Chris Emma

I kind of came away from this believing what I've thought all along, which is that it still is going to be Arlington Heights.

Yeah.

And so let's outline the two steps from Springfield, which one took a positive step forward.

That was the mega projects bill, which is not just for the bears, but it's a bears back bill, which allows a major corporation such as the bears, a private entity to negotiate property taxes with local governments.

In this case, Arlington Heights and the government there.

And that was what was pushed through the revenue hearing.

Now it has to go to the House floor.

That didn't happen yesterday.

My understanding is March 18th is the day to follow with that.

And that allows the city of Chicago and Kim Buckner, who we've heard from on the station before, sponsoring that bill, the mega projects bill.

he can start looking back and saying, what do we need in the city of Chicago to get this from the Bears, to get the Bears to take care of the city that they're leaving?

So that's one end of it.

And then, of course, the issue of infrastructure.

And $855 million is the number we've heard.

in terms of what they need at Arlington Park to build around those 326 acres.

And the state of Illinois has expressed willingness to do so, but that legislation has not even really gotten off the ground yet.

So if Indiana has plenty of work to do on that side of Wolf Lake, then the state of Illinois has time to answer back as well.

I remember George McCaskey when he introduced Kevin Warren saying that, what do you want of this project?

And he said, under budget and ahead of schedule and has gone way over budget and way beyond schedule.

So, yeah, there's absolutely some urgency to get this thing done and get it done right.