Bears StadiumSaturday, November 7
Bears execs and the NFL commissioner met Illinois lawmakers as the veto session nears
The 5AM Evanston team
If you follow the Bears' stadium hunt: Chairman George McCaskey, President Kevin Warren and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell met Wednesday with Illinois lawmakers, the team confirmed. Lawmakers return to Springfield for the veto session Nov. 17, and no deal can happen before then.
Gov. JB Pritzker said the meeting was to finalize legislation. He hopes for hearings that first week and a vote in the second. Indiana, meanwhile, created a stadium authority earlier this year for a stadium in Northwest Indiana.
The Bears' stadium search has run 5½ years
- $2 billion
- pledged by the Bears for the Hammond sites
- 5½ years
- the stadium search has dragged on
- Nov. 17
- when the Illinois veto session begins
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
- Hammond: two sites in the Wolf Lake area
- Related Midwest's pitch: 8080 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive
- Open questions: public money, ownership, financing
Another developer wants a seat at the table. Related Midwest, the developer behind The 78, is pitching the roughly 200-acre former U.S. Steel South Works lakefront site, about nine miles from Soldier Field. The Bears own 326 acres at the former Arlington Park racetrack.
The pitched South Works site is smaller than Arlington Park
Area of the pitched South Works site, beside places you know
151 football fields would fit inside the pitched South Works site
Source: FOX 32 Chicago
View as table
| Area | |
|---|---|
| The pitched South Works site | 200 acres (Roughly 200 acres) |
| The Bears' Arlington Park property | 326 acres (Owned by the Bears) |
| A football field | 1.3 acres (end zones included) |
Sources: FOX 32 Chicago, Chicago Sun-Times, NBC 5 Chicago, Shaw Local