Gov. JB Pritzker scolds mayor over stadium comments

Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren. Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

Gov. JB Pritzker scolds mayor over stadium comments

Originally posted on ChiCitySports | By Jordan Sigler | Last updated May 19, 2026 11:56 AM ET

Despite the NFL Stadium Council telling the Chicago Bears that only the sites at Arlington Heights or Hammond, Indiana, were viable for the new stadium project, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson has held firm that the team belongs in its home city.

“There’s no good reason to incentivize the Bears to leave the top tourist destination in Illinois or to gift them property tax reprieve when they already don’t pay property taxes on a publicly-owned stadium,” Johnson wrote on his X account last week. “The Bears belong in downtown Chicago.”

The Bears remain in conversations with Chicago about potentially building inside the city, though the idea is a long shot at this point.

On Monday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker scolded Johnson, saying Chicago has no plan to keep the Bears.

“He (Johnson) has come up with no plan at all about how the Bears would end up in the city of Chicago,” Pritzker said, via Brenden Moore of Capitol News Illinois. “So, that’s problematic. I’d love them to be in the city, but we are three years in now, and he still has no plan.”

Chicago Bears will have an update on Tuesday

Per Courtney Cronin of ESPN, there will be a special briefing on the project during the league meeting on Tuesday in Orlando.

“Per source, at the NFL league meeting in Orlando tomorrow, there will be a special briefing on the Bears stadium,” Cronin posted on X. “Club and league staff will update the 32 clubs on progress on the only two viable stadium solutions at Arlington Heights and Hammond, Indiana.”

Johnson had a chance to keep the Bears two years ago, but the mayor didn’t like the idea of billions in taxpayer dollars going to help the private team.

Indiana seems like the most serious player to spend taxpayer money on the stadium. The Senate has yet to add amendments to or pass the bill that passed the House last month on megaprojects legislation.

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

More must-reads: