Chicago Mayor-Elect Sounds Off on Bears’ Move to Arlington Heights

The Chicago Bears have continued to signal the future of their franchise will be in the nearby suburb of Arlington Heights, but Chicago mayor-elect Brandon Johnson isn’t accepting the “inevitability” of the Bears leaving the city just yet.

Johnson — who won his runoff election against Paul Vallas on April 4 and will take office as the next mayor of Chicago on May 15 — joined the Mully & Haugh show on 670 The Score to talk about the Bears and his intentions to keep the franchise in the city. Specifically, he said he has asked the Bears’ ownership to give him an opportunity to assess their situation at Soldier Field and potentially find a path forward together.

Here’s what Johnson said during Wednesday’s Mully & Haugh show:

I’m not going to accept inevitability, and I’ve asked ownership to give me an opportunity to be able to assess, and then we can make a collective determination together. The reason why I don’t ever accept inevitability. Like, I come from a family of 10. We had one bathroom. I am the baddest negotiator in the world, and I mean bad in a good way. Like, I know how to leave the house clean. The type of deals that I make to get there, don’t judge a brother.

Keeping the Bears in the city of Chicago is important. And the field should not be confined to eight games and hopefully a playoff game or two. It’s a beautiful campus, and it’s an entire infrastructure that the city of Chicago has not fully tapped into. I want to make sure that the field, the museum, the entire campus is used in a way that speaks to our excellence.

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Where Things Stand With Bears & Arlington Heights

While Johnson’s comments confirm he is picking up the torch from his predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, and trying to keep the Bears in the city of Chicago, it might be too late for him or anyone else to stop the team from relocating to the northwest suburb.

The Bears have been working toward moving the team to Arlington Heights for the better part of two years now, beginning in June 2021 when they submitted their bid to purchase the 326-acre property that was previously the Arlington International Racecourse. They reached a purchase agreement a few months later in September 2021 and, since then, have hired an architectural firm to design a potential new stadium, released renderings of their proposed entertainment district around said stadium and — as of February 2022 — officially finalized the purchase of the property.

While the Bears have expressed excitement and optimism about a potential move to Arlington Heights, though, they have also cautioned that a purchase agreement for the property does not necessarily mean they will develop it into a new stadium district.

“There is still a tremendous amount of due diligence work to be done to determine if constructing an enclosed state-of-the-art stadium multi-purpose entertainment district is feasible,” the team said in its February 15 open letter about closing on the land.

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Bears’ New President Focused on Arlington Heights

The Bears also hired former Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren to be their new team president on January 12, bringing in an ambitious executive who has a history with NFL-level stadium construction from his time in the Minnesota Vikings’ front office. Since his introductory press conference on January 17, Warren has made it clear that his “sole focus” is on developing the Arlington Heights property and that he won’t be considering other options — including renovations to Soldier Field — at this point.

“That’s what I appreciate about the McCaskeys; they support the planning process,” Warren said in his introductory press conference. “I think that will be really critical from that standpoint and I know we’re focused on Arlington Park and that stadium development project; I looked forward to leaning in to the stadium development project. But I think the biggest thing we can do is to make sure we’re methodical and detailed and we take the time to plan it properly.”

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