Austin Bonta

It was very important for us that we had a viable, responsible deal on the table to be able to adequately finance a stadium of this size.

So I would direct you to Lou, or if you'd like to kind of speak to him about all the financial details of it.

But to put it simply, what we're talking about is $5 billion for the stadium plus infrastructure, and then a $2 billion sinking fund to cover issues that could come up once it's constructed and once the deal is set up.

And there are certainly elements of the deal as far as how much revenue is going to be paid over how much time to be able to pay back the cost of the stadium.

that would be something that we would negotiate with the bears as we get to that stage.

So like I say, we're very excited about that element of it.

And at the same time, we're also super excited about the site being what we think is the best site for the bears that we can imagine.

So I think that simply put, what separates our deal from the other areas that have been discussed about, I think that we have to consider certainly the uniqueness of the site, the Hellas Harbor site.

It is undeveloped land.

There is no need to take out existing roads.

There's no need to take out existing buildings to build.

So that's one piece of it.

The other piece of it is the ability for it to be a true, what do you call it, ecosystem of entertainment designed specifically for the bears, not over something that was existing, but undeveloped land in one of the most strategic spots in the Chicagoland region, certainly the northwest Indiana part of the Chicagoland region, where you've got the train, you've got the water, and you've got the highways all coming together to

right in this particular well-traveled area that so many people actually don't even realize is there.

Well, maybe they realize it's there now, given the attention that the site is getting.

I can't go into all details as far as communication with the bears.

I can tell you that they're definitely aware of the offer, both on the land side and on the financial side.

We know that they are doing their study to see if it works for them.

Certainly, they want to make sure that it's good enough to be true.

They want to make sure that it's something that they can plan based on.