The Chicago Bears have selected the architects to build their new stadium in Arlington Heights Illinois, according to a March 16 report courtesy of Don Muret of Venues Now.
“The Chicago Bears have selected Manica Architecture to help with initial plans for their proposed NFL stadium at the site of Arlington International Racecourse in the city’s northwest suburbs, team officials confirmed,” Muret wrote. “Manica is helping the team with conceptual design as part of their due diligence on the property, officials said. David Manica, owner of Manica Architecture, said he could not comment on the project.”
The Bears’ Soldier Field lease runs through 2033, but according to a July 2021 report by the Chicago Tribune, they could break the lease as soon as 2026 for a sum of $84 million, which is looking like the path the team is set to take.
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Bears Currently in ‘Initial Planning Phase’ of New Stadium
“The initial planning phase includes Jones Lang LaSalle and CAA Icon,” Muret also reported. “JLL served as owner’s representative for the $660 million transformation of Soldier Field that opened in 2003. CAA Icon, among dozens of other sports projects, was the owner’s rep for the recent $760 million makeover of Wrigley Field, where the Bears played for 50 years before moving to Soldier Field in 1971. Legends and CSL International are working on a study as part of the stadium marketing efforts, sources said.”
The Bears purchased Arlington International Racecourse in 2021, and the Daily Herald reported the team should close on the sale of the property by mid-2023. The Bears have been playing their home games at Soldier Field for 50 years, and at 97 years old, the stadium is the NFL’s oldest, per Forbes. It’s also the NFL smallest, with a 61,500 capacity.
Building an NFL stadium is a multi-year, multi-billion project. SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles cost over $5 billion and took nearly four years to build. Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders, cost nearly $2 billion and took less than three years to construct. The latter of the two stadiums may provide a more relevant template for the Bears.
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Some Details About Allegiant Stadium
Muret also revealed that the Bears have hired Manica Architecture, the same architecture team responsible for the construction of Allegiant Stadium.
“Manica Architecture teamed with HNTB to design Allegiant Stadium, the $2 billion home of the Las Vegas Raiders that opened in 2020,” Muret added. “Prior to forming his own firm in 2007, David Manica helped design Reliant Stadium, now NRG Stadium, home of the Houston Texans, during his 13 years as senior project designer at HOK Sport, now Populous.”
If the Bears’ next stadium is anything like the Raiders’ current home, it’ll be equally huge and technologically impressive. Allegiant Stadium has 95,000 square feet of event space and over 10 individual event spaces. It boasts 75,000 feet of video boards and features 2,200 TVs on site. A climate-controlled venue with a capacity of 65,000, it also features a field with real grass and a fully translucent roof.
The Bears’ stadium will surely be different in a number of ways, but considering Allegiant Stadium was built in 2020, it’s recent enough to provide a potential template for how long (and perhaps even how expensive) Chicago’s new stadium could take to materialize.
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Chicago Bears Choose Designers for New Stadium: Report