In a letter sent to season ticket holders hours before the Bears’ opener against the Vikings, president/CEO Kevin Warren reiterated the team’s plan to build a dome in Arlington Heights, writing with finality about the Bears leaving the city of Chicago.
“Moving outside of the city of Chicago is not a decision we reached easily,” he wrote. “This project does not represent us leaving, it represents us expanding.”
Warren wrote Monday that he hopes the Bears can finalize their plans for a fixed-roof dome this year. The Bears hope to bid for a Super Bowl, perhaps one played as soon as 2031. The NFL typically awards cold-weather cities that build a new stadium one Super Bowl — but no more than that.
The team still has plenty of work to do before it can begin building — Warren is pushing for legislation, which could be decided by state lawmakers either next month or in the spring, that would allow the team to negotiate property tax payments with Arlington Heights. The Bears have said they will pay for the stadium themselves.
The Bears bought the 326-acre former Arlington International Racecourse site two years ago. After flirting with building on the Lakefront after Warren’s arrival — the Bears even announced their intentions to build near Soldier Field in April 2024 — the team turned their attention to Arlington Heights this year. Four months ago, Warren said the team was entertaining both the suburb and the city. By May, the Bears turned their attention solely to the suburb, an intention Warren repeated at Halas Hall last month.
“For more than 50 years, Soldier Field has been our home,” Warren wrote. “But so too were Wrigley Field, Memorial Stadium, and Staley Field. We hope Arlington Heights will soon join that list – not because of its steel, brick, or glass, but because it will house what is irreplaceable to this franchise: You. Our Fans. Our Family.”