Brandon Johnson

I got a split finger.

It breaks a little bit.

You're welcome.

Well, first of all, I appreciate the energy and the time here.

I've said from the very beginning that the best place for a fan to enjoy our Chicago Bears, it's downtown, the lakefront.

There's no better real estate anywhere, quite frankly, in all of the NFL.

It's the top tourist destination.

More people come to that museum campus than anywhere else in the state.

And what we proposed a couple of years ago,

and we did not receive the type of partnership in Springfield that we should have experienced, is that a publicly owned stadium, that there would be public use, public benefit, of which the Bears committed to 72% of the cost to build the stadium,

The other portion of the stadium would be paid for through the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, ISFA, which was established 40 years ago by Mayor Harold Washington to build stadiums.

And that revenue is generated by the hotel tax.

which already exists, so there would be no new taxes to construct this stadium.

So, in other words, the Bears and visitors would build a stadium that the public would own along the lakefront, which, of course, is the hottest spot for all of the state and, quite frankly, the region.

The framework that you're talking about that was introduced in the Senate literally mimics what already exists for Chicago.

The framework essentially establishes municipal sports facilities authority, though there was no revenue tied to it.

It also ensures that there's a public interest.

ownership of it, and then of course it commits to infrastructure.

Here's the key point, though, here.

The two other locations that have been discussed, there's no traffic study,