The Bears are still looking to start construction on a new stadium in 2025, but they are now working more on parallel tracks.
After the team had shifted its focus to building a new stadium downtown, Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren said in an interview with PFT Live at the league meeting this week that the club is now back to looking more at the Arlington Heights site.
“The good thing about it is [No.] 1, is that we continue our conversations with the city of Chicago,” Warren said. “I’ve said it many many times that that piece of land along the lakefront is absolutely beautiful. I understand all the dynamics, I understand the politics, I understand the cost of it.
“And then fortunately back to George [McCaskey] and his leadership and my predecessor Ted Phillips, whom I’m grateful for, they’ve made a very forward-thinking decision right before I started — that was the piece of paper that was on my desk when I walked in my office in April of ’23 is that they purchased 326 acres in Arlington Heights. This land is absolutely beautiful, I mean it’s a great piece of land. And so now the key thing in all the stadium projects is optionality.”
Warren added that the stadium will be domed to host big events like the Super Bowl, NCAA men’s basketball Final Four, Big Ten championship games, College Football Playoff games, and more. And it doesn’t appear a third mystery site will emerge, as Warren noted it’d down to either the downtown museum campus or Arlington Heights.
“These stadiums are not linear, they’re not straight line, they take time to come together,” Warren said. “Fortunately, I’ve been through this journey in Minnesota and I’m excited about bringing it to life and seeing you all out there on Super Bowl Sunday and being home.”
