Grote doesn't think the Bears have ever been serious about building a stadium in Indiana | Take The North
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What are the latest updates on the Bears' stadium search?
What people really wanted to talk to Kevin Warren about and George McCaskey about, obviously, is the stadium issue. And just leading up to some of the audio here, Dan, before we do that, I definitely want to hear your overall take on the vibe since you were at the table with Kevin Warren out there in Phoenix, Arizona. Kevin Warren, paraphrasing, they feel very strongly that they are making progress. The goal is late spring season. early summer they would like a decision um that he says kevin warren that there have been great discussions with the state of indiana in regards to the site in hammond indiana he also talked about illinois how they're working on legislation and infrastructure for the potential site in arlington heights and dan you actually asked one of the first questions you asked about the remaining obstacles as it pertains to illinois and to me
It sounded like the same old stuff. Did you get that? Did you did you get anything different out of Kevin Warren in terms of tax certainty and all of the stuff that we've been talking about ad nauseum on this podcast and on the radio and everywhere?
To that topic, I think they are still just in a holding pattern waiting to see what happens in the Illinois state legislature. And again, that that session runs through the end of May.
What is Kevin Warren's perspective on the stadium progress?
You know, when you're in my role writing at The Athletic, you're asked after every one of these sessions, was there news today? And my answer was, no, there wasn't news, but there's a few updates. And that's some of what we'll walk you through here today is there's just a few updates, right, that you've got to get to. One of the prominent updates I think you would agree is that they have vocalized a timeline now. They have said late spring, early summer. That corresponds with the end of that session in Springfield. And so you would expect them to have clarity one way or the other within a matter of months. On Tuesday afternoon, as the league meetings officially wrapped up here at the Biltmore, Roger Goodell stood up at a podium and said it would be in the Bears' best interest to get that thing moving in the right direction quickly.
And I got a lot of pushback on Twitter from people saying, like, well, does that have any impact on lawmakers in Illinois? Probably not much, but it is a man with a presence, a forward-facing presence that can –
What challenges are facing the Bears in Illinois and Indiana?
Provide a different voice to the urgency that the team is facing. And so that's that's one part of this equation that I think was an update today. The other part of it, I thought George McCaskey in nine words summed the entire current state of the project up very well when he said, we don't have a deal to consider right now, which was his way of saying, like, neither state. has a finished product ready for the bears and until one state has a finished product there is no decision to be made right like eventually you get a finished product and you say okay now we've got to compare it against what potential is there with the other side and right now you've got in indiana you've got a site that needs further vetting in terms of environmental issues in terms of infrastructure issues in terms of how well it can be built out for some of that multi-use district stuff
You've got the legislation in place to help you acquire and finance a stadium in Illinois. It's the opposite. They've got this 326 acre property in Arlington Heights that's ready to go, but they need promises from the Illinois government that they will have the requisite help with infrastructure. around the stadium and the surrounding area. And then they also need that mega project spill, which, again, as you mentioned, we've talked about a lot on this podcast. Until that's passed, nothing at all can get started on a property in the northwest suburbs that the Bears began showing interest in almost five years ago, Mark.
Why is there skepticism about Indiana as a stadium location?
Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty amazing, man, how fast time goes and how even that said how long ago it was that every we were all celebrating the Arlington Heights property and the Bears made the purchase and let's get going.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What are the latest updates on the Bears' stadium search?
0:00–1:19
2
What is Kevin Warren's perspective on the stadium progress?
1:19–2:13
3
What challenges are facing the Bears in Illinois and Indiana?
2:13–3:32
4
Why is there skepticism about Indiana as a stadium location?
3:32–4:17
5
What factors are influencing the Bears' timeline for a stadium decision?
4:17–5:04
6
How does George McCaskey view the current state of the stadium project?
5:04–6:05
7
What implications does the Illinois legislature have on the stadium project?
6:05–8:07
Speakers
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