The Indiana Bears?
- Thread starter HotMop
- Start date
Close enough to Gary. Henceforth, they shall be the Gar (pronounced -air) Bears.
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The very idea!! I bet Chicagoans are up in arms. Can you imagine the Cubs in anyplace but Wrigley field or the Bears outside of Chicago.
I bet they'll get so mad they'll shoot a bunch of people this weekend.
And next weekend.
And so on...
I get not being bullish on chicago, but not sure moving to the southeast border of Chicago really fixes that.
It's a shame it's even a question. That area from Soldier Field up to Wrigley is as far as I know the coolest section of any major American city. I'm assuming this is more about the city/state paying for a stadium than the normal ills of Chicago, though.
I honestly haven’t followed this and everyone will point at Chicago & its leadership but wouldn’t the blame really be on state leadership if they moved to another state due to better business environment next door?
I can definitely imagine it- the Bears have had their eyes on building 30 mi NW of Soldier field and own land. Its been multiple years of imagining them not in Chicago.
reminds me of the Irwindale Raiders....now the Indiana Bears....next up will be the Idaho Seahawks....
money and greed from both the team owners, and the city leaders....
money and greed from both the team owners, and the city leaders....
No different than the New Jersey Jets and Giants.
At the risk of saying an issue is gray when many on SPS can only understand black or white, this multi-year back-and-forth is complicated.
I grew up in the town where the Bears own land and have been wanting to build, and I hope they ultimately land there. There will be some traffic flow issues to work out, but development of that land could make for a really cool spot to do more than just watch a game/concert.
- There is a Metra line that stops right at the property so getting there from Chicago would be simple and direct.
- There is plenty of land for development of shops/hotels/restaurants/activities and the Bears own the land.
- The 325 acres is largely just sitting empty- it was a longtime race track and training facility.
The Bears are being unreasonable in what they want.
- they want the assessed value of the land they own to be lower.
- they want nearly $1B in funding for infrastructure not related to the stadium.
The State is being unreasonable in what it wants.
- they chose to not freeze property taxes for the site so construction could begin last year.
- they seem to not support a lot of the infrastructure investment, even though it would be for stuff that is typically publicly funded(from what I can tell- this isnt very clear and there is division based on who is talking).
Also complicating things- taxpayers are on the hook for $350MM that is still owed for renovations to Soldier Field from over 2 decades ago.
Here is a recent reddit thread with some discussion on the issue-
Yeah, I'd definitely agree that's a lot of gray.
I like visiting Chicago. Cool city. I don't care much where the Bears play football.
I do think we have to, as a country, get away from the taxpayer funding every 17ing thing. Those days are going to come to an end, one way or another. Probably better to start choosing it rather than it being forced through financial disasters like the coming massive public pension issues soon to explode around the country.
Yeah I’m not seeing the big issue. Plus it’s what, 8 or 9 games a year? Not like it’s baseball where there’s 80 or basketball with 40.
It’s still the Chicago Metro. That’s how this stuff works. They’ll go out there for 20-30 years then come back probably.
Guessing this means the Illinois govt will no longer be able to steal “taxes” from the pro players too. Look for other owners to find ways to flee 5hithole blue cities
This is all just gamesmanship and posturing by the Bears; they are using Indiana as leverage, but Chicago/Illinois are playing chicken with them. My prediction is that ultimately, the Bears will remain in Illinois although nothing would make me happier than to see them move to Indiana. Serve Pritzker and the mayor right . . . .That’s just
. Bears should play at Soldier Field.
Reminds me of the time someone threw out the idea for the New Orleans Saints to build a new stadium in Bay St. Louis. Artificially create competition to you get what you actually want. Teams can't use moving to Las Vegas as a threat anymore...
What the Bears or Sox should ACTUALLY do IMO is build a new stadium next to United Center between Madison/Washington/Damen and add an El station on the adjacent pink line. Then the Bears/Bulls/Blackhawks can all join forces and develop the surrounding land which is mostly surface parking for a new entertainment district every sports team is chasing.
Then whoever didn't move west between the Bears or Sox gets to redevelop the Rate Field site on 35th St. for their new stadium.
What the Bears or Sox should ACTUALLY do IMO is build a new stadium next to United Center between Madison/Washington/Damen and add an El station on the adjacent pink line. Then the Bears/Bulls/Blackhawks can all join forces and develop the surrounding land which is mostly surface parking for a new entertainment district every sports team is chasing.
Then whoever didn't move west between the Bears or Sox gets to redevelop the Rate Field site on 35th St. for their new stadium.
That X post looks like he copied one of Tate Reeves' and changed the wording related to the project.
Do any of you think that for a minute the Packers would give Eau Claire a minute’s thought if they offered to build them a new stadium? No. (I know that Green Bay is owned by the citizens of the city. I just use them as an example, i. e., Green Bay some place else.)
I understand the Mikasky’s frustration with the city of Chicago, but Gary, Indiana, is not the solution.
I understand the Mikasky’s frustration with the city of Chicago, but Gary, Indiana, is not the solution.