you have to follow the money. That means rubbing shoulders with the people who have it.

He now has a direct line of communication with some of the biggest powerbrokers in Chicago’s business community. If Kevin Warren can sway some of them to his cause and convince them the stadium project can benefit not just football fans but the entire business community of the downtown area, he may soon have a swell of support where it matters most. Once people with deep pockets are backing him, Pritzker won’t have near the sway to stand firm against the Bears. Not without risking his political standing.