Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Portage mayor Austin Bonta talks Bears stadium site proposal called 'Halas Harbor'
12 Feb 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
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 proposal for the Bears stadium in Portage, Indiana?
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.
Chapter 3: How does the Halas Harbor site plan ensure no taxpayer burden?
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?
Chapter 4: What are the transportation and accessibility features of the proposed site?
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.
In particular, how to create connectivity between 249 and Route 12. When we came in, what we looked at is that to the east of the land, there was all of this really great property, also undeveloped land, but it had multiple different owners and it had multiple different shapes.
And so in addition to not being very accessible, undeveloped land, the ownership situation made it a maze to be able to get somebody to come in and develop it. So we knew from the start what we had to do over the last two years was start working with other owners to be able to buy the different pieces of land and That's how we've now ended up with over 300 acres at this site.
It's an incredible site where the highways, the train and the waterway all come together to create this really great destination. And from the beginning, when we looked at this site back in January of 2024, we said, now keep in mind, that was two years ago. I think the Arlington deal or the original Arlington deal, as announced, was maybe only a year old by then.
We said, man, this would have actually been a great spot to pitch the Bears. But, you know, timing doesn't always work out. So flash forward... to December 17th, 2025, when the Bears announced the surge has expanded to the entire Chicagoland area, we said, man, this was on our minds from the beginning.
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Chapter 5: How did the idea for this stadium proposal originate?
And I'm curious, as we talk with Portage, Indiana, Mayor Austin Bonta, as they make this pitch for Hallis Harbor and a stadium project in their city. It's tax-free, allegedly. The Bears aren't going to be in debt. The taxpayers aren't going to be in debt. Does that mean private equity steps in?
Tell us how these gaps are being filled, because that's a lot of money someone has to come up with to build a stadium.
Absolutely. And that was actually one of the things that was the biggest challenges for me is that we definitely see the benefit of a stadium coming into any city as far as what that can do for economic development. But we also know that whether it's a city, whether it's a state, when taxpayers are funding a stadium and they're on the hook for that much, it can create trouble down the road.
Portage being a city of, again, we're the third largest city in the region, but we're not a million person city. That's a lot of responsibility to take on or potentially to be in some issue with down the road. So I told my team it was very important that our pitch included some way to be able to minimize or eliminate taxpayer costs. At the time, too, we had no idea on a
January 18th what the state of Indiana was going to do with the Bears search you know we wanted to start as quick as we could and we ended up finding a partner who's offering an equity deal where a private company would build the stadium we would be able to give it to the Bears rent-free and
And then the stadium revenue that's generated from non-football related events such as concerts, trade shows, different events happening in the stadium over a long period of time would pay back the cost of building the stadium to the private entity.
And we understand the private entity. Mayor Bonta is Lou Weisbach and his his group is correlated or a subsidiary or part of J.P. Morgan. Is that correct?
Lou has the financial resources to bring that together. And he's been a very good friend to us and a great partner with us as we put this deal together. And we understand that as we bring it to the bears and as the state of Indiana takes a look at it and what they want to add to it, we certainly understand that we need to be flexible starting from our current offer, but
It was very important for us that we had a viable, responsible deal on the table to be able to adequately finance a stadium of this size.
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Chapter 6: What challenges did Portage face in acquiring the land for the stadium?
from the other areas 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's 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 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.
Yeah, I definitely think you've raised awareness. That's for sure, Mayor Bonta. What has been the reception from the Bears? What have the talks been like?
I can't go into all details as far as communication with the bears. I can tell you that they're definitely aware of the offer, both on the land side and on the financial side. We know that they are doing their study to see if it works for them. Certainly, they want to make sure that it's good enough to be true. They want to make sure that it's something that they can plan based on.
And I'm hopeful to be able to say more about that communication piece as time goes on.
What's the timeline here? We understand there's a lot of moving parts here, whether it's the Illinois legislature, whether it's the Indiana legislature. What are you looking at as a timeline to see if this is going to be viable or not?
What I've told residents, and I've been asked by many, like, how soon are we going to know something? I say, you know, it could be weeks from now. It could be tomorrow. It could be later this afternoon. Not specifically about the Portage site, but ultimately this is the Bears' decision, and ultimately the Bears are going to determine what is the best site for the team, the best site for the fans.
I'm hopeful that they're going to agree that the Portage site is the best and that our deal is the best offer on the table. But there are also political and economic things going on that are definitely beyond our control and maybe outside of any one person's control that's going to ultimately influence where the bears go.
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