Jeff Buchholz

So there's still some work to be done in Indiana, and a lot of it is the sort of below-the-line stuff that doesn't get a lot of attention.

In Illinois, we were certainly expecting more action on the megaprojects bill.

This thing was sponsored by Cam Buckner, friend of the score.

This is the state representative from Chicago, whose district includes Soldier Field, by the way.

This is the deal that would give the Bears or any mega project developer in Illinois, like a data center or any kind of large development, the ability to lock in long-term property tax payments with local governments and that kind of thing.

And would also, by the way, provide a break on sales taxes for the purchase of any building materials used in a mega project.

And I haven't priced sheetrock recently, but that seems like it would be a pretty big savings.

And then about an hour after that bill passed out of the House Revenue and Finance Committee, the full House adjourned until after the primary.

So they're not back in town until March 18th.

And my guess is that in those three weeks or so, two and a half weeks, what's going to happen is that Representative Buckner and a lot of the state legislative leaders and the governor's people and the bears are going to have real conversations about.

what Chicago needs and what Chicago's delegation in Springfield needs to see from the Bears in order to vote for anything that would make it easier for them to leave Soldier Field.

So I think for Bears fans who've been kind of frustrated and feeling like the

The state has been kind of on the sidelines while Indiana has been doing all this work.

They saw a little bit of activity, but this activity is going to tee up a larger conversation about the price tag that the folks in Chicago, the people who represent Chicago, are going to need before they're going to just vote for whatever the Bears want in order for them to build an Arlington Park.

Zach, what I think he's talking about there is the idea that the Bears want...

And this is a widely held impression that what the Bears are looking for is they want the state to build a stadium for them in the way that Indiana has promised to build a stadium for the Bears, which the Bears would then be able to rent with an option to buy.

And the governor has made it clear from the very outset that he is not interested in giving the Bears any money for a stadium.

He is totally open to the idea of the state...

paying for improvements in infrastructure around a stadium.

He said, we do that for private businesses all the time in the state of Illinois.