How much longer will the Chicago Bears call Soldier Field their home? Quinn Harris-Imagn Images

Sports biz expert slams Chicago Bears’ suburban stadium plan

Originally posted on Chicago Bears on SI
By Alan Goldsher | Last updated May 18, 2025 8:06 AM ET

Some Chicago Bears fans adore Soldier Field.

I’m not one of them.

Don’t get me wrong: The stadium in and of itself is a venerable piece of historical architecture that’s vital to the look and feel of the city’s lakefront.

But unless you can land (and/or afford) lower-level seats and a premium parking pass, going to a Bears game isn’t what you’d call a magical experience.

There’s the inability to park your car anywhere within spitting distance of the place.

There’re the mediocre sight lines.

There’s the way-over-the-top audio and video attack.

And there’s the lack of a dome that makes any game scheduled after early November a potential festival of frostbite.

Soldier Field is the most TRASH ️ football stadium ️ in the NFL
— Guapo Capo (@Emilio_Watts) May 18, 2025

All of which is why I’m very much on board with the proposed new barn in the ‘burbs.

Go Northwest Young Men

In 2023, the Chicago Bears acquired a property in Arlington Heights, a suburb approximately 25 miles northwest of the city, for a reported $197.2 million. The franchise's plan was to build not just a new domed stadium on the land, but a veritable mini-city with hotels, shops, and restaurants.

For a variety of reasons—indecision about blowing off Soldier Field, tax assessments, political cover, trademark Chicago and Illinois bureaucratic red tape—the project has come to a grinding halt.

Until Friday, that is, when the Bears broke their relative silence, telling the Chicago Tribune in a statement, “Over the last few months, we have made significant progress with the leaders in Arlington Heights, and look forward to continuing to work with state and local leaders on making a transformative economic development project for the region a reality,”

Some business experts aren’t impressed.

Front Office Speaks

Five days before the announcement, I sat down with business journalists Colin Salao and Ryan Glasspiegel from Front Office Sports who were skeptical about whether or not it makes sense for the franchise to change digs.

Glasspiegel’s primary concern is the transportation situation: “They're gonna need to have a Metra [commuter train] drop you off basically at that stadium [door], because otherwise the traffic getting in and out, well, I'll believe that when I see it.”

For his part, Salao would rather keep the Bears in the city for two reasons: “My preference would be to get a new arena in the city, like a domed arena downtown, right? The cost wouldn’t justify that, but I think there’s beauty in a stadium in the middle of Chicago. [Plus] I don't own a car—I'm a city boy—so the suburbs are less appealing.”

Glasspiegel is pushing a solution that would centralize two of the city’s professional sports franchises, potentially on the city’s South Side: “They should put the White Sox and Bears together in arrangement where they're right by each other, like Philadelphia.”