The Chicago Bears’ stadium drama has reached a point where a move across the state line is no longer just a possibility. The team is now focused on Hammond, Indiana, and that has frustrated former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, who believes Illinois politicians allowed the situation to get this far.
Urlacher made his feelings known during a discussion about the Bears’ stadium future on the Sage Steele Show, putting much of the blame on Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. His criticism also included a sharp comment about how state money has been spent.
“I just cannot imagine them playing anywhere but Illinois,” he said. I don’t want them leaving Soldier Field. It pisses me off. … The worst thing to me is Pritzker gave $2.8 billion to the illegal immigrants and that money could have been set aside for the Bears stadium. If he really wanted to keep them there, he could have set that money aside and quit funding illegal immigrants.”
On June 5, the team announced that its board had voted to advance its stadium project in Hammond, with the exact site still to be determined. But it was only after the franchise saw no viable alternative in Chicago for a move.
The Bears’ preferred Arlington Heights project stalled over tax and infrastructure questions, while Illinois lawmakers did not provide the certainty the team wanted. On August 14, Pritzker said that he believed the Bears wanted to stay in Chicago, but dragged them under the bus by saying they hadn’t approached the legislature with a bill for the Arlington Heights project.
Bears CEO Kevin Warren responded: “[Our] focus now is on Indiana, and obviously, like I said, there have been occasional meetings that have taken place, but right now our focus is on Hammond, Indiana, to make sure that we bring that to life.”
Urlacher was particularly critical of how Illinois handled the situation and argued that the state should have done more to keep the Bears from looking elsewhere.
“[Pritzker] dropped the ball. I mean, this should never gone this far. This should have been handled a long time ago.”
That frustration is easier to understand with the Bears now actively evaluating two Hammond locations. The team has completed its review of the Lost Marsh site and is conducting further work at the Wolf Lake Terminal location. A combination of the two sites remains possible.
The potential move also bothers Urlacher on a more personal level. The Bears have played in Chicago for more than a century, and Soldier Field remains a major part of the franchise’s identity. After all, this was Urlacher’s home ground for 13 years.
Indiana has put together a package worth up to $1 billion in public incentives, while the Bears have committed about $2 billion of their own money to the project. That financial gap has helped make Hammond an increasingly attractive option as the team weighs its future beyond Illinois. The state support made it a “no-brainer” for the Bears, which Urlacher understood.
For Urlacher, though, the fact that Indiana is now set in stone for the Bears is proof that Illinois failed to act quickly enough. With the Bears continuing their due diligence in Hammond, the pressure is now on Illinois to find a solution before the franchise makes its next major move.