Bears' Kevin Warren 'energized' despite stadium hurdles, says design works for Chicago or Arlington Heights

WARE, England — The Bears have been talking excitedly about a new stadium ever since buying 326 acres in Arlington Heights, but have get to get “cranes in the sky,” as president Kevin Warren likes to say.

He came in after the Arlington Heights purchase, and the Bears have since shifted their target to just south of Soldier Field on the Chicago lakefront. While it seems like the process has dragged, and certainly could drag more as the Bears have yet to secure the public funding they want, Warren said Wednesday this is “exactly where I thought we would be at this point” and remains steadfast.

“Me worn down? Never,” he said at Hanbury Manor, where the team is staying and practicing this week. “I'm actually energized by it because anything that is great in life, anything that lasts 50 years, takes a lot of energy and effort.”

As the Bears pursue the lakefront project, in which an indoor stadium would be built on the current south parking lot and the historic columns of Soldier Field would be preserved essentially as part of a park, Warren has made sure to keep Arlington Heights afloat as an option.

He rejected phrasing it as concurrent planning for the two sites, but said most of the design the team has unveiled — an episode of “Hard Knocks” showed him picking out tables for part of the stadium — would remain the same if the team pivoted back to Arlington Heights.

“That doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t have some tweaks and changes, but the building on its face ... does fit what we’re trying to accomplish,” Warren said. “You want to make sure you have glass, you have views, it’s a tight bowl.”