Bears owner George McCaskey says the franchise is "moving forward" with a new stadium in Hammond, Indiana, a decision driven by Illinois lawmakers' failure to act while a rival state rolled out the welcome mat.
McCaskey used a broadcast booth appearance during the Bears' preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns on Aug. 15 to lay out the team's position in plain terms. Hammond is the priority. Two sites are under review. And he wants patience while the due diligence grinds forward.
Two days earlier, McCaskey and Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren held a joint press conference where the owner made the pecking order official. Arlington Heights, Illinois, once seen as the leading option, now sits behind Hammond, a city roughly 22 miles south of downtown Chicago, just across the state line. The message was unmistakable: after more than a century in Illinois, the Bears are looking next door.
During the third quarter of the Aug. 15 game, McCaskey told the broadcast audience exactly where things stand:
"The clarity is we're moving forward in Hammond, (Indiana). We've identified one viable site, the Lost Marsh Golf Course, we're looking at another site to see if it is viable, the Wolf Lake Terminal, and we're doing our due diligence on those sites. It's time-consuming, it's deliberate. It takes a while, and we just need people to be patient."
Lost Marsh Golf Course is the site McCaskey called "viable." Wolf Lake Terminal is still being evaluated. Whether the Bears end up on one parcel or some combination of both remains an open question, but both sit in Hammond.
At the Aug. 13 press conference, McCaskey framed the choice even more starkly.
"Our focus is on Hammond. That's where we're advancing our efforts, and that's where the bulk of our time, attention and resources are being devoted."
That language, "bulk of our time, attention and resources", left little ambiguity about where Arlington Heights falls in the Bears' internal ranking.
How did a franchise that has played in Chicago since the 1920s end up shopping for land in Indiana? The short answer: Indiana's government moved at the speed of a team trying to win, and Illinois moved like a committee trying not to lose a vote.
Indiana Governor Mike Braun announced a framework deal to bring the Bears to Hammond and signed the pitch in terms no business owner could miss. The Washington Free Beacon reported Braun's public appeal: "Indiana is open for business, and our pro-growth environment continues to attract major opportunities like this partnership with the Chicago Bears."
Indiana's legislature backed that talk with action. The state Senate passed legislation 46-2 to create the Northwest Indiana Stadium Commission, a body designed to finance and build a Bears stadium. The bill then moved to the state House, where the Ways and Means Committee approved it 24-0, unanimous, without a single dissent. Governor Braun signed the legislation into law.
The Bears called that vote "the most meaningful step forward in our stadium planning efforts to date."
Braun hammered the contrast with Illinois: "The State of Indiana moves at the speed of business...leading to the construction of a world-class stadium and a win for taxpayers."
Illinois, meanwhile, managed to pass stadium-related bills in both legislative chambers, but never reconciled the two versions into a single law. An Illinois "megaprojects" bill that would have given the Bears property tax certainty died in the state Senate. That failure removed one of the last concrete incentives for the team to stay. Fox News reported that the Bears' board of directors subsequently voted to advance the Hammond project, the first time the board had ever formally voted on a stadium site.
The Bears are not some mid-tier franchise looking for a handout. A minority stake changed hands in September 2025 at a valuation of $8.9 billion. The team generates roughly $245 million in revenue each season when tourist spending on restaurants and transportation near home games is factored in. That economic engine is precisely what Illinois stands to lose.
Rep. Jonathan Jackson, a Democrat representing Illinois, acknowledged the stakes plainly. He told the Washington Examiner: "If the Bears move to Indiana, a large share of that economic activity moves with them."
Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia put it more bluntly: "We cannot fumble this opportunity."
But the fumble may already have happened. Illinois lost 40,017 residents to domestic migration in the year ending July 1, 2025, and 456,378 people over a roughly five-year stretch. The Bears' potential departure fits a pattern that extends well beyond football. Ken Griffin, the billionaire financier who relocated his firm from Chicago, explained his own exit in terms that echo across the state's business community: "I've had multiple colleagues mugged at gunpoint. I've had a colleague stabbed on the way to work."
High taxes, crime, and a regulatory environment that discourages investment, those are the conditions Illinois created. Now a franchise worth nearly $9 billion is acting on the same calculus that has driven hundreds of thousands of ordinary residents to leave.
For all the momentum toward Indiana, Bears CEO Kevin Warren has not entirely shut the door on staying in Illinois. Warren told reporters the team's "sole focus at this point in time is working on a world-class stadium and mixed-use development in Hammond, Indiana", but he noted that "occasional meetings with the state of Illinois" have continued.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, for his part, said he is "working hard to make sure that there's an opportunity for the Bears to stay in the state of Illinois, whether it's in Chicago or Arlington Heights." But working hard and delivering results are two different things, and so far, Springfield has produced neither a unified bill nor a competitive offer.
McCaskey and Warren released a joint statement through the team describing their vision for Hammond in expansive terms: "We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana and the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across the neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city." The NFL's league office has been kept in the loop. A league spokesperson confirmed that "the club has kept the stadium committee and league office apprised of all developments."
McCaskey did not spend his entire broadcast booth visit talking real estate. He praised third-year quarterback Caleb Williams, whose relationship with second-year head coach Ben Johnson appears to anchor the franchise's on-field optimism.
"Great kid. Wants to be great himself. Terrific relationship with Coach Johnson. Teammates love him. He's a hard worker. We're expecting big things from him."
McCaskey also reflected on the Bears' prior postseason run, a wild-card win over the Green Bay Packers followed by a divisional-round loss to the Los Angeles Rams. He called the ride "miraculous, unbelievable, stupendous," then added: "But ultimately, we fell short. Gotta get farther."
The broadcast appearance ended on a high note. Running back Salvon Ahmed caught a screen pass and ripped off a 56-yard touchdown run. McCaskey left the booth at the next commercial break. George McCaskey became the Bears' controlling owner last year following the death of his mother, Virginia McCaskey, and he appears intent on pairing a winning team with a new home, even if that home sits across the state line.
The Bears have committed $2 billion of their own money toward stadium construction. They previously sought $850 million in state funding for infrastructure at the Arlington Heights site. Indiana offered a legislative framework. Illinois offered committee hearings and dead bills.
McCaskey said the team will keep "Chicago" in its name if it moves to Indiana. That is a courtesy Illinois may not deserve after letting a century-old institution walk out the door, but it is one more reminder that the franchise did not leave. It was pushed.
