Mayor Brandon Johnson is still making push for Bears to stay in Chicago
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What are Mayor Brandon Johnson's views on keeping the Bears in Chicago?
Rahimi Harrison-Grody. Bears tight end Cole Komet. Cole, welcome to the party, pal. Well, thanks for having me. I heard it was a big day, so naturally I dropped everything I had going on today.
You've complained a lot through the years about not being able to hear the score on the 670 AM dial when you're inevitably cruising around downtown. And now that we have an FM signal, Cole, you can now hear the score all day, all the time, all you want. You can hear all the Bears hot takes you want.
Well, that's perfect. I'll make sure I blast that in the locker room.
How does the new FM signal impact Bears fans?
Beautiful blast! Rahimi Harrison-Grody. Midday's Tindal 2 on 104.3 The Score.
It was my impression that we are inching closer and closer to a bill for the pilot bill payment in lieu of taxes for mega projects in the state of Illinois. Not just the Bears, although a lot of people are calling it the Bears bill. The Bears are covered in the bill, but it's a lot of other stuff that that was in a better place that we were going to have some progress and movement on that sooner rather than later. And then I see this from the mayor's office today on Twitter. Mayor Brandon Johnson at Chicago's mayor. This is at 10.02 a.m., so at the start of our show. Mark Brody, Marshall Harris. There's no good reason to incentivize the Bears to leave the top tourist destination in Illinois or to gift them property tax reprieve when they already don't pay property taxes on a publicly owned stadium.
The Bears belong in downtown Chicago. Let's listen. Some say you're trying to kill a stadium in Illinois.
Why was it okay to be all in on the Bears downtown, but it's not okay to be all in on the Suffolk? If it's not Chicago, wouldn't Hammond almost benefit the city more than Arlington Heights?
Well, first of all, I was in Springfield to fight for progressive revenue. I would have much preferred to focus our energy there. In fact, for the last couple of years, Springfield has gone silent on the Bears. I was elected to defend Chicago, and I still believe that the best place for the Bears to play is in the city of Chicago. I don't know why we would incentivize the Bears to take jobs outside of the city of Chicago. I don't know why we would incentivize property tax reprieve that they would receive when they don't have to pay property taxes in chicago right because it's a publicly owned stadium it would remain a publicly owned stadium the best viable location for the chicago bears to play is the top tourist destination i'm going to continue to work with city council with the state legislature with the governor to continue to build safe and affordable communities and the way in which we can do that is by creating 20 more green space downtown on the lakefront
with thousands of jobs and people can benefit from it economically. We're building a soccer stadium, the 1901 project on the west side of Chicago. We're building a brand new hospital for the first time in 100 years on the south side of Chicago. So all of this economic vibrancy is happening at a time in which our airport is the busiest in America. More tourists are coming here than any other time in the history of Chicago. The best place to do business is in the city of Chicago.
I get that he has to represent his interest. But I think at this point, the time passed. The Bears have their lease. It's still active.
What is the significance of the proposed bill for mega projects in Illinois?
They bought land for Arlington Heights, which has always been what I've maintained. And I know that they need to be diplomatic with each other, the Bears and the city, because of the relationship that happens at Soldier Field. But Soldier Field is not a world-class stadium that is expected these days in the NFL to host a Super Bowl, to host major events, like Kevin Warren mentioned the Final Four. It's just a matter of where this is going to be. But the Bears are not going to be playing in Chicago once this lease ends.
The ship has proverbially sailed, and it sailed quite some time ago. I just wonder, and actually I don't wonder. I believe that this is all posturing to get something back for the city of Chicago on the way to being signed into law and the Bears making their move to Arlington Heights.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What are Mayor Brandon Johnson's views on keeping the Bears in Chicago?
0:01–0:33
2
How does the new FM signal impact Bears fans?
0:33–3:17
3
What is the significance of the proposed bill for mega projects in Illinois?
3:17–5:46
4
Why does the mayor believe the Bears should stay downtown?
5:46–7:41
Speakers
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