The Chicago Bears have moved one step closer to moving out of Illinois. The team's board of directors has voted to advance a stadium development project in Indiana.
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"Yesterday, the Chicago Bears Board of Directors met and voted to advance our stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana, with the exact site to be selected," team chairman George H. McCaskey and president & CEO Kevin Warren said in a statement.
"We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city. It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses."
This vote has been a long time coming for the Bears, considering that the team previously put a timeline on its potential move to another state. Warren said earlier in the year that the team would make a final decision about its destination by the late spring or early summer.
A move to Indiana, if it happens, will not take place in the immediate future. The team currently leases Soldier Field and remains under contract through 2033.
The Bears currently own property in the Arlington Heights area of Chicago, but the team appears unlikely to use this as the site of a future stadium.
One reason is that the team sought to negotiate payments instead of paying property taxes on this property through a "megaprojects" bill. However, this proposal did not make it through the Illinois senate last weekend.
Indiana, for comparison, passed legislation that provided the tax certainty the Bears sought. The state offered the Bears $1 billion in incentives to move to Hammond, per ESPN.
"Over the past several years, we have worked in good faith with Illinois leaders and made clear our commitment and readiness to invest more than $2 billion by the Chicago Bears, one of the largest private investments in state and NFL history," Warren wrote in an open letter to Bears fans in December 2025.
"We have not asked for state taxpayer dollars to build the stadium at Arlington Park. We asked only for a commitment to essential local infrastructure (roads, utilities, and site improvements) which is more than typical for projects of this size. Additionally, we sought reasonable property tax certainty to secure financing. We listened to state leadership and relied on their direction and guidance, yet our efforts have been met with no legislative partnership."
