Chicago Bears stadium plan: Team to pitch $2 billion for publicly owned stadium near Soldier Field: report

The Bears could be making a major shift in their quest for a new stadium.

According to multiple reports, the Bears are planning to provide $2 billion in support for a new publicly owned stadium on the Chicago lakefront. The new enclosed stadium would be just south of where Soldier Field sits now, on what is currently the south parking lot.

This news comes more than a year after the Bears finalized a $197.2 million deal to buy the former Arlington International Racecourse site in Arlington Heights. The team originally signed a purchase agreement for the Arlington Heights site in 2021. The sale closed on Feb. 15, 2023.

But plans to build a new stadium in Arlington Heights have stalled. The team has balked at the increased property tax value of the site.

For some time now, the Bears have been in conversations with the City of Chicago. The Bears first met with Mayor Brandon Johnson in June. Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren released to following statement to ESPN on Monday.

“The future stadium of the Chicago Bears will bring a transformative opportunity to our region – boosting the economy, creating jobs, facilitating mega events and generating millions in tax revenue,” Warren said. “We look forward to sharing more information when our plans are finalized.”

The Bears’ current lease on Soldier Field will expire in 2033. The team has not released renderings for a stadium in Chicago or in Arlington Heights.

It’s unclear how much public funding the Bears would be seeking for a lakefront stadium. The Bears and the White Sox have also reportedly been exploring a financing partnership. The White Sox are also seeking a new stadium in Chicago. Both Guaranteed Rate Field, which opened in 1991, and the 2002 Soldier Field renovations were funded with the same hotel tax bond issued by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. It could make sense for the two teams to work together for funding.

The Bears would face challenges to building a stadium on the lakefront. A nonprofit group Friends of the Parks filed a lawsuit that scuttled George Lucas’ plans to build a Star Wars museum south of Soldier Field in 2016.