Chicago Bears still face significant hurdle with Indiana site

Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren. Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

Chicago Bears still face significant hurdle with Indiana site

Originally posted on ChiCitySports | By Jordan Sigler | Last updated Jun 5, 2026 6:30 PM ET

On Friday, the Chicago Bears flexed some muscle after Illinois lawmakers failed to pass legislation that would aid the team in their efforts to build a stadium in Arlington Heights (or potentially Chicago through a bill that would allow municipalities to own the stadium in exchange for paying no property tax).

Per a statement from Bears chairman George H. McCaskey and president/CEO Kevin Warren, the team’s board of directors voted to advance the project in Hammond, Indiana. But the team left out a significant detail.

“Yesterday, the Chicago Bears Board of Directors met and voted to advance our stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana, with the exact site to be selected,” the statement reads. “We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city.

“It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.”

The key phrase in the statement: “with the exact site to be selected?”

Chicago Bears don’t have a site locked down

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Huh?

The Bears, who failed to complete a traffic study for the Arlington Heights location in time for the Senate to discuss the megaprojects bill this spring, don’t have a site nailed down for Indiana.

Friday’s statement isn’t a pledge from the Bears that they intend to move to Indiana; it’s merely a step in that direction after what Illinois failed to do this spring.

The Bears don’t have a plan with Indiana because the project doesn’t even have a site locked down. That could be in part because of all of the obstacles the city has, including nearby hazardous waste sites.

The Bears’ choice isn’t as simple as Arlington Heights or Hammond. The Bears still have to decide how to advance the new stadium project in the Chicagoland city, and that means choosing a site, and preferably one that isn’t toxic.

This article first appeared on ChiCitySports and was syndicated with permission.

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