This morning, Chicago Bears Team President and CEO Kevin Warren was a guest on PFT Live, and the topic of their ongoing new stadium project came up. The tone of the segment was positive regarding their Arlington Heights property, which they’ve been sitting on for over two years now, with Warren saying they’ll have the ability to “build, almost a small city with hotels, housing, to be able to do something in that part of town.”
The Bears have had a lot of discussions with other towns and cities in the Chicagoland area regarding their new state-of-the-art domed stadium, so PFT host Mike Florio asked Warren specifically if the project is down to Chicago’s lakefront and the Arlington Heights location.
Warren said that due to the footprint they’d need, “It is really down to the Museum Campus, somewhere downtown, and Arlington Heights.”
So it’s pretty much what we already knew by reading the tea leaves, but it’s good to hear Warren give his two finalists.
I still feel it’ll be the former Arlington Park location, and like I said, the tone of the PFT Live interview was the most positive Warren has sounded about the suburb since inheriting the project and the property from former team president Ted Phillips.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell weighed in on the topic earlier today as well.
“It’s an important issue for the community and the team,” Goodell said from the NFL Owners’ Meetings via the Chicago Sun Times. “It’s not uncommon for it to be a two-year discussion. They started very early — their lease isn’t up [until after the 2033 season]. Those discussions, you expect are going to be thorough. There are going to be twists and turns through that process. And then you get to the process of having to actually build once you make those decisions, ultimately. There’s a lot to do.”
Warren’s previous goal was to have shovels in the ground in 2025, and while that may not happen, it sounds like things are inching closer to a final decision.