Bears Stadium news

[Bobson Dugnutt]

meh, they’ll be closer to my house and Illinoisans won’t have to foot the tax bill. They’re moving like 25 feet over the state line.

[BigSlick]

I am absolutely baffled by every move the Bears ownership signals. They are schizophrenic, switching from preference to preference, pulling the rug out, repeatedly, on their fanbase. 

In the abstract, I really don't care if they move to Northwest Indiana, hell, saddle Indianans with that tax bill. Doesn't bother me at all. But the way they've handled this has been so bizarre. Just pick a lane, horsefeatherss! 

[Geographyhater8888]

It’s a pain in the ass of a location for anyone north of the city. Either way it’s not like they’re moving to Kentucky.  Hammond is right across the street from the city anyways.

You won’t smell the rotten eggs in a closed air stadium either so not the end of the world. 

Bad look for Illinois though. 

Edited February 19 by Geographyhater8888

[Irrelevant Dude]

Meh.  On one hand, it's closer to where I live, and MUCH closer than Arlington Heights.  On the other hand, I've never been to a Bears game in person, so what do I care?  But I guess if Hammond is able to draw concerts and other big events, that could be nice.

[Outshined_One]

29 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Bad look for Illinois though. 

Quite the contrary, the state is facing major budget issues due to pension payment obligations and federal funding turning into a game of whac-a-mole. Pritzker was vocal about not using taxpayer funds for anything beyond utilities/transportation upgrades for a new Bears stadium, and offering this sort of deal would have seen him strung up by the short and curlies. It's also why Brandon Johnson was roundly mocked for pushing a new lakefront stadium.

The Bears can horsefeathers off to London for all I care at this point. This whole saga has been mind-numbingly stupid.

[Wilson A2000]

See ya in Indiana, Bears!

[We Got The Whole 9]

2 hours ago, Outshined_One said:

Quite the contrary, the state is facing major budget issues due to pension payment obligations and federal funding turning into a game of whac-a-mole. Pritzker was vocal about not using taxpayer funds for anything beyond utilities/transportation upgrades for a new Bears stadium, and offering this sort of deal would have seen him strung up by the short and curlies. It's also why Brandon Johnson was roundly mocked for pushing a new lakefront stadium.

The Bears can horsefeathers off to London for all I care at this point. This whole saga has been mind-numbingly stupid.

Kevin Warren reminds me of the Waterboy overstaying his welcome.

 

18 years is enough! Youre fiiiiiiiirrrrrred.

Edited February 19 by We Got The Whole 9

[Banedon]

Bernstein thinks this is still just massive posturing for what his bluster is worth to you...
 

 

[BigSlick]

And on the other side, Adam Hoge is saying that from what he hears (from whom? does he have any reliable connection to the Bears org?) that the Indiana proposal is not only serious but close to being done. 

I think anything's on the table. I'm exhausted by the whole thing and just want them to be done with it. Do not care where it is, other than I don't want Illinois to further bankrupt itself in keeping the Bears here. 

[Brian707]

I would rather they move to AH but this horsefeathers never ends. Just finalize it with Indiana then. Bye bye. 

[Wilson A2000]

Maybe a second NFL team would come into Chicago

[WrigleyField 22]

It's definitely not a done deal. Bears couldn't just flirt with Indiana on this. Now they're dating. But it's like the Bachelor and they're dating multiple people.  They're gonna tell each side they're special. 

 

The details will matter.  Already the Indiana state leadership is saying Bears would commit $2B. This isn't a total free ride giveaway like it's been portrayed the past few weeks from many. Time will tell how close the packages are at the end of the day, but Cook County has a larger tax and economic base than all of NWI does, and I think the emotional appeal is still in Illinois' favor. 

 

Indiana may still be willing to sell their taxpayer away though and the most likely outcome is a long line of stadium deals that fail to deliver on the rosy picture they paint. 

 

[WrigleyField 22]

26 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Maybe a second NFL team would come into Chicago

I believe Bears would be able to block that.  NY Jets/Giants grandfathered in and in LA Rams didn't have the media rights so league could get both in at once. 

Edited February 19 by WrigleyField 22

[Tryptamine]

Maybe it's meatbally, but they leave Illinois and I'm out. What an absolute horsefeathers stain thing to do. 

[WrigleyField 22]

18 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

Maybe it's meatbally, but they leave Illinois and I'm out. What an absolute horsefeathers stain thing to do. 

Well let's just say our old friend Sulley is threatening the same over at x dot com (and to become a Packers fan at that) 

 

I'd say it meets the meatball threshold if Sulley is on same side 😂

 

I'd dislike Hammond more than AH, but it's no different than any a number of teams.  I'll probably never sing the fight song again though lol... or not that one line. 

Edited February 19 by WrigleyField 22

[Tryptamine]

24 minutes ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

Well let's just say our old friend Sulley is threatening the same over at x dot com (and to become a Packers fan at that) 

 

I'd say it meets the meatball threshold if Sulley is on same side 😂

 

I'd dislike Hammond more than AH, but it's no different than any a number of teams.  I'll probably never sing the fight song again though lol... or not that one line. 

I certainly wouldn't be supporting GB, I'll probably just fall off of following football. I just don't follow any teams outside of Illinois. In my eyes supporting the Bears in Indiana is no different than supporting the Colts. 

[BigSlick]

They’re not even gonna really leave the metro area. Just because it’s over the imaginary line of Indiana, I dunno, I don’t think it’s a big deal 

[CubinNY]

The Hammond Bears just doesn't have the same ring to it. They are following the money like all good late-stage capitalists. 

We are in for so much pain. I feel so bad for my kids. 

I saw a thing about millennials

Born after 9/11

Enter college when expenses are out of the middle class ability to pay

enter the job market during COVID

Enter the housing market during a housing crisis

By mid career their jobs will be taken by AI

By retiremient there will be no Social Security

All so millionaires and billionaires can have it all. 

[WrigleyField 22]

4 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

They’re not even gonna really leave the metro area. Just because it’s over the imaginary line of Indiana, I dunno, I don’t think it’s a big deal 

Yea. NWI by and large identify as Chicagoans just as much as every Cook County or collar County suburbanite does. 

Obviously it's not always mutual from our side haha, but it should be. 

[Banedon]

Guys, they're not gonna change the name to the Hammond Bears.  The Giants and Jets both play in Jersey and they're not changing the name of those teams either.

[WrigleyField 22]

2 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

The Hammond Bears just doesn't have the same ring to it. They are following the money like all good late-stage capitalists. 

We are in for so much pain. I feel so bad for my kids. 

I saw a thing about millennials

Born after 9/11

Enter college when expenses are out of the middle class ability to pay

enter the job market during COVID

Enter the housing market during a housing crisis

By mid career their jobs will be taken by AI

By retiremient there will be no Social Security

All so millionaires and billionaires can have it all. 

Sir, do you know what a millenial is?

[WrigleyField 22]

Just now, Banedon said:

Guys, they're not gonna change the name to the Hammond Bears.  The Giants and Jets both play in Jersey and they're not changing the name of those teams either.

I think they need to change the fight song though. 

 

"You're the pride and joy of... Chicagoland" ? 

[Brian707]

I think Bernstein is right on this. 

[Wilson A2000]

3 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

I think Bernstein is right on this. 

All just political posturing according to Dan. But what happens if Kevin Warren calls wolf too many times and Illinois tells the Bears to shove it? Will the Bears cough up more money to stay in IL? They don’t want to be in Indiana as great as the deal for them might be. 

[Outshined_One]

11 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

They’re not even gonna really leave the metro area. Just because it’s over the imaginary line of Indiana, I dunno, I don’t think it’s a big deal 

Imagine if, back in 2023 (or earlier), the Bears announced an exploratory committee regarding the stadium, be it extending the Soldier Field lease or finding a location suitable for the new stadium, where this committee would have met with various officials around the Chicagoland area (including Indiana) to scope out stadium sites and see what sorts of deals could be made in advance of a new lease or site purchase or whatever.  After multiple meetings, site visits, etc., they announce a deal with Hammond and Indiana to move to the Wolf Lake site.  I feel like that would have been a much easier pill to swallow than the horsefeathers clown show we've seen since the AH purchase.

What bothers me isn't that they're moving to Indiana, but instead the entitlement they've shown and tantrums they've thrown because they bought a site and didn't get the Hochul Special within a week of the purchase,  What also bothers me is they tried to feed Chicagoans a massive load of horsefeathers about a new lakefront stadium that we all knew was make believe, and our horsefeathers mayor swallowed it whole like some dipshit fanboy.

And what bothers me even more is you just know they're going to continue playing these games until they finally get everything they want.