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The Chicago Bears may be literal years from their journey to Arlington Heights, but according to a recent report by Jim O’Donnell of The Daily Herald, the Bears may already have a name for their new stadium.
The Bears, of course, spent $197 million on a purchase agreement for Arlington International Racecourse, and while the deal still has a way to go before it’s done, they are taking all the steps that suggest a move to Arlington Heights coupled with a brand new, state of the art stadium, are coming.
One of the biggest clues to support this comes from the October 13 column from O’Donnell, who revealed what the team’s new stadium could potentially be called.
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Bears Brass Recently Visited Arlington Heights
While the Bears’ intentions seemed a bit less set in stone when they announced they had put the bid in to purchase the Racecourse back in June, their actions ever since tell one story only: They’re planning on leaving Chicago to build a new stadium.
According to Robert McCoppin of The Chicago Tribune, Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes says he has been working with the team, noting that Bears Chairman George McCaskey and President and CEO Ted Phillips were given a recent tour of the Arlington site, “and have begun discussions with Arlington Heights officials to see what they need to do to get preliminary approval for their plans.”
“We’ve had open lines of communication,” Hayes told the Tribune about the Bears. “There was a mutual agreement to begin the process and touch base on what we need from them and what they need from us to move to close the sale.'”
While there is still much to be done before things are finalized, the Bears seem intent on making it happen.
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Goodbye, Soldier Field. Hello, George S. Halas Stadium?
O’Donnell may have dropped a bombshell in his October 13 column, which addressed the tour McCaskey and Phillips were given in Arlington Heights, when he subtly mentioned a new stadium name:
“Bears chairman George McCaskey and president Ted Phillips were given a full tour of the 326 acres, including areas of the backstretch neither had reportedly ever seen live and up close before,” O’Donnell wrote, adding: “As expected, plans are evolving in which the new George S. Halas Stadium will be located in the northwest portion of the trapezoid, near Northwest Highway and Route 53.”
George Stanley Halas, of course, was the founder and longtime owner of the Bears, and his daughter, Virginia Halas McCaskey, currently owns the team. Honoring Halas in the name of the team’s new stadium seems only fitting — but it’s by no means a certainty, as the team hasn’t confirmed the news, nor has ground been broken on a new stadium yet. Again, much more needs to happen first.
The Chicago Tribune also noted on October 21 that many others still have to sign off on the Bears’ move before it’s official:
“The team likely would need to get preliminary approval from the village board for its plans to close the sale … the team also would likely need approval from the village plan commission, design commission, engineering, public works, and legal departments.”
Quite a bit of red tape remains, but based on Chicago’s activity in recent months, it’s looking like the move from Soldier Field to Arlington Heights is becoming more of a reality by the day.
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