The Chicago Bears took a major step toward leaving Illinois on Friday, announcing that the organization will move forward with plans for a new stadium project in Hammond, Indiana.
The decision came less than a week after a last-minute effort in Springfield to help keep the team in Illinois fell apart. Early Monday morning, the Illinois Senate approved legislation that would have allowed certain municipalities to create stadium authorities for professional sports venues. Supporters viewed the bill as a possible way to make an Illinois stadium project more attractive to the Bears. The measure never reached a House vote before lawmakers ended their spring session.
In a statement released Friday, Bears Chairman George McCaskey said the team’s board of directors voted the day before to advance the Hammond project. Team officials have not identified an exact location for the stadium, but they described Northwest Indiana as the focus of their efforts moving forward. The announcement was one of the clearest signals yet about where the franchise sees its future, though it did not completely shut down discussions elsewhere.
That became clear almost immediately after the statement was released. State Sen. Bill Cunningham said Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren called him Friday morning before the announcement became public. Cunningham, who helped lead negotiations on stadium legislation in Illinois, said Warren told him he wanted to continue discussions. Cunningham also noted that the Bears released a similar statement earlier this year after Indiana lawmakers approved legislation creating a stadium authority, suggesting that Friday’s news may not be the final word.
Illinois officials were disappointed, but few sounded ready to walk away from the conversation. A spokesperson for Gov. JB Pritzker said the Bears have changed positions several times during the stadium search and argued that those shifts have slowed progress. At the same time, the governor’s office said Pritzker remains willing to consider an agreement that keeps the team in Illinois while protecting taxpayers from taking on unnecessary costs.
Chicago officials made a similar point. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said the Bears have explored multiple locations over the years and emphasized that no specific site has been selected in Hammond. The city said it intends to keep talking with the team for now. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle also said county leaders remain interested in finding a path that could keep the Bears in Illinois.
The stadium search has taken several turns over the last few years. Arlington Heights once appeared to be the leading option after the Bears purchased the former Arlington Park property for $197 million in 2023. Chicago later emerged as another possibility when team officials proposed a new stadium near Soldier Field. Neither effort produced a final agreement, and attention gradually shifted toward Northwest Indiana as discussions in Illinois continued.
The Bears still play at Soldier Field under a lease that runs through 2033, although the team can leave earlier if it pays a penalty. The stadium remains tied to debt from a renovation completed in 2003, and Illinois officials have generally opposed providing direct public funding for a new facility. Instead, lawmakers focused on proposals involving financing structures and tax treatment rather than paying for stadium construction itself.
Indiana leaders wasted little time celebrating the announcement. Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. called the project a major opportunity for the city and the surrounding region. Gov. Mike Braun also welcomed the Bears, saying the franchise could bring new economic activity to Northwest Indiana. Both officials portrayed the move as a win for the state, even though important details about the project still have not been finalized.
The Bears have spent more than a century in Illinois. The franchise began as the Decatur Staleys in 1920 before moving to Chicago a year later. After decades at Wrigley Field, the team relocated to Soldier Field in 1971, where it has remained ever since. Friday’s announcement does not mean construction is about to begin, and it does not end discussions taking place in Illinois. It does show where the organization’s attention is focused as one of the NFL’s longest-running stadium searches enters another chapter.
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