It has been a few years since the Chicago Bears started to look for a new home. While the Bears have somewhat concluded their search, lawmakers will finally end the legalities in the coming week, which is the final week of the spring legislative session in Springfield. But the question remains: why has the CEO, Kevin Warren, taken such a long time to settle things?

According to state Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, it was the CEO who had been “mishandling” things right from the start, which has ultimately caused a delay in the matter.

“I think a lot of the blame has to be put on the Bears for how they’ve behaved in all of this,” said state Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago. “I just think that this entire effort has been a mess. It’s been chaotic. I think the Bears have been playing a lot of games. I think the Bears have been pitting states against states, pitting suburb against city, pitting governor against mayor, and I think it all comes back to the Bears.”

Currently, the Bears are based in Illinois with Soldier Field as their home ground. However, the CEO has actively leveraged the franchise to move towards Northwestern Indiana.

Peters believes the franchise is trying to start a bidding war between the two states to squeeze the local municipalities and residents of either state for public money.

Illinois is quite behind Indiana when trying to keep the franchise within the state. Through the efforts of Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. and Gov. Mike Braun, the state funding for a new Bears stadium in Hammond had already passed the Indiana legislature by a huge majority long ago. Besides, the team also confirmed that they have used up all the resources in Chicago and want to move on from the city.

“The Chicago Bears have exhausted every opportunity to stay in Chicago, which was our initial goal,” the team said in a statement. “There is not a viable site in the city. As a result, the only sites under consideration are in Arlington Heights and Hammond.”

It also aligns with Warren mentioning at the NFL annual league meeting that by late summer, the franchise will have finished trying to choose a new site for an enclosed stadium. As of now, they have chosen Hammond as the place to build the new dome stadium. It is 25 miles from their current home on Lake Michigan’s shore.

On the other hand, Illinois still awaits a vote from and a signature from Gov. J.B. Pritzker before it’s finalized in the upcoming week. While everyone is waiting for the spring legislative session, Peters is currently a “no-vote” for the current stadium plan. However, he also mentioned that his decision can change in the future since his focus is to bring more investment to the area. While Peters is following a certain plan, Sen. Rachel Ventura seems to have a different path that she will be following.

The Chicago Bears have a tough road ahead with their new project in Illinois

Similar to Sen. Robert Peters, Sen. Rachel Ventura is following a “no-vote” policy. However, unlike him, she does not have any way that the franchise will sway her. Her only motivation remains to work for the people and make sure they are not in harm’s way.

“We all want businesses and good paying jobs here. But there’s a lot of issues with the mega project right now, and there are not enough checks and balances, clawbacks if businesses don’t do what they need to do,” said Sen. Rachel Ventura.

Sen. Ventura is happy to be working for the blue-collar people. A new stadium means that the Bears will be getting a tax break, and it is the middle-class people who will have to bear it. For example, the Dallas Cowboys‘ AT&T Stadium saw the residents paying approximately $325 million in taxes. Now, with the Bears eyeing a $5 billion project, the amount is expected to be higher. Because of that, she is not a supporter of the Bears changing their home.

“If [the Bears] don’t want to pay property taxes, they can stay in Soldier Field. What a beautiful stadium that is,” Ventura said.

Regardless of what Ventura said, according to the Illinois General Assembly, they would be providing the megaprojects a minimum tax break of a $100 million. It perfectly lines up with the Bears’ plan to build a complex on a 326-acre tract of land they own in Arlington Heights.

Now, everything depends on Pritzker. With only two options left, it is ultimately the NFL that has to approve whatever the Bears are planning to do. The Chicago Bears have been playing at Soldier Field since 1971. So many memories have been made at the homeground. However, as a charter team, the stadium is not owned by the Bears.

This makes the project even more significant. While moving homes to Indiana is not something that the fans would want, the franchise would also want its own home. This will help them boost the revenue, and thereby help the team reach new heights.