Taking the following step towards constructing a brand new stadium, the Chicago Bears on Thursday introduced an informational neighborhood assembly to debate the potential buy and growth of Arlington Worldwide Racecourse.
Workforce officers in an announcement mentioned they’ll current conceptual plans subsequent week for a transit-oriented, mixed-use leisure district anchored by a stadium in Arlington Heights that might be one of many largest growth tasks in Illinois historical past.
The assembly is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, within the health club at Hersey Excessive College, 1900 E. Thomas St. in Arlington Heights.
Anticipating a big crowd, seats will probably be out there on a primary come, first served foundation. The parking tons will open at 5 p.m., with doorways opening at 5:30 p.m.
The assembly is informational solely. If the undertaking had been to maneuver ahead, the workforce acknowledged, all required public conferences would happen later earlier than Arlington Heights officers.
The announcement is in step with statements by Mayor Tom Hayes that the village will probably start holding conferences this fall to debate the proposal.
Final yr, the workforce and monitor proprietor Churchill Downs Inc. introduced an settlement for the Bears to purchase the 326-acre racetrack web site for $197 million, pending closing critiques and approvals by each events. The deal is predicted to be closed by early 2023.
Any growth must be permitted by village officers. The mayor has welcomed the workforce’s proposed transfer from Soldier Area in Chicago, and has floated the thought of restricted native taxpayer assist.
In response, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduced a proposal to construct a dome on high of Soldier Area, and develop its capability from 61,500, the smallest within the Nationwide Soccer League, to 70,000.
However the metropolis, already working at a deficit and nonetheless paying off the stadium’s final renovation in 2003, has not specified how it will pay for such a pricey undertaking.
Lightfoot’s press workplace issued an announcement that she has made a “compelling case” for the Bears to remain in Chicago at a “tier one” stadium.
“Town will proceed to make the case to the Bears, the NFL and the general public that a revitalized Soldier Area makes probably the most financial sense,” spokeswoman Kate LeFurgy mentioned.
Arlington Heights Mayor Hayes known as the assembly an encouraging signal.
“They’re growing the velocity of the undertaking as we transfer ahead towards making this a actuality,” he mentioned. “This is a chance to get preliminary suggestions from the neighborhood, so it’s a vital and thrilling a part of the method.”
He emphasised that this isn't a village assembly, and he wouldn't be current in order to not intrude.
A Bears spokesman declined extra touch upon the assembly.
The assembly is predicted to be extra about your entire growth of the property as an leisure district than in regards to the tremendous particulars of the stadium. It's a probability for the workforce to let the general public know the place it’s at with the undertaking and encourage suggestions. The workforce is predicted to emphasize that the acquisition of the property — and the following growth — will not be but a accomplished deal.
The Bears have known as Soldier Area residence since 1971, however the workforce has mentioned or proposed taking part in its video games elsewhere all through a lot of the final 50 years.
Wrigley Area served as the unique residence venue for the workforce when it moved to Chicago in 1921 and remained there by way of 1970.
However the Bears had been compelled to discover a new residence after the American Soccer League merged with the Nationwide Soccer League and required stadiums to seat at the very least 50,000 followers.
A latest ballot commissioned by a self-described libertarian group discovered that a majority of Arlington Heights residents surveyed assist the Bears shifting from Soldier Area to their village, however oppose any tax subsidy to assist the workforce accomplish that.
The ballot, launched final month, discovered that 72% of respondents permitted of the Bears’ proposal to construct a stadium on the closed Arlington Worldwide Racecourse — however 68% opposed utilizing tax dollars to assist the workforce.
The ballot additionally discovered robust assist for an ordinance to ban Arlington Heights from utilizing taxpayer funds to assist construct a stadium or different “company welfare” by a 55%-30% margin.
The survey was sponsored by Individuals for Prosperity-Illinois, a bunch based by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers, and surveyed 300 registered voters within the village.
The prior renovation of Soldier Area value some $690 million, of which taxpayers had been on the hook for $432 million, plus a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands in curiosity, which they’re nonetheless paying by way of 2032.
That renovation was broadly seen as underwhelming, leaving an undersized stadium shoehorned inside the unique facility’s colonnades.
The Bears have by far the oldest stadium within the NFL, relationship to 1924, however it’s owned and operated by the Chicago Park District. Because the workforce arrived in 1971, each different workforce within the league moreover the Inexperienced Bay Packers has constructed a brand new stadium.
Simply since 2009, a number of the league’s premier franchises close to Dallas, New York and Los Angeles and elsewhere have constructed palatial services outdoors of their residence cities.
Within the meantime, public sentiment has turned in opposition to subsidizing groups value billions of dollars. Analysis typically has proven that such giant expenditures don’t pay for themselves.
Chicago Tribune’s Gregory Pratt and A.D. Quig contributed.
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