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Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show

Examining the latest on the Bears stadium roller coaster

20 Feb 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.031 - 6.039 Mark Grote

Hello and good morning. What's your DEFCON level at when it comes to Bears Stadium?

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Chapter 2: What is the current status of the Bears stadium situation?

6.76 - 26.005 Mark Grote

How do you feel about it today? What a rollercoaster yesterday was as the news broke during our show. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. Mark Grody is also in today and did some reporting on it as he has since the inception of this concept began, which I'm pretty sure is 84 years ago, like the Titanic.

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26.879 - 28.763 Marshall Harris

It's been 84 years.

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28.783 - 32.15 Mark Grote

Which one is more real than the new Bears Stadium?

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Chapter 3: How do the hosts feel about the Bears' stadium prospects today?

32.311 - 36.479 Mark Grote

The Titanic, which sunk, is still more real than the new Bears Stadium.

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36.54 - 38.163 Marshall Harris

That movie was a documentary, right?

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38.865 - 44.216 Mark Grote

Come back, Jack! 100% somebody was drawn like one of your French girls. Absolutely happened.

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44.236 - 45.158 Marshall Harris

Bears, come back.

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45.178 - 47.082 Mark Grote

The heart of the ocean is a necklace.

47.062 - 50.326 Marshall Harris

You said they're moving to French Lick? Is that what you said? The Bears are? No.

50.486 - 55.711 Leila Rahimi

Larry Bird joins us at 125. What do you think about all this French Lick business, Mr. Bird?

55.811 - 74.031 Mark Grote

Also, by the way, there is some big state of Indiana news this morning that broke. Pete Thamel, per an ESPN source, Kurt Cignetti has agreed to a new deal at Indiana that pushes his annual salary up to $13.2 million. It goes through 2033. So congratulations to Kurt Cignetti, who actually deserves it.

74.011 - 80.445 Marshall Harris

You know what I call that? I call that Mark Cuban's hard-earned donor money at work. I call that Indiana just keeps getting things done, don't they?

Chapter 4: What recent developments occurred regarding the Bears and Indiana?

200.641 - 227.07 Mark Grote

get the framework financially for the state of indiana to fund a bear stadium did pass as you just mentioned mark we understand that will include more taxes for the state we went over those yesterday so they were earnest in their efforts in their process to make sure they're doing what they need to get it going and then there's also governor mike brown who spoke to the afternoon show yesterday but i think when you reset going back to say ten oh eight this morning yesterday

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228.333 - 248.332 Mark Grote

We felt differently about the certainty of a Bears stadium in Indiana versus now there's another meeting scheduled, according to the Daily Herald, between the Bears and officials of the state of Illinois for next week. And then we also got the information from J.B. Pritzker saying that the Bears were the ones who postponed the meeting. It wasn't canceled necessarily.

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248.352 - 268.685 Mark Grote

It was just postponed and that there was legislative language they had to go over, which in a bill is very common. You know, so... The roller coaster yesterday for me was the Indiana thing I thought looked more concrete. I do think the state of Indiana is going through the processes that are typical with something like this for a stadium.

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269.286 - 284.969 Mark Grote

They're doing all the things that they're supposed to be doing. They've got their ducks in a row. They're crossing their T's. They're dotting their I's. But we still don't have an understanding of the framework of a deal in Indiana. How much money would they get back? How much money would they spend up front? What would be the split of the profit between them and the Bears?

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285.35 - 306.585 Mark Grote

And we also don't understand on the Bears side, if you're committing $2 billion to a proposed $5 billion project, where's the other three coming from if $880 million are going to infrastructure? So all of that is very much still up in the air. And then I think the biggest part for me was when you still don't have a set location in Hammond, That makes it come together in a different way for me.

307.006 - 313.434 Mark Grote

It's not nearly as cut and dried as we thought, although the state is doing the right things in order to put that funding together.

314.315 - 328.894 Marshall Harris

Talking about the Bears stadium development and where it's going to be built. Will it be in Hammond, Indiana? Will it be in Arlington Heights where the Bears own the land here on Rahimi Harrison Grove? 104-3 the score. And I got to tell you, Layla, it did come...

329.633 - 352.728 Marshall Harris

with a little clarity for me, when you hear the way that Mike Braun talked about things, when you get the understanding that they don't have the exact location, that tells you they're not maybe as far down the road of a stadium in Indiana as a lot of people assume they were when those tweets came out yesterday morning in concurrence with the, hey, this meeting's postponed, by the way, with Illinois.

353.429 - 376.239 Marshall Harris

And it just feels like two states jockeying for position, And as I always say, it's usually hard to beat the incumbent in anything. It's usually hard to come in there and take away something that belongs to someone else, unless you have a really good plan, one that can't be overlooked by the person who's being propositioned. In this case, that person would be the Chicago Bears.

Chapter 5: What challenges does the Bears face in securing a new stadium location?

448.666 - 470.39 Leila Rahimi

No, but I missed you. I won't speak for everyone else. I appreciate that. After the bill was, of course, pushed out of the Ways and Means Committee, as Layla mentioned, 24-zip. What will happen now is that it would go to the – if it passes through everything, it would go to the Indiana governor's desk before the end of next week.

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470.41 - 491.25 Leila Rahimi

And what's important to point out, and we've been kind of talking about it here, it does not mean that it is close to being a done deal. and that the Bears are moving to Indiana, the Bears will not be at that point. That's what I can report here. The Bears will not be at that point next week. Let's say it goes to the governor's desk on Friday and he signs it. That does not mean it.

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491.27 - 499.686 Leila Rahimi

It means that it actually means that with the due diligence, as you guys pointed out, that Indiana still has to be done on site, that low-key...

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499.666 - 526.618 Leila Rahimi

gives the state of illinois a whole bunch of time to get back in this this doesn't mean that they can dilly dally and just hang out and not be and not act with urgency but the bears have said and it's right there in the press release too in the second sentence of it that they're going to do some of that due diligence so this does give time to the state of illinois to continue to put together what they believe is fair what the bears believe is fair

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526.598 - 547.931 Mark Grote

I think if it were far and away the best deal, the Bears would have done it. That's my issue. No matter what, Indiana would have offered the best deal. If that's the case, when we're talking about billions of dollars here... then I think the Bears would have done it. I think what remains to be seen when it comes to the Indiana deal is, number one, you don't have a site figured out yet.

548.532 - 570.933 Mark Grote

Number two, there are environmental studies, and Mark Gannis confirmed this on the morning show today, that the Bears already did on Arlington Heights, and that would have to be done on a proposed site in Hammond. Number three... It sounds like the state of Indiana would want to recoup a lot of their money that they're putting up on the taxpayer side through events that happened at the stadium.

571.514 - 592.346 Mark Grote

And what we learned yesterday was the Bears, at least this is from Adam Hogue, that the Bears, with the agreement in Arlington Heights, because they bought that land, because theoretically they would be financing it themselves, or at least alongside with the NFL, that the state is not financing it. that the Bears would therefore get to have the profit of whatever they hold at that stadium.

592.786 - 613.626 Mark Grote

So I think because of that, I don't necessarily know if we know yet whether or not the deal over time would be the best for the Bears. But the capital to put it all together is still very crucial in all of this. But regardless, there were just some misleading statements that also occurred yesterday. The statement out of the Bears said,

613.606 - 619.231 Mark Grote

about the new stadium or about at least trying to have a vision in Hammond, Indiana, was a bit misleading.

Chapter 6: How does the Bears' potential move to Indiana compare to Arlington Heights?

772.616 - 778.832 Marshall Harris

Now, I ain't have steakhouse money, so if you didn't want to go Taco Bell, you probably weren't going anywhere with me in my early 20s. But you get the idea.

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778.88 - 783.724 Mark Grote

Well, I think that all of this was supposed to have happened before they bought Arlington Heights.

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783.744 - 784.285 Marshall Harris

It sure was.

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784.325 - 800.139 Mark Grote

And there would have been a lot of municipalities in Illinois who would have also given them deals like what is happening in Indiana. I said this yesterday and I'll say it again. What you're seeing out of the state of Indiana with the process is how it goes. It's just how it goes before you bought the land already.

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800.66 - 821.544 Mark Grote

And that's why this is an inaccurate process based on how other teams have done this. So like Indiana, if you just take Indiana in a vacuum, The idea of Portage, hey, we have this site. Gary, hey, we have this site for you. Hammond, hey, we have this site for you. And then here are our pitches as to how it gets financed, where it's going to be, and then how it goes with the state.

821.905 - 841.911 Mark Grote

All of that is typical. What hasn't been typical is them buying the land first and then wanting stuff from Illinois on background. If you don't have tax certainty, then neither should the Bears. We have more coming up on this on Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. We bring you a Cubs game today, by the way, for the first time on 103.

841.971 - 849.662 Mark Grote

We're pretty excited about it on 104.3 because it will be FM quality. Go Sox! Thrilled to hear that. Yes, Cubs are playing the Sox.

849.682 - 849.902 Marshall Harris

Go Cubs!

850.162 - 869.555 Mark Grote

In the meantime... We are also going to listen to the interview that our afternoon show had with the Indiana governor. So he brought in, spent 20 times with our afternoon show, had a lot of really valuable information, and talked to us about important stuff that was happening in the state on a very busy day at the statehouse in Indiana.

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