CHICAGO — The Bears have finalized their deal to purchase land in Arlington Heights, taking a big step forward to potentially moving the team to the suburbs.
The team announced in a Wednesday tweet that officials were shut down at the suburban property last week. However, the purchase does not guarantee that the team will leave. City officials have negotiated with team leaders to keep the bears in Chicago, and the bears still need support from suburban leaders and potential neighbors.
“Completing the purchase does not guarantee the land will be developed, but it is an important next step in our ongoing evaluation of the property,” team officials tweeted.
“There is still a tremendous amount of due diligence work to be done to determine if building a gated, state-of-the-art stadium and multi-purpose entertainment district is feasible.”
The deal is a “big development” of the potential move, but “there has been no decision” on whether the Bears will make the proposed Arlington Heights venue, according to a letter from the team.
But if the team goes ahead with their idea for the suburban campus, it would be “one of the largest megaprojects in Midwestern history,” according to the letter.
Our Arlington Park Property Closure Open Letter:
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) February 15, 2023
The Arlington Park campus would be built on 326 acres on the site of the former Churchill Downs racecourse, which closed for racing late last season.
It would be “much more than a stadium project,” the team wrote in September as they unveiled possible plans for the development.
RELATED: Bears reveal what Arlington Heights Stadium campus could look like
The campus would include a “multipurpose entertainment, commercial/retail and residential district,” according to the Bears website. It could include restaurants, office space, a hotel, fitness center, parks and open spaces.
However, the site has repeatedly pointed out that campus will only become a reality when certain things happen: when the team closes the property and when the team decides to develop it.
Now the team has completed this first step.
The Bears have said the development could create more than 48,000 jobs and generate $9.4 billion for the Chicago-area economy. But company officials have said they would want public funding for the project.
“The overarching plan will only work if the village of Arlington Heights, surrounding communities, Cook County, the greater Chicagoland area and the state of Illinois all receive significant economic benefits, and we are confident that a mega-project like this can deliver results,” he said the team’s letter.
The team held meetings with Arlington Heights residents to gather their feedback. A September gathering drew more than 100 neighbors who applauded when the Bears said their Arlington Heights stadium would have a roof — only for the crowd to groan when the team said the roof would not be retractable.
Chicago officials have hoped to keep the team during months of negotiations at Soldier Field.
The announcement is the latest twist in the stadium drama between the Bears and the city of Chicago – a saga that stretches back to the ’70s when the team first threatened to leave Soldier Field for Arlington Heights.
The City and Bears rebuilt Soldier Field in 2002, but it remains the smallest-capacity stadium in the NFL. And the bears are Park District tenants, which means they pay rent and share many of the revenue streams.
Lightfoot has tried to persuade the team to stay by offering to build a dome over the stadium, but many saw this as a Hail Mary with little chance of keeping the team within city limits.
Separately, Landmark Development has also proposed a glamorous overhaul of Soldier Field, releasing a nearly six-minute video in January showing designs to address many of the Bears’ complaints about the stadium.
Lightfoot’s office said at the time the mayor supported the developer’s efforts.
But the mayor has also tried to play tough at times, poking fun at the team’s struggles on the field and suggesting how Soldier Field could be rehabilitated without the bears. She has also hinted that if the Bears left, Chicago would attract another football team to the city.
The Bears moved to Park District’s Soldier Field in 1971, but several years later threatened to move to Arlington Heights. Then-Mayor Richard J. Daley threatened a lawsuit to prevent them from calling themselves Chicago Bears if they relocated. His son, Mayor Richard M. Daley, also engaged in years of tense negotiations with the team, which threatened to relocate to Gary, Indiana in 1995.
The Bears could terminate the Soldier Field lease as early as 2026 by paying the city an $84 million penalty, the Tribune reported. This price will decrease in the coming years.
Big city teams opting for more space in the suburbs are not unprecedented. The New York Giants and New York Jets relocated to New Jersey from the city decades ago. The San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders also play outside of the cities they are named after.
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