Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
State Rep. Kam Buckner broke down what has changed in Bears' stadium talks (Hour 1)
11 Feb 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What progress have the Bears made with Illinois lawmakers?
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The views and opinions of Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody should not be taken too seriously. Especially when they give advice. Do not take Marshall's analogies literally. Especially when it comes to Russell Dorsey. The sports thoughts of Rahimi, Harris, and Grody may change at any time. It's just sports. Okay, thanks, bye! Rahimi Harrison-Grody, 10 to 2 on 104.3 The Score.
So I'm just minding my own business on Instagram yesterday and I'm like scrolling through stuff. And then what do I see? Well, if it isn't our plucky friend, Kayla Gaylor, falling down. What happened?
I start approaching the scrum. I can't hear anything. So I go around to one side of him where it's like closest to his locker and there was a folding chair. So I kneel on the folding chair and the folding chair collapsed underneath me. Oh, man. Yeah, because you should never trust a folding chair, honestly.
Good thing I brought my collapsible stick chair.
It collapsed right away, and I went, like, hand first into his locker. I went straight into his locker, and he had a beer sitting there, and I knocked his little beer over.
Oh, you spilled the beer. It gets worse.
Yeah. He was on his way to the pub to have a drink and walked in the door and someone had spilled a beer and he slipped and broke his neck. There's a lot of hazards.
There's a lot of hazards post-game in the NFL locker room.
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Chapter 2: How do the Bears' stadium plans impact the local economy?
Police.
Yeah, exactly.
Fire, school. And let's be honest, the budget has been a mess in this state for a minute.
Yeah, and by minutes we mean... Years. Decades. So because of that, you know, this is where that comes into play. Now, Marshall, it's your station, ABC7. that had this report saying Illinois leaders say they're working hard to keep the Bears from crossing the state line.
Sources close to the negotiations told ABC7 that a group of legislative leaders and Bears representatives have met several times a week since early December, and that was before the Bears released the possibility of moving to Indiana. That is important context in all of this.
You know what we call that? We call that a ramp up in negotiations and discussions.
Well, also, it could be, okay, did the Bears decide to bring in Indiana after some of the results of these meetings that had reportedly happened before that took place?
Yeah. Again, I just think when you talk about expediting factors, the Indiana thing can only be seen as that when they come to the table, whether it's Indiana, whether it's Iowa, whether any other states want to get involved in this with their ideas of what they could do to draw the Bears to across state lines.
I mean... You know what I said. If you're really serious about leaving, you play the nuclear option, as we like to say. Wisconsin. You threaten Wisconsin, and then suddenly the Bears can be in. Everybody's saying, take them out of there.
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Chapter 3: What concerns did Cam Buckner raise about the stadium negotiations?
I think it is.
Not Milwaukee, obviously, but Green Bay, I think so. But no, I think all those options mean that the Bears are exhausting. Remember, the Bears are behind schedule. Let's not forget that. Are they?
I don't know about you, but I love buying land and having it stay vacant for three years.
I think it's tremendous. Shovel on the ground is a phrase that will live forever.
I love paying taxes on things that I don't use.
Listen, they're not just behind schedule like, hey, we thought this would be going somewhere by now. They're behind schedule in that they made a declarative statement of Shovels in the Ground 2025. I don't know if y'all know. It's not only 2026. We're in the second month of 2026. Did I tell you?
We're to the three-year anniversary of them buying Arlington Heights.
I don't think I told either of you guys. We changed the name of the podcast from Take the North to Shovels in the Ground. since they took the North. It's now the Shovels in the Ground podcast with Mark Grody and Dan Weider until the Shovels are in the Ground. And then you've got to change the name again? And then we've got to change the name again.
I still like it when everybody just starts naming sites that they want to put the stadium on. That's still my favorite. My ex's house. I'm like, what about this abandoned mall?
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Chapter 4: What comparisons were made between the Bears and Cubs stadium projects?
With what authority? My own.
You thought that that was your intellectual property? Have you ever heard of eminent domain? The table is cleared. All you have to say is eminent domain, and you win your argument, kids.
And then you just back it up with the necessary and proper clause. Okay, let's get back to the real stuff here and people who will actually be in a room for a decision. Ken Buckner also explained what has changed for the Bears in finding a new stadium location. This is a process, right? And each part of the process has a different cadence.
I think early on, they were trying to see what they could get. I think it was very difficult to figure out where they were going. As you guys remember, they were initially said they were leaving Chicago. Then they came out with a big announcement that they were going to stay in Chicago. Then they came out with another announcement that they were going to leave Chicago.
Then they came out with another announcement that they were going to go to possibly look at Indiana, right? And so it was kind of hard to to keep tabs on where they were. But I think where we are now is a real honest, transparent conversation. In order to maintain the integrity of those conversations, I'll just, you know, I'll say kind of some surface level things about it.
But we have spoken to them, I think, with the most regularity and the most clarity that we've been able to get within the last three years. The last three weeks has been clearer than any point of the last three years.
I still maintain that everything we're seeing, whether it's this conversation Cam Buckner is having on the afternoon show yesterday, Spiegel and Holmes, or it's us having the entire conversation, or it's Portage Park, for example, having a press conference, or it's somebody in Iowa trying to pitch for the Bears. All of these things are normal.
They just were supposed to have happened before you buy the land. Like, we're reverse engineering all of this.
And it's going to work out eventually, somehow, some way. Don't know exactly the details of what it's going to look like, but the reality is it should be setting in for everyone. The Bears are getting a new stadium. And it's just a matter of how much is that stadium going to cost? And more importantly, at least from my vantage point, how much is it going to cost you?
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of the Bears moving to Arlington Heights?
So, I'm good. My dream scenario would be the Bears buying the old Belmore race course and moving it out south, but I know that's not going to happen. Right now, I would like to see them just move to Indiana. I would like to see them, the Illinois politicians, the big middle finger. That's what I would like to see.
Pat, we appreciate the call. You broke up there a little bit, but the sentiment is understood as far as moving to Indiana.
He wanted them to Colin Sexton. Basically, the Illinois politicians is what he said, right? Make sure I heard that right.
Yeah, Colin Sexton flipped off the rim the other day for the Bulls. He was at the free throw line.
I guess the Bears put up a semi-middle finger by sending out the note they did in December that they were going to move to Indiana, so... Everybody is on the same page now, sort of, kind of.
Joe in Salem, Wisconsin. You're on Rahimi Harrison-Grody.
Good morning. Thanks for taking the call.
I just want to make this clear that I am a Bears fan, lifelong Bears fan, and I think Arlington Heights is the best place, given the fact that they've bought the land, They've screwed around for three years. They probably could have had the stadium well underway by now if they would have had all their ducks in a row. But I think in the long run, it's the best place for the Bears. Thank you.
Yeah, it makes sense. They bought the land there. They intended on moving there. Then things changed.
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Chapter 6: How does property tax certainty affect the Bears' stadium deal?
That's what the crux is. So I think that that's something that we need to keep in mind here. It's that concept of property tax certainty. 312-644-6767 to Indiana and Mark.
Hey, Mark. Hey, how you doing? How you doing, Layla and Marshall and Mark? It's great to chime in with you.
Good to talk to you, Mark.
Yeah, I got an idea to keep the Bears in Arlington Heights. I think currently there's an NFL exemption that a team can only take on a partnership of 10% or more. I know, like... Mr. Aon Group and Pat Ryan has 20%. But I wondered if the McCaskey family could recruit another partner to take on 20%, such as Mr. Mark Walters. Mark, you're not too far off.
Yeah, the NFL, they're allowing private capital to buy in and buy shares of teams now.
Yeah, you can only go up to 10% with private equity specifically, but selling off a piece of the team is a whole different ordeal.
They had the chance to do that, and that's why we know the team is valued at $9 billion. $9 billion. When a member of the shareholders passed away, we found that out, because then we had to figure out what were those worth. So I don't think you're too far off in your idea process. We continue on the phones, 312-644-6767, to Dave in Skokie. Dave, you're on.
Hey, I'm...
Totally opposed to giving large tax breaks to billionaires. I think that they, that there's, you know, I don't have tax certainty on my real estate. I don't know why they deserve it. Except that it's power.
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