Rolling Meadows, Illinois to study impact of potential Chicago Bears stadium in neighboring Arlington Heights
At a meeting Tuesday night, the Rolling Meadows City Council approved the hiring of a team of consultants. They will research everything from traffic to construction and sound when it comes to a new stadium.
But Rolling Meadows Mayor Lara Sanoica emphasized the excitement at the prospect of the Bears' possible move too.
"We are on the cusp of achieving a dream that has captured Chicago's northwest suburban imagination since George S. Halas first proposed moving the Bears to Arlington Park 50 years ago," Sanoica said.
Indeed, talk of moving the Bears to Arlington Heights is not actually new at all. The Bears moved to Soldier Field in 1971 after half a century of sharing Wrigley Field with the Chicago Cubs, and the team website notes that Bears management toured Arlington Park racetrack even back then — only to find it of insufficient spectator capacity.
When the Bears arrived at Soldier Field, they initially signed on for a three-year commitment. By 1975, a move to Arlington Heights was being floated again.
As quoted by the Daily Herald, Bears owner George S. "Papa Bear" Halas told the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce, "I hope and pray that 1977 will find the Bears contending for a title in a new stadium in Arlington Heights."
The more recent narrative involving the Bears going to Arlington Heights dates back only to 2021, when they made a bid to buy the old 326-acre Arlington International Racecourse.
While they closed that $197 million deal in 2023, and later demolished the racetrack's grandstand and other buildings, plans to build a stadium there were delayed amid a dispute over property taxes.
The Bears later pivoted to plans for a domed stadium on the Chicago lakefront, unveiling a $4.7 billion proposal that would have relied on $2.4 billion in public funding. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has called that plan a "nonstarter," and said public funding for a Bears stadium would not be a good deal for taxpayers.
With talks about that proposed lakefront stadium having stalled, the Bears have now shifted their focus back to the old Arlington International Racecourse site.
Rolling Meadows borders the property on three sides.
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