Gov. JB Pritzker reacts to legislature adjourning without passing Bears bill (Hour 2)
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What are the Bears' current plans for a new stadium?
With your emphasis on patience, how much longer are you willing to wait for deals to come to you? Well, Kevin has said and the commissioner has said we need to make a decision sooner rather than later. When the process is completed in one place or the other and we have a deal to consider, then we'll look to see where we are with the other situation and we'll make a decision.
At this point, I miss the horse races. That's George McCaskey. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. And kind enough to take time out of his incredibly busy day, clear up some stuff for us. Joining us in studio is Jeff Buchholz, the WBBM Newsradio political editor.
Good morning.
guys good morning jeff uh you've been on this story for months you also have been on this story since five o'clock this morning yes what if you had to tell people in layman's terms on the sports station what has happened and why we just read a statement from brandon johnson who sounds seemingly happy with the fact that the bill did not get done how do you explain it uh
Ultimately, what happened here, I think, is that, well, I mean, this all kind of started to unravel over the weekend. And the Senate has been meeting for probably the last month or so to try to figure out how to get to yes on the bill that passed the House. And we talked about that when it happened, this Christmas tree of a bill that included the pilot legislation payment in lieu of taxes to let the bears and other megaproject developers participate. negotiate long-term property tax deals and payments with local governments in lieu of paying their property taxes every year. But it also had incentives to redevelop rail yards and a boost in tourism for Springfield and all this other stuff. And so it made it mostly to get support from Republicans and people outside the city of Chicago.
And so it went to the Senate. But ultimately, the Senate Had trouble. The Chicago delegation in particular had a problem with this measure. And Bill Cunningham, who's the sponsor of this new Senate bill, which we'll talk about in a sec, said, you know, the Chicago delegation is being asked to vote for a bill that would encourage that would help the bears leave the city of Chicago. And they don't really want to do that. Adding to this is the Bears having said repeatedly, and Kevin Warren has said this a number of times, and they released a statement a couple weeks ago saying, we have two sites. It's Arlington Park, which we own, or Hammond, where Indiana will build us a stadium. But then we find out that in April and May, the Bears had been talking to the Johnson administration about, well, you know, maybe there's some sites in Chicago.
And... All of a sudden, it's like the city of Chicago is like Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber. So you're telling me there's a chance? And that was just enough of an opening for the Chicago delegation in the Senate to go, you know what? Maybe this is not what we want to do. So that torpedoes the whole megaprojects. And then we get the UNO reverse from Cunningham in the Senate early this morning, which was passed at 3.40 a.m., which would have allowed any community over 70,000 people that's even a little bit in Cook County, because Arlington Heights is not 100% in Cook County, to set up their own sports facilities authority, which would have... opened up for bids so the Bears would have an opportunity to review a number of different bids to build a stadium.
They would pay to build the stadium, which would then be publicly owned, so it wouldn't be subject to property tax, which theoretically is the property tax relief that they would have wanted. And so it passes, and then we're all watching. A lot of people are watching in the house. I rolled in here about 4 a.m., I'm watching the feed from Springfield, and I see Chris Welch, the House speaker, get up, and I think he's going to try a direct introduction of this bill. And instead, he moves for adjournment and says, you know, we're going to be talking about a lot of issues over the summer, including the fate of the Chicago Bears.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What are the Bears' current plans for a new stadium?
0:00–4:21
2
Why did the Bears stadium bill stall in the legislature?
4:21–12:40
3
What mixed messages are the Bears sending regarding their location?
12:40–19:40
4
How does Gov. JB Pritzker view the Bears stadium situation?
19:40–21:57
5
What implications does the Bears' decision have for Chicago politics?
21:57–39:09
Speakers
6 identifiedMore from Rahimi & Grote Show
Full Show — September 14, 2026
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Anthony Herron shares observations from Bears' win over Panthers (Hour 2)
5 On It & reviewing the Bears' stressful moments from Sunday (Hour 3)
Dan Wiederer: Bears' floor has been elevated — and we can't even see the ceiling (Hour 4)
Transition with Spiegel & Holmes