The Bears Are Leaving Illinois for Indiana
The Chicago Bears may soon leave Illinois after more than a century in Chicago. Their potential move to Indiana is about more than football — it is a reminder that businesses, investment, and opportunity tend to go where they are welcomed.
For more than a century, the Chicago Bears have been woven into the identity of Chicago. Founded in 1920, the franchise has become one of the city’s defining institutions. Yet today, the Bears appear closer than ever to leaving Illinois and crossing the border into Indiana.
Hoosiers, help me welcome the Chicago Bears to our great state!
We look forward to building a partnership as strong as the ’85 Bears defense, creating opportunities and economic growth that will benefit our state and the Bears organization for decades to come.
An NFL franchise… https://t.co/l3eUHzUrCk
— Governor Mike Braun (@GovBraun) June 5, 2026
How did this happen?
The answer is simple: One state saw an opportunity. The other assumed the Bears would never leave.
A Family Business in a Modern NFL
The Bears are owned by the McCaskey family. Unlike many NFL franchises owned by billionaires who made their fortunes elsewhere, the McCaskeys are not independently wealthy. George Halas purchased the team for just $100 in 1920, and the family has owned it ever since. The Bears are, in many ways, still a family business.
That reality shapes how the McCaskeys view the future of the franchise. They are not simply looking to build a new stadium. They want to create an entire entertainment district — a destination that includes restaurants, hotels, housing, retail, bars, and nightlife. Modern professional sports are increasingly about creating year-round revenue streams, not just selling tickets on Sundays.
The problem is that the Bears’ current location does not provide the space or flexibility necessary to build that vision.
For a time, it appeared the Bears had found an Illinois solution. The organization purchased the Arlington Heights property with the apparent goal of building a new stadium and surrounding development there. But disputes over taxes, financing, and development have prevented that vision from moving forward.
As a result, the organization has continued searching for alternatives.
Indiana Saw an Opportunity
Indiana saw what Illinois did not.
State and local leaders in Indiana recognize what a Bears stadium could mean for northwest Indiana. The project would bring construction jobs, permanent employment, tourism, tax revenue, and private investment. It could transform an area that has long struggled with economic stagnation and population loss.
The Bears’ future stadium site with a lakefront view facing the Chicago skyline at Wolf Lake in Hammond, Indiana.
Indiana has pledged over $1 billion in funding to help complete this project. pic.twitter.com/qaFKqxdZwv
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) June 5, 2026
Indiana also offers a business environment that many companies find more attractive than Illinois. Taxes are generally lower, regulations are less burdensome, and state leaders have demonstrated a willingness to work with the Bears to make a deal happen. Indiana understands that landing an NFL franchise would be a once-in-a-generation economic development victory.
Indiana viewed the Bears as an opportunity. Illinois treated them as an inevitability.
For years, the Bears have sought certainty regarding stadium development and financing. Yet Illinois politicians have repeatedly failed to provide a clear path forward. While state leaders often talk about economic development, they have struggled to retain one of the state’s most recognizable institutions.
The Cost of Taking Success for Granted
The irony is that Indiana originally seemed like little more than leverage. Many observers assumed the Bears were using the possibility of a move to pressure Illinois into offering a better deal. That strategy has been employed by sports franchises across the country for decades.
But leverage only works if the other side responds.
Illinois never did.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) June 5, 2026
Instead of seizing repeated opportunities to keep the Bears in the state, Illinois leaders appeared content to assume that the franchise would never actually leave.
If the Bears ultimately move across the border, it will represent more than a stadium deal. It will be a symbol of a broader problem facing Illinois: when businesses, investment, and opportunity are given a choice, they increasingly look elsewhere.
And if the Bears leave, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker — widely viewed as a potential presidential candidate — will have to explain how his state lost one of its most iconic institutions to neighboring Indiana.
While no final deal has been signed, the momentum is clearly behind Indiana. A return to Illinois remains possible, but increasingly unlikely.
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Comments
Yawn
I hope they go. Pritzker and the Dems are clowns. They’ll try to tax them to death on their way out. Count on it.
Democrats destroy everything they touch. They did the same thing to the Patriots which wanted to move to South Boston.
Now get the rest of Chicago’s teams to follow them.
DAAAAAAAAA BEARS
Hoosier Bear?
Interesting……..a family owned enterprise. Love it. I hope they move to Indiana. Tax, spend, give away, hold faulty elections, appoint judges who let criminals roan the streets are not welcoming places for families
Dang, the Green Bay Packers vs the Da Indiana Bears?
Yuck!
As a native of Green Bay and a share holder of yhe Packers Organization since 1997, I agree.
I’m from Wisconsin and when they played 1/2 their home games in Milwaukee, as a kid, I could walk right in at half time, and did
We also went down to the lockers in the stadium and waited for them to come out.
I met Lombardi, Bart Star , Ray Nitschke, a few others
When the world wasn’t so insane
Those were the days
{{{{jealous}}}}
I think they would retain the name (and HQ). Lots of stadiums move out of their HQ city for a whole variety of reasons. The Washington Redskins have been in Maryland and flirted with Virginia for decades.
The “San Francisco” 49ers are now 40 miles south in Santa Clara for the same reasons, SF could not get it together to keep them. Though earlier they managed to get a great new ballpark for the SF Giants after decades of threatened moves. Little to no public financing either.
No, they are not. this is typical negotiation dancing.
Don’t look for the trend of irreversible and massive decline in Dhimmi-crat states’ economic attractiveness, fiscal strength, quality-of-life, etc., to end anytime soon.
The vile, stupid and evil communist/Islamofascist/Muslim supremacist Dhimmi-crats are staunchly committed to promoting civilizational decline, in all its myriad manifestations and with all of its profoundly deleterious socioeconomic consequences.
I’m opposed to taxpayer funding of privately-owned sports stadiums.
The purported economic benefits attaching to a sports team’s presence almost never materialize as predicted, and, at any rate, taxpayers should received a revenue cut, if they provide up-front stadium funding.
I am also opposed to it unless the stadium and team can prove the economic benefit outweighs the amount of taxpayer funding. This is more that pitting one state against another. It’s a direct slap at not only Chicago and it’s communist mayor who would rather play grievance politics than solve the crime and murder problem but the entire Democrat machine in Chicago and Springfield.
Agreed. A billion dollars seems like a lot for a state who’s entire annual budget is 23 billion.
That’s a lot of potholes that could have been filled.
With that said, I’ve never seen an actual breakdown of the cost/benefit. If all those players and coaches and executives are going to now be paying Indiana income taxes on their multi-million dollar salaries, plus all the lower end employees of the stadium and the associated businesses around it that are envisioned, it could actually pay for itself in a few years.
Depends on the deal being made. But in my experience, state governments are not very good at striking deals that are actually profitable for the state. They’re more concerned about the prestige involved in getting the deal done. “The Bears play in Indiana now because of us…”
But the team’s still going to be called the Chicago Bears. Hammond is essentially a suburb of Chicago.
They don’t call the Giants the “New Jersey” Giants either.
Agree on gov’t bidding wars. In general State/local gov’t give away too much especially for pro sports stadiums. Incentives can work when structured correctly by tying the tax incentives to particular benchmarks. Alabama did that when luring Mercedes by offering tax rebates tied to objective measurable events; actual # workers hired, apprenticeship program success and completion of build out plant, equipment, facilities. Replicated that proof of concept with Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Boeing, Airbus among others.
As a Cheesehead, them moving 20 miles away is less of a deal that the Bears playing IN A DOME!!! Soooooo wrong!!
Absolutely. Football is intended to be played in the weather. Making it an indoor game removes that variable which is a huge aspect of the game itself. May as well just play a communist sport like soccer [spit!]. One of the many reasons I’ve lost interest in the NFL over the past decade or so. I still watch a game occasionally if there happens to be one on that interests me, but that used to be almost part of my religious observance: Go to church Sunday morning, Watch the games Sunday afternoon and evening. And Monday Night Football was a weekly event.
You always knew when and where to watch to catch a football game. Now they’re all over the map. You miss games because you don’t have the right streaming service, never know what time or day the games will be (“a special edition of Thursday night football on Wednesday” makes sense in what world? Just admit that you don’t have a regular schedule any more).
Add to that all the political and cultural BS the NFL has gotten into forcing down our throats, the rule changes that have neutered the game in the name of “millionaire safety” and I just don’t care any more. I’d rather go down to the local high school on Friday night and watch them play. They may not have the technical skill, but they’ve got twice the heart.
But I digress. I always appreciated the Bears for the tradition and for playing in the weather in Soldier Field even though I thoroughly despise Chicago and have since the first time I visited at about age 8.
The things I respected them for will be gone…and so will the respect.
>> But disputes over taxes, financing, and development <<
E veryone puts a hand in the pocket until it breaks and the riches fall out.
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