“This team belongs to the city of Chicago,” George Halas founder of the Chicago Bears, probably several, several times through out his life.
You can’t play in Indiana if you are the Chicago Bears.
It makes no sense.
The Chicago Bears, the NFL’s second oldest franchised let it be known they would consider a move to Indiana to find/build a new stadium, ( allegedly a dome stadium with a roof-no more blistering cold Soldier Field days?).
Of course it’s silly, and just one more point along the saga that is the Bears getting out of Soldier Field and building a gigantic NFL stadium. They say that’s what the NFL requires. It’s a gigantic stadium. The battle is with the State of Illinois on tax relief, infrastructure support and financing mechanisms.
As far as stadium location, it seems the current trend is to ignore traditional geography. The modern era of sports realignment you might call it, says that tradition and geography means nothing. Why would it, when fans have their wallets out and will pay just about anything to watch and see live sports?
Stanford, located not too far from the Pacific Coast (25 miles?), plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference for example.
But the Chicago Bears one of the great franchises in the history the NFL and Sports must play somewhere near Chicago, even if the drive is just as short to Indiana as it would be to the ‘burbs of Chicago. In 2023, the Bears purchased the former Arlington International Race Course in Arlington Heights for a potential stadium.
The Bears must play in Chicago or at least close to it. And I think I speak for most Hoosiers when I say we don’t want the Bears in Indiana, although quite frankly there are many Bears fans in Northwest Indiana, and there were many at one time throughout Indiana prior to the Colts moving from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984.
How did the idea of the Bears in Indiana get started? Bears President Kevin Warren wrote an open letter to fans re: the team’s quest for a new stadium, where he criticized Illinois legislators and indicated the Bears would could look into opportunities in NW Indiana.
“Consequently, in addition to Arlington Park, we need to expand our search and critically evaluate opportunities throughout the wider Chicagoland region, including Northwest Indiana. This is not about leverage. We spent years trying to build a new home in Cook County. We invested significant time and resources evaluating multiple sites and rationally decided on Arlington Heights. Our fans deserve a world-class stadium. Our players and coaches deserve a venue that matches the championship standard they strive for every day. With that in mind, our organization must keep every credible pathway open to deliver that future.”
So this appears to simply be leverage.
