A prominent Chicago Sun-Times columnist ripped the Bears over their latest stadium announcement, accusing the franchise of giving the “middle finger” to fans as the team moves closer to a potential departure from Chicago, over the state line to Hammond, Indiana.
The Friday column tapped into growing frustration surrounding the Bears’ stadium saga, with critics arguing the organization’s announced priority of pursuing an Indiana project sends a troubling message to fans who expected the franchise to remain rooted in Chicago.
The Bears’ board of directors voted Thursday to advance plans for a new domed stadium at Wolf Lake in Hammond, Indiana, with chairman George McCaskey and president and CEO Kevin Warren speaking on the board’s behalf. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Scoop Jackson published a blistering response Friday, drawing a pointed historical parallel â tax evasion ended Al Capone’s Chicago reign, and now a dispute over property-tax certainty appears to be doing the same to the Bears after 106 years in the city, Jackson wrote in the Sun-Times.
The sticking point on the long-pursued Arlington Heights site that would keep the Bears in Illinois is that state legislators could not guarantee the Bears a fixed property-tax rate on the more than 300 acres the franchise had already purchased. Indiana lawmakers moved decisively, packaging taxpayer-backed financing and tax breaks in a deal that came together within weeks, a timeline the Illinois side never approached.
Bears’ Hammond Stadium Plan Draws Fierce Fan Backlash
Reaction from Chicago fans gathered outside Wrigley Field on Friday was immediate and pointed. “How’s that going to sound? Indiana Bears⦠it doesn’t sound right,” said Gwen Williams, 72, a lifelong North Sider, as quoted by the Sun-Times.
“No, no, hell to the no, I’m done,” said fellow North Sider Delores Davis, 67, quoted by the newspaper. “Chicago needs to keep Chicago in Chicago. That’s what makes Chicago.”
Elizabeth Lucas, 52, a lifelong Bears fan now living in Idaho, was equally blunt. “Do not leave Chicago. This is the Chicago Bears, not the Indiana Bears,” Lucas said. She added that she would attend a Bears game in Indiana only “if it was a free ticket.”
Nik Sabbatino, from Chicago’s West Loop, pushed for compromise.
“Some kind of renovation at least or a new stadium within city limits,” Sabbatino told the Sun-Times. “It’s not Indiana’s team, it’s Illinois’ team.”
Bears Indiana Stadium: What’s at Stake
The saga dates to 2021, when the Bears purchased the former Arlington International Racecourse property as a contingency, a fallback if the club could not secure financial property rights at Soldier Field. Five years later, that contingency appears to have fallen through, with Hammond now the frontrunner.
Not everyone opposes the move. Terrance Weems, 53, of Gary, Indiana, was openly enthusiastic after Thursday’s announcement.
“Northwest Indiana has been part of Chicago forever,” Weems said. “Nothing’s changing as far as how Northwest Indiana and Chicago relate.” He also pointed to the recently extended South Shore Line commuter rail to Hammond as evidence the trip from Chicago would pose no real obstacle for fans.
If the move goes through, the Chicago Bears would become the fourth NFL franchise playing home games in a different state than their name. Thursday’s vote is not the final decision, but Jackson warned in the Sun-Times that no one involved, from the McCaskey family to Gov. J.B. Pritzker to Mayor Brandon Johnson, will escape the fallout if it does.
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