Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Geoff Buchholz breaks down latest on talks between Gov. JB Pritzker, Bears
20 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What recent developments occurred in the talks between Gov. JB Pritzker and the Bears?
Rahimi Harris and Grody. Middays 10 to 2. On 104.3 The Score.
Warren chose not to be in that meeting. And indeed, they had instead one of their other leads who's been in every conversation with us as well. She's a terrific representative for them. And we trust her. And we had eight people in that discussion involving the legislators, involving the governor's office, involving the bears and their representatives. And so, again, lots of progress, but
surprise this morning to wake up and see that statement.
That was J.B. Pritzker yesterday after the Bears decided to postpone their meeting with the ILGA regarding an infrastructure bill for Arlington Heights. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. And we go out to our hotline. That is where we find WBBM Newsradio political editor Jeff Buchholz, who is right now joining us from Oak Park where an event held by the governor just wrapped up.
Hi, Jeff.
Hey, Layla, how's it going today? Good to be with you here.
We appreciate having you on. What is the latest from what you observed? Because we understand J.B. Pritzker did speak about this issue today.
Yeah, he did. He was here at Oak Park and River Forest High School talking about a legislative initiative he has about cell phones in schools. But, of course, reporters can't be stopped if they have a question they need to get to him. And today the question really was about the Chicago Bears and the status of negotiations there.
The governor told us that indeed there have been conversations back and forth at sort of a high staff level between the bears and the governor's people. And a lot of those conversations have been. apparently sort of walking back that statement that the governor has talked about. He first mentioned it yesterday when he was with reporters down in Collinsville.
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Chapter 2: What did Gov. Pritzker say about the Bears' infrastructure bill?
but that the state is really not going to spend money on a new stadium for the Bears. And also said that the Bears should consider affordability as they think about their ask, because as the governor pointed out, a lot of people can't afford to attend a Bears game.
Okay. So Jeff, just to make this clear, when you say mollify, you mean appease. So, so the Bears made that statement to appease the work that they had done with Indiana and, and they're walking it back when it came to the statement that they issued yesterday?
I can't. I mean, I suppose if I had a dictionary in front of me, Layla, I would be able to sort of parse the difference between appease and mollify. I'm going to stick with mollify because that's the word the governor used, and I don't want to, like, put words in his mouth. But he certainly is creating the impression or is telling us that
that at least privately the bears have been trying to soften the statement that they made, which I would admit is, you know, is probably, there are gaps in that statement, uh, from the bears that are probably big enough to get Cole commit through if you work hard enough. Um, But thank you. I've been working on that.
But but but it seems as though what the governor is trying to communicate is the bears haven't packed. And there isn't, at least at this moment, is of, you know, what what time is it as of twelve thirty four in the afternoon on Friday, the 20th of February? There's not some like. late-night move like the Colts out of Baltimore to try to scurry across the state line. So, I mean, we'll see.
We haven't heard independently from the Bears about that. And so it remains to be seen whether they're genuinely going to walk that back, although I don't believe, and I haven't checked my inbox recently, I don't believe that Bears have issued any additional statements beyond what they said yesterday.
They have not, to our knowledge. Again, that's Jeff Buchholz. He's the WBVM news radio political editor just getting done with an event this morning in Oak Park where Governor J.B. Pritzker spoke and talked about mollifying. Let me give you the definition of mollify. appease the anger or anxiety of someone. I'm just giving you the straight off. That's the dictionary.com edition.
So appeasing is there. And it's when you know someone's upset, you try to get them back to where you want them to be back on the rails, if you will. And I get it because the bears are clearly playing both sides of this. They're playing.
Indiana and Illinois, and I would argue they're playing Indiana to get the best offer they can from Illinois because I think their intention is still to build in Arlington Heights. I get all that. My question for you is, having monitored this situation, do you feel like Governor Pritzker understands that this is all just part of negotiation?
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Chapter 3: How are the Bears' negotiations impacting their relationship with Illinois?
Makes sense. Jeff, I just want to use the word mollified, too, since both my partners did. I want to make sure that I was able to use that word as well.
It's very midday show. Nice work, Rhody. I appreciate that.
Drawing on your political knowledge, I asked this question out loud earlier because I don't know the answer to it. We all know, obviously, some of this is a public relations game for Governor Pritzker. So I'll just ask the question, what is worse for the governor now and for potentially other political ambitions? What would be worse for him, the tax policy?
payers having to pay more or losing the Chicago Bears to the state of Indiana?
I believe you are referring, Grody, to the widely held belief that Governor Pritzker is going to seek an office other than the governorship of Illinois.
That would be correct, to mollify my statement.
Yes, that would be correct. Good job. Yeah, exactly. And that's an excellent question, and believe me, there's been tons of speculation about that. My personal feeling is that people hate taxes, but they love football more. So I do think that it would be difficult for J.B.
Pritzker to seek a higher office, or certainly he would have to have a way to explain in a run for higher office why he was the governor who let the Chicago Bears, the Chicago Illinois Bears, as he described it, go to Indiana. On the other hand... Our colleague Brandon Eisen was out in the loop yesterday talking to people about what they thought about a potential move to Indiana.
And most of the people that Brandon heard from kind of pinned it on the Bears. It remains to be seen if indeed the Bears end up highing to Hammond. It remains to be seen how much blame the state takes for that. I mean, some people, a lot of the people I talk to seem to think that Pritzker would definitely wear the, you know, the satin Bears jacket for this one.
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Chapter 4: What concerns did Gov. Pritzker express regarding the Bears' statements?
Certainly the McCaskey family is aware of the risk involved here. And I do think that it would be something that the governor would have to explain. But I also think there's a lane for the governor if it gets to that point to say, look, we had a limit to what we were willing to do. This is a hard time in the economy right now. A lot of people in the state of Illinois are hurting.
bears wanted too much from us go enjoy wolf lake wow well we appreciate your time and thank you for doing so jeff this has been very informative as usual and we all learned a new word today hey if that's what i bring to the folks at 104.3 the score i'm happy to help hey we're just trying to live in the fm world like you guys have been for years we're new at this so we don't understand your world you used to do reports for them on fm oh that's
That's right, I did do sports updates over there. I believe it was when Jeff was at the producer desk. By the way, you're awesome, man. Your reporting is terrific, and you're so good. You were an awesome producer, and now you are spectacular at what you do. You sound great, and I love the information. Thanks for coming on, man.
I appreciate that, brother. Thank you so much. I'm trying to be the politics-to-English translator, and any day I can do that is a good day.
Well, you did it today for us, Jeff. Thank you so much. Thanks, Jeff. You can hear the latest on our sister station, WBBM, of course. Jeff is the WBBM Newsradio political editor, kind enough to take some time to tell us the latest. And now our show is brought to you by the word mollify.
Yeah, to be clear, I want to make sure everyone, I didn't know what mollify meant. I just wanted to... Oh, did somebody come at you?
No, I said appease, and then he said, well, I don't know, you know, mollify and appease are two different words, and then Marshall busted out dictionary.com.
No, I just want to make sure people understood.
And I understood where Jeff was coming from in this world, man. Like if he uses, if the governor uses the word mollify, don't use the word appease. This is a mollifying situation.
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