What to know about the Chicago Bears’ possible move to Arlington Heights — or a domed stadium on the lakefront (2025)

The Chicago Bears embarked on a new era in February 2023 with the purchase of a site in Arlington Heights where the team hopes to build a new enclosed stadium with a massive entertainment and residential development.

In April 2024, the team laid out elaborate plans for a new publicly owned domed stadium on the lakefront but left unanswered how the city would pay for expensive infrastructure improvements.

With a dazzling video presentation of a stadium featuring a translucent roof and a glass wall with a view of downtown, team President and CEO Kevin Warren presented his vision for a $3.2 billion focal point for great city gatherings, not just football. The city has an opportunity to build an international attraction that would resonate for generations to come, Warren told a crowd of supporters at the Bears current home, 100-year-old Soldier Field.

“It’s time for us to do something special together,” he said.

Can the Bears’ lakefront dreams actually come true? What does this mean for the Arlington Heights property? And what about other municipalities that had previously thrown their hat in the ring? Here’s what to know.

The latest development

Less than a year after the Bears delivered a grand presentation with a vision for a new multibillion-dollar stadium on the Museum Campus downtown, the train for the team’s stadium project may be switching tracks.

After the NFL owners meetings concluded on April 2, 2025, at The Breakers resort, Bears President/CEO Kevin Warren confirmed the team no longer has a singular focus on building its new stadium downtown.

“The focus now is both downtown and Arlington Heights,” Warren said. “One thing I have said before is that these are not linear processes or projects. They take time. They take a lot of energy and effort. And I am very, very pleased with where we are.”

Updates from Arlington Heights

While downplaying online rumors that the Bears have reached a deal to move to Arlington Heights, a village official said on Feb. 27 that the team will soon submit important traffic and financial studies of the proposal.

Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes said that reports from local real estate agents that the team had reached a deal to build a new enclosed stadium are “speculation.”

“We think things are heading in a very positive direction,” he said. “But there’s certainly no done deal yet.”

The Arlington Heights village board on Dec. 9 signed off on an agreement that establishes what the Bears would pay in property taxes. The board voted 8-0 to seala deal to set the Bears’ taxes at $3.6 millionper year for the former Arlington International Racecourse. The memorandum of understanding is also due to be considered later this week by the three local school districts that helped negotiate the deal with the village.

The Bears bought the 326-acre site in early 2023 for $197 million, and announced plans to build a $2 billion enclosed stadium there as part of a $5 billion development including housing, entertainment, parks, and a sports hall of fame.

• • Bears show renderings for enclosed stadium complex in Arlington Heights, but say they’d expect some public funding for surrounding entertainment district
  • Kevin Warren says Bears seek ‘legitimate partner’ in picking site for new stadium. Would that be Arlington Heights? Maybe.
  • Newly seated Arlington Heights trustees get rundown on Bears plans to move to Arlington Heights: ‘We’ve still got a long, long way to go’
  • Some Arlington Heights residents decry lack of input in possible stadium move: ‘Bears should stay in Chicago where they belong’
  • Bears’ plans for stadium in Arlington Heights excite many suburbanites. But with funding a big issue, economists caution about subsidies.
  • Arlington Heights mayor denies claims of pressuring school districts in ongoing Bears land dispute

A domed stadium on the Chicago lakefront?

Warren envisions a stadium just south of the Bears’ current home at Soldier Field, on the site of what is now a parking lot. The facility would seat about 65,000 for football, with standing room up to 70,000, and a capacity of 77,000 for basketball.

Unlike Soldier Field, it could hold events year-round, including concerts, soccer, college basketball playoffs, or, once in a great while, the Super Bowl.

Soldier Field would be torn down, but its colonnades would be saved and 14 acres of athletic fields and open space added in between and to the north of the colonnades, for use by local sports teams, graduations and other events. If approved this year, the stadium would open in 2028.

The Bears say they would pay $2 billion, a huge private investment, plus $300 million requested from the NFL. The rest of the $3.2 billion cost of the stadium alone would be paid with $900 million from the state. The team said another $325 million would be needed for infrastructure, including improved road access and utilities as part of up to $1.5 billion for full build-out with extras like a hotel.

The public money would be borrowed through bonds issued by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, or ISFA, which previously financed construction of Guaranteed Rate Field, where the White Sox play, and the 2003 renovation of Soldier Field. The bonds are to be repaid over 40 years by the city’s 2% hotel tax.

“I remain skeptical about this proposal, and I wonder whether it’s a good deal for the taxpayers,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. “There are a lot of priorities that the state has, and I’m not sure that this is among the highest priorities for taxpayers.”

Friends of the Parks, a not-for-profit group that advocates for the city’s Lakefront Protection ordinance, which limits the lakefront to public use, criticized the stadium plan as rushed and not transparent, comparing it in a statement to other faltering mega-developments like The 78 and Lincoln Yards.

• A skeptical Springfield awaits after Bears pitch stadium plan backed by mayor
• True public cost of Bears stadium would be billions more over time
• Bears’ domed stadium proposal sparks excitement, questions — and early opposition
• Chicago community groups join forces to oppose new Bears stadium on the lakefront

Could Indiana be an option?

The Indiana legislature moved a bill aimed at attracting the Bears to Northwest Indiana just yards from the end zone, with final approval by the Senate on April 9.

House Bill 1292, authored by Rep. Earl Harris, D-East Chicago, would establish a Northwest Indiana professional development commission and a professional sports development fund. The commission would be tasked with exploring and implementing strategies to attract one or more sports franchises to Northwest Indiana, Harris said.

The bill passed the Senate 46-2.

“The Bears are the big boy, so that has received the most attention,” Harris said. “Honestly, I would love it if the Bears moved their location over to Northwest Indiana, but we are open to any sport.”

What about another site in Chicago?

The Bears are reconsidering the former Michael Reese Hospital site as a potential location for a new stadium, a source said, but the team remains focused on the lakefront.

The team is open to any alternative that would work, but officials have said previously that the former hospital site was unworkable because it’s next to Metra train tracks that pose a security risk. The 49-acre site is limited because it’s long and skinny, sandwiched between the tracks and DuSable Lake Shore Drive on the east, apartments on the west, 31st Street on the south and the Stevenson Expressway to the north.

The advantage of the site is that it’s mostly open land, not far from the Loop and the lake, and next to McCormick Place Convention Center. It would also avoid a legal fight over the Bears’ proposal to build a $3.2 billion roofed stadium on the lake to replace the team’s current home in Soldier Field.

Other options in Illinois

Other cities and municipalities around Illinois have previously expressed interest in talking to the Bears about a future stadium.

Naperville

Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli wants to develop underused properties along the Interstate 88 tollway, where the former BP Amoco site would be more than big enough at 187 acres.

• Concerns about traffic and safety raised in Naperville’s second stadium meeting with Bears, councilman says
• Naperville mayor defends meeting with Bears about stadium, stressing protocols will be followed if proposal is made

Waukegan

Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor said several locations have the space for a stadium and entertainment area with access to Interstate 94, U.S. Route 41 and public transportation. The Bears already train in Lake Forest, nine miles south of Waukegan.

Aurora

In a letter from Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin to the Bears, he touts Aurora’s history, location and track record of getting developments done. The letter comes on the heels of President/CEO Kevin Warren saying recently that the Bears are “in a position to start exploring other places and opportunities and no longer considers Arlington Heights as a singular focus.”

Rockford

State Rep. Dave Vella, a Democrat from Rockford, told the Tribune he’d like his city to have a chance at bringing the Bears there. While acknowledging that Rockford is 90 miles from Chicago, he touted Rockford’s transportation development and how that could be used at Bears fans’ convenience.

Richton Park

Richton Park Mayor Rick Reinbold touted large expanses of available land and the south suburb’s proximity to highways and the Metra Electric Line: “Allow me to interest you in greenfield opportunities awaiting the Bears in Richton Park!”

Country Club Hills

Cook County Commissioner Monica Gordon is encouraging the football team to consider Country Club Hills, throwing what her office described as a “Hail Mary pass” to encourage the team to consider the south suburb. “We’re taking our shot in the dark here,” Country Club Hills Mayor James Ford said.

What would happen to Soldier Field without the Bears?

The divorce is far from a foregone conclusion — the Bears have simply taken the next step, one they’ve been telegraphing for over a year.

If the team leaves Soldier Field, Friends of the Parks Executive Director Juanita Irizarry said she hopes the stadium can host many more concerts each year, easing the increasingly controversial burden on neighborhood parks for big musical events such as Riot Fest in Douglass Park and the recently announced Re:SET festival in Riis Park.

• A Bears move may leave thousands of fans with worthless Soldier Field seat licenses

What’s the history of the team in Chicago?

While the Bears have called Soldier Field home since 1971, the team has discussed or proposed playing its games elsewhere throughout much of the last 50 years.

Wrigley Field served as the original home venue for the team when it moved to Chicago in 1921 and remained there through 1970. The team won nearly 70% of its home games during that span.

But the Bears were forced to find a new home after the American Football League merged with the National Football League and required stadiums to seat at least 50,000 fans. The team played its last game at Wrigley Field on Dec. 13, 1970, beating the Packers 35-17.

• Soldier Field: A timeline of events since 1924, including hosting the world’s athletes, congregations, politicians and performers

Why Arlington Heights?

If the Bears dare to dream big about a new stadium in Arlington Heights, they can find inspiration in SoFi Stadium, the new star attraction of the NFL.

The league’s largest and most expensive arena and the site of the Super Bowl, SoFi, just outside Los Angeles, is overwhelming fans with its sweeping curves and epic scale. The stadium and its development highlight certain parallels to the Bears’ proposal to buy and redevelop Arlington International Racecourse. Both reflect desires to leave century-old stadiums and home cities for vast sites that allow for planned enclaves of surrounding restaurants, hotels, offices, stores and homes.

• Arlington Heights residents favor a Bears stadium — but not tax help, a libertarian poll finds. But the mayor is wary of the questioning.
• Could the site of a proposed Bears stadium in Arlington Heights also include a minor-league baseball complex?
• Restaurants? Soccer stadium? With careful planning, an Arlington Heights stadium could lure additional development
• How Arlington Heights hung a welcome sign for Bears
• Arlington International Racecourse: History of one of the ‘world’s most beautiful racetracks’

What are fans saying?

Some fans expressed a draft day-like optimism that better days are ahead. They dreamed openly of shorter concessions, easier parking, better tailgating opportunities and a domed stadium that protected them from biting winter winds.

“I’ve been to multiple stadiums in the NFL and Soldier Field does not compete with any of them,” Bears season ticket holder Neal Shah of Wheaton said. “On game days, the television crews show an aerial view of the stadium, which is beautiful, but the logistics are terrible.”

• At tailgates outside Soldier Field, the Bears’ possible departure is a burning issue: ‘Arlington Heights, if they move, here I come’
• Would travel to a Bears stadium in Arlington Heights be better or worse than Soldier Field? It depends on how you get there, fans say.
• A Bears move to Arlington Heights would be a ‘win-win’ to many. But about that traffic and construction …

Originally Published: April 9, 2025 at 2:29 PM CDT