The Bears say they want to stay in Chicago, but their potential drive to the northwest suburbs just got easier.
Team officials announced Monday they’ve reached a tentative agreement with the village of Arlington Heights and local school district leaders who’ve sparred with the Bears over the property tax valuation on the shuttered Arlington International Racecourse, the 326-acre plot the team closed on early last year as a potential new stadium site.
After about a year of wrangling over the size of the team’s property tax bill — and a year of political roadblocks to the Bears’ hopes for funding a new stadium in Chicago — the team says it has a memorandum of understanding that opens the runway for them to land in Arlington Heights.
But their first choice is still Chicago, team officials insist, raising the constant question of whether Bears’ latest announcement is a push for leverage in stadium negotiations that have now stretched over three years.
In a statement, team officials said they “remain focused on investing over $2 billion to build a publicly owned enclosed stadium on Chicago’s lakefront while reevaluating the feasibility of a development in Bronzeville.”
“That being said, we remain significant landowners in Arlington Heights and establishing a framework for potential future development planning, financing and property tax certainty has been a priority since the land was purchased. We continue to have productive conversations with the village and school districts and are aligned on a framework should we choose to explore a potential development,” team officials said.
Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes said the property tax deal was not yet signed, noting it requires approval from the boards of the village, Township High School District 214, Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 and Palatine Township Elementary District 15.
“It’s pretty clear the Bears are still focused on the lakefront, but we’ve always considered Arlington Park and Arlington Heights a strong, if not the best contender, and I’m really optimistic about the progress we’ve made,” Hayes said.
A spokesperson for the village and school districts said “we have a common understanding with the team on how to create a framework for potential development, financing, and property tax certainty in Arlington Heights that works for all parties.”
Officials declined to say what number the sides landed on. It’s expected to be announced next week.
A year after the Bears closed on their $197.2 million purchase, the Cook County Board of Review in February handed the Bears a $124.7 million valuation on Arlington Park, which would result in a property tax hit of about $9 million.
The team argued their case to the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, seeking to have the valuation lowered to $60 million, for a $1.7 million tax bill.
The three suburban school districts, which are funded by property taxes, intervened in the case with proposals that would land the bill around $5 million.
Once all but certain for a suburban move, the stalemate prompted the Bears to shift their focus back toward the Museum Campus, where the team in April unveiled a proposal for a $4.7 billion dome south of Soldier Field.
Their plan, which requires upwards of $1 billion in public funding, drew cheers from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson — and cold shoulders from state lawmakers in Springfield.
The team called an audible from their city stadium playbook earlier this month, and are now reevaluating the former Michael Reese Hospital site in Bronzeville as a potential home, despite the fact team president Kevin Warren previously dismissed it as too narrow to house a modern NFL dome.
Johnson’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday’s announcement.
The Bears unveiled conceptual designs in 2022 for a massive mixed-use stadium district at Arlington Park, the home of Illinois’ most famous horse racing track for nearly a century until the last races were run in 2021.
Their suburban proposal for the sprawling plot includes office space, a sportsbook, small residential neighborhoods, retail and park space alongside a $5 billion dome. They would need state help to fund that infrastructure work, a prospect similarly stymied so far in Springfield.
Such a development would take about a decade to complete, the team has said. They’re under lease at Soldier Field through 2033.
The Arlington Heights mayor called it “a long road” to landing the property tax deal.
“We’ve been working aggressively to get everyone singing from the same music over the last year,” Hayes said, adding that he doesn’t think the Bears are merely trying to raise pressure on state lawmakers to help them stay in Chicago.
“I understand their desire to do their due diligence and get the best deal,” Hayes said. “That’s what we’re all doing.”