Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Examining why Chiefs’ move to Kansas can’t be a model for the Bears (Hour 4)
12 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This hour is sponsored by Riverfront Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram.
Welcome to Hollis Harbor. Right here on the Chicagoland shoreline, a fully privately financed site, zero taxpayer burden, zero debt on the team, zero compromise. Our offer to the bears is to use this rent free. Set minutes for major highways, a dedicated rail stop, and the shoreline itself, designed for arrival, access, and safety.
Chapter 2: What is the pitch from Portage, Indiana to lure the Bears?
The capital is ready. The land is available now. Shovels can be in the ground as soon as June 2026. The only variable left is the decision to move forward.
That was the Portage Park sizzle reel, is what I would like to call it. The Portage, Indiana sizzle reel that we saw and that they sent to us here at 104.3 The Score. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody. And the Portage, Indiana Mayor Austin Bonta is kind enough to join us now live via the Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Download the Circus Sports app today and you heard the pitch.
to be able to have a stadium funded where the Bears and the public don't have to deal with the cost. And he's on Twitch. Mayor Bonta, thank you for joining us on Twitch, twitch.tv slash thescorechicago. Thanks for coming on.
Thanks for having me. Really excited to be here. Great to be able to talk about the city. And more importantly right now, I think talking about the Bears and what I hope is the best offer for them.
Well, and you know what? You guys sent us mail. And so when you send an email and you send a pitch, we are reading and we are listening. So thank you for sending us the video. Thank you for sending us the information. Number one, how do you feel that your pitch was received when you had the press conference yesterday announcing this plan?
I think it's been received tremendously and with great interest. It was already making some news as of Monday and then, of course, the Tuesday morning. And it was as that attention was growing, we felt it was very important to get the facts out, give the opportunity to get questions answered. And that's where we called a press conference.
And it was exciting to see so much interest from the media to be able to come out and learn about what the city has to offer to the Bears, to fans, and to the whole Chicagoland region.
I'm really curious as to how this came about. Can you tell us the initial steps? Was this you being approached by someone? Was this you understanding that the Bears didn't have a home to see if you could get in the mix? How did this start?
So it really started back in January of 2024 when my team came in. I'm on my third year as mayor now, and we came in. Our city had owned this piece of land, which used to be a lot smaller of a piece of land, since 1995. And there's been different attempts over the years. Different companies have come and gone. Different ideas have been proposed of what they want to do with this land.
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Chapter 3: How does the Portage mayor describe the proposed stadium site?
And that's why when people ask, well, what does your city get out of it with the bears deal? Simply put, I think a question was even asked yesterday, if I remember it correctly, it was, what happens if the bears don't pick the site? And what I said, we know that this is a high quality, incredible destination site where all the different modes of transportation come together.
And we have a plan to turn it into something incredible. The bears picking the site for our city just allows that to happen a little faster and with two steps happening closer together, if that makes sense.
No, it does.
Oh, but you were asking about how we reach the bears or how we go about it from there. Portage actually is the third largest city in the region, and we are a Really amazing city when you actually kind of look under the hood and see what we've got. We have an international port. We've got a steel mill. We are one of the major areas of travel through the Chicagoland region.
44 million people drive through our city every year. Not everybody stops. Many people do. We want to increase that. But all that said and done, we're already situated in a great spot, and we have a lot of contacts. So when the bear search started, we started reaching out.
No, it makes sense. Mayor Austin Bonta of Portage, Indiana, is joining us to talk about the plan for Hallis Harbor that they announced yesterday. And that's another part of it for me. So it sounds like logistics demanded something be done with this land first. Then it sounds like there's a mixed use development concept here. When we say that, we mean, for example, stadium plus parking.
residents plus retail, you know, that's typically it's a mixed use property because you have the various uses of the retail and combination of residency or something along those lines. So what was the original vision? Was it going to be to pitch it to developers or something along those lines if it wasn't the Bears?
Yeah, so we always had a vision for this site once we were able to get the land together and create the connectivity to it to be able to master develop it, working with maybe one big developer, maybe working with a
team of developers to map out a community that is a little bit higher dense and very much based on its connectivity to the train, the South Shore Line, and being the first base of real public transportation in our city. And then also its connectivity to the water, because it's got a navigable waterway, what we call the Burns Waterway.
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Chapter 4: What challenges did Portage face in acquiring land for the Bears?
So what's the timeline then? Because some of the concepts that we've seen are the numbers being thrown around. And tell me if you have different numbers. It's in the neighborhood of somewhere around... Combining infrastructure cost and development cost, it would be somewhere like $7 billion. That's a number that's been discussed. SoFi famously $5 billion. That's a recent stadium that was built.
So what's the number and then what's the timeline to get that repaid to a private equity entity?
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.
Austin Bonta, the mayor of Portage, Indiana, joining us here on Rahimi Harrison Grody here on 104.3 The Score. Austin, I'm curious, what do you think separates your deal from other deals, specifically where the Bears, if they build the stadium, obviously they get all of the money that comes in from the revenue in other places.
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.
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Chapter 5: What are the connectivity plans for the proposed stadium site?
That's putting the power in their hands to let them decide for themselves. Now, Cam Buckner was asked about how reps downstate, because there is a state funding element of this, about how they feel about the Bears project.
I've talked to my colleagues from around the state, many of whom live south of I-80, and they have questions about, what's this mean for me? What does this mean for my capital projects, the infrastructure and the roads and bridges that I'm trying to build in my district? What does this mean for places like Eastern Illinois University and the University of Illinois?
folks who are looking at the state budget to be helpful for them as well. And so this is a point that is well taken because we've got to figure this piece out. You know, we talk a lot about Chicago versus Arlington Heights versus, you know, Gary and Hammond. But one piece of the puzzle that I often think about and chuckle sometimes is that,
You know, my colleagues from Decatur, Illinois, where the Bears started off, you know, if we are in the forefront of a bill that does not help them and their needs when it comes to mega projects and infrastructure and moving things forward, then maybe we've missed the ball on that as well.
And so to me, this is a, while this is a Bears conversation, it's a broader conversation about development in the state and how we move things forward. I think he has a point when he talks about what this is. It's kind of a microcosm of where we are in this process. And this process, the idea of it in applying it to many things, not just specifically the Bears stadium.
arlington heights for example is not in peoria's backyard so they have every right to ask how they are paying for something that doesn't intersect with them and i i think that that's fair that's the job of a representative is to listen to those of the state when you're a state rep not just your constituency he also discussed and we talked about this just a little bit ago
Kansas City Chiefs didn't end up playing in Missouri. Their new stadium will not be in the state of Missouri. It will be in Kansas. It did not go to a ballot in Kansas. That was a deal they struck outside of a vote with the state. And this is where he also brings up what the ramifications are for the Bears if they were to go to the state of Indiana.
So this is multi-tentacles here, but listen to how many different effects there are and the example used with Kansas City.
I'm still in shock. I'm still in awe. I'm still waiting for I'm going to date myself. I'm still waiting for Ashton Kutcher to come out and tell everybody they were pumped. Because I don't know how any legislature or any state government, especially one that claims to be fiscally responsible, can give a deal like that.
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Chapter 6: How does Portage's offer differ from typical stadium funding models?
No, they don't have room for him in their lineup. They have a bunch of young prospects who showed they can do stuff last year. They're already having position problems right now trying to figure out where they're going to put people.
Does he go back to Detroit or something?
That could be the obvious little homecoming for him, right?
The way he talked about hitting in that ballpark, he made it sound like it was the biggest cavern of all time.
What ballpark?
Detroit.
Oh, okay.
Not Sox, no.
No, I thought you were talking about Citizens Bank Park.
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Chapter 7: What are the financial implications of the proposed stadium deal?
So now that all that has been figured out, the only other people I know who might care about where Nick Castellanos is going are next. Lawrence Holmes and Matt Spiegel. Let's do this. Castellanos, watch. Next. What?