Bears Stadium Bill Passes Senate… Then Stalls!

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]So, the Illinois Senate overnight voted 37 to 17 to approve a bill that would enable certain Cook County municipalities create local stadium authorities. This would allow the construction of a Bears stadium in which the team wouldn't have to pay property taxes. It then went to the house and was never called for a vote. They announced, "Yeah, we're not voting on it." Chris Welch, speaker of the house, has said, "We'll address this sooner rather than later." Which leads most to believe there will be a special session of the Illinois Congress or of the house this summer where they could take up this bill. And there were politicians, I was texting with two of them last night late, and they said, "We can't sign approve something that we haven't been able to read." This was thrown together after the pilot bill payment in lieu of taxes collapsed on Saturday night. You've got Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Teachers Union in there. There's just so many cooks in the kitchen, and they couldn't get it done. But they've kicked the can down the road by not voting, period.

[00:01:09]>> And it seems like they're telling you everything that you need to know, too.

[00:01:13]They don't want to go to Hammond.

[00:01:15]>> They do not have any interest in going to Hammond.

[00:01:17]>> If they wanted to go to Indiana, a decision would have been made, it feels like, at this point.

[00:01:21]>> That's correct.

[00:01:22]>> The all of their actions are showing you, "We want to be in Arlington Heights. We want to stay in the state of Illinois." Whether or not that ends up happening, we'll wait and see. But I mean, this is just one of those sagas that it continues to drag on. It has become one of the most frustrating stories in Chicago sports. It really has. Because the fact that this whole thing was incepted 5 years ago, and we've seen a number of stadiums, whether it be Cleveland, Buffalo, Tennessee, pick wherever, and it doesn't even feel like we've taken one step forward from that moment. It really doesn't. Aside from purchasing the land in Arlington, what other steps have been made in the right direction?

[00:01:58]>> Have there been any?

[00:01:59]>> Not that I'm aware of.