George McCaskey Says Bears Have 3 Chances Left For Downtown Stadium

Kevin Warren has not budged from his stance on the new Chicago Bears stadium pursuit. The team president has remained adamant the organization is committed to building a state-of-the-art complex on the museum campus south of Soldier Field. Based on his timeline, the goal is to get shovels in the ground by 2025. He makes it sound simple. However, every indication for the past year is that Governor J.B. Pritzker and the state government refuse to budge on any idea of public funding for such an endeavor. George McCaskey remains confident in Warren’s plan.

That said, the team chairman also understands the clock is ticking. Based on his knowledge of the situation, the Bears have three opportunities remaining to get legislation passed for the projected, as he explained to the Bears media in London on Thursday.

“There’s a veto session in November, there’s a lame-duck session in January and then there’s a spring session right after that,” McCaskey said. “So at some time in one of those sessions, we’re going to have to have some sort of enabling legislation to allow the project to move forward.”

McCaskey was resolute when asked about having any regrets about abandoning the pursuit of a stadium in Arlington Heights. Like Warren, his goal is to go to the place that is best for the Bears. Right now, that remains downtown Chicago.

“We want to go where the best deal is possible, where it’s most feasible — financially, politically, geographically,” McCaskey said. “The lakefront is an excellent site and we think that a roofed stadium just south of Soldier Field can be great for Chicago, for the region and for the state of Illinois.”

George McCaskey is at the mercy of politics.

When new stadiums become involved, public funding is always a battleground between a city/state and an organization. Many times, the team shows a willingness to leave town over such a matter. The original Cleveland Browns did it, as did the Houston Oilers, San Diego Chargers, Baltimore Colts, and others. It is almost impossible for McCaskey to consider such a ludicrous idea. The Bears have been part of Chicago since the 1920s. It seems unlikely the NFL would sign off on such a move, abandoning the third-largest media market in the country.

That means the franchise doesn’t have a ton of leverage. They have already found around 72% of the necessary funding through private means. That remaining 28% works out to an estimated $900 million, which they’re hoping to get from various tax moves. The problem is they need approval from the state government for that. Pritzker hasn’t been impressed with the Bears’ plans thus far. George McCaskey and Warren have three more opportunities to change that before they may have to consider pushing back the planned date of construction.