Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, left, applauds as Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, speaks during a news conference about the proposed Chicago Bears stadium project in Hammond on Feb. 19, 2026. (Photo by Tom Davies/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
For all the celebration by Indiana officials of a deal with the Chicago Bears, lots still needs to happen before the team crosses the state line to build its new stadium in Hammond.
Top Indiana legislative leaders released a plan Thursday including new county restaurant and hotel taxes in northwest Indiana to help finance infrastructure work and bonds connected to the project.
House Speaker Todd Huston said the Bears would invest $2 billion toward the stadium.
But there is not yet a final deal, which was clear from the couched statements from the Bears, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and other state officials.
The Bears said passage of Indiana’s Senate Bill 27 “would mark the most meaningful step forward in our stadium planning efforts to date.”
“We are committed to finishing the remaining site-specific necessary due diligence to support our vision to build a world-class stadium near the Wolf Lake area in Hammond, Indiana,” the team’s statement said.
How did we get here?
The potential Hammond deal comes a couple months after the Bears officials announced they were looking at Indiana sites amid stalled negotiations with Illinois leaders over a proposed stadium in the northwestern Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights.
Huston acknowledged that assessment of the Hammond site was not finalized, but expressed confidence when asked whether the Bears could still walk away from the Indiana deal.
“As you saw in the statement today, I think the Bears are committed to northwest Indiana,” Huston told reporters.
No one representing the Bears spoke during Thursday’s committee meeting or a news conference held afterward by legislative leaders.
Indiana lawmakers are working to push the bill authorizing the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to passage before the expected Feb. 27 adjournment of this year’s General Assembly session.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted unanimously Thursday to advance the bill. The full House and Senate must still both approve the legislation.
Illinois could still be in the game
An Illinois House committee canceled a Thursday meeting during which it was set to discuss a bill allowing the Bears to negotiate for lower property taxes at the Arlington Heights site.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s office provided a statement saying “Illinois was ready to move this bill forward. After a productive three hour meeting yesterday, the Bears leaders requested the (Illinois General Assembly) pause the hearing to make further tweaks to the bill. This morning, we were surprised to see a statement lauding Indiana and ignoring Illinois.”
The Indiana governor’s office said the state had “built a strong relationship with the Bears organization.”
Braun said in a statement that the Indiana plan puts forward the “essential framework to complete this agreement, contingent upon site due diligence proceeding smoothly.”
Possible $1 billion in public funding
The proposed Hammond site is near Wolf Lake, which straddles the Indiana-Illinois state line and is bisected by the Indiana Toll Road just a few miles before the highway enters Chicago.
Huston said about $1 billion in taxpayer funds could go toward roads and other infrastructure costs associated with the project.
The financing plan calls for capturing taxes from a new stadium development district, along with revenue from a 12% admissions tax on stadium events, a 1% food-and-beverage tax in both Lake and Porter counties and a doubling of Lake County’s 5% hotel tax.
Huston maintained that the public funding would come from stadium events and additional visitor spending and that the plan was not “going to leave anybody on the hook.”
“We all have a vision for this, not just being a stadium,” Huston said. “This is about a huge economic development area that includes multiple uses, housing, hotels, restaurants. It can’t just be a stadium.”
A string of political, business and labor union leaders from Lake and Porter counties testified in favor of the stadium bill before Thursday’s vote.
Mayor says Indiana has ‘best deal’
Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott told committee members that the project would be transformational for northwest Indiana.
“If this opportunity becomes a reality, Indiana will become one of the very few states in America with two National Football League franchises,” McDermott said. “Think about that, two NFL teams, Indianapolis and Hammond. Two global brands, two engines of economic growth, two sources of pride.”
McDermott told reporters afterward that while state officials were handling negotiations with the Bears, he was “giving up a significant part of my city for this project to make it happen.”
He said he believed the stadium project would end up in Hammond.
“Indiana’s got the best offer on the table,” he said. “We got the best business environment. Why would the Bears walk away from a better deal? I mean, this is a business just like all these other businesses moving to northwest Indiana. The Bears are a business and they want to save money, too.”
The Bears’ lease to play at Soldier Field along Chicago’s lakefront runs through 2033 — and Indiana officials weren’t ready to talk about a Hammond project timeline.
“That’s to be determined as we work through the site issues and understand construction timelines,” Huston said. “I don’t want to commit to a specific time until we have those details. They’ll get sorted out sooner or later.”
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