I Legitimately Don't Care Where The Bears New Stadium Is Or Who Is To Blame For This Entire Process. I Just Want To Watch The Bears Play Football

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My fucking life essentially for the past 5 years has been tracking the Chicago Bears new stadium progress. I have been a Chicago Bears season ticket holder since the day I was born and I love nothing more than this team but Soldier Field is an absolute dump. This began as an exciting thing for me when it was initially announced that we were looking to buy land in Arlington Heights. A great town outside of Chicago that already had a massive venue on the same property and they were looking to build an entire Bears town on the land. Awesome.

But now after years and years of hiccups and I've tried my best to fight as hard as I can for team Arlington Heights, I am officially waving the white flag. I do not give a flying fuck where this stadium is built anymore and it all begins with this, who is to blame?

The Blame:

There are two and only two parties to blame here, number one is the Illinois Government and number two, Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren. Lets begin with the Illinois Government. 

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They are legitimately some of the most incompetent people in the country. What the Bears wanted here was simple, and first and foremost let me clear this up before I deal with the "bootlicking to billionaires" comments: THE BEARS HAVE SAID THEY WILL PAY FOR THE ENTIRE STADIUM THEMSELVES. They asked Illinois for two things: Number one is a break on property taxes. The IL gov wanted the Chicago Bears to pay 50-200 million dollars annually in property taxes, making that one of the highest tax rates in the entire country and completely unaffordable. The Bears agreed to pay tax on the stadium, but that was just ridiculous. 

The second thing the Bears asked for was money for infrastructure, around $750 million to be exact. Now what exactly would that money go to? Roads, public transportation, sewage, garbage services, etc. Yes that is a lot of money, but in legitimately every single stadium project in the country, this has been provided for. Imagine if you bought a business lets say a pizza shop and you show up to the site and there's no roads to your business, no sewage from your business, etc. That would be pretty ridiculous. And this money overtime from what the stadium and entertainment district would produce for the state of Illinois, it would be paid back with ease. 

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The Bears were open for negotiation as well with the Illinois government and this could've been changed or adjusted for a side that both parties agreed on but the problem? Essentially every single time the Bears went to talk with them the IL gov told them to go fuck themselves. That's the first blame.

The second goes over to Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren. Kevin Warren was brought here for solely one reason, to build the new stadium. He said himself when he was hired that he would not be involved on the football side of the Chicago Bears but 100% the business side and building this stadium. Welp, that lasted I believe maybe a year tops before he inserted himself into the football operations. 

But the real gripe I have with him is time and time again he would change his mind on stadium location which lead to his demise in negotiating. Jumping from "okay were going to Arlington Heights" to a few months later having a press conference with Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson saying "The Bears are staying in Chicago!" to completely backing out on that a few months later and eventually now jumping to Hammond, Indiana, nobody takes his word for shit anymore. The Illinois government completely called his bluff on Hammond exactly because of this but the problem? This isn't a bluff. 

Hammond is NOT a bluff:

Indiana rolled out the god damn red carpet for the Bears. If you have never been to "the region" before (the upper strip of Northwest Indiana) it is a very interesting place to say the very least. It's great lakefront property, but almost all of that lakefront property is taken up by oil rigs and factories and it looks like a dystopian wasteland. So obviously when the Bears said they might be intrigued to move there, Indiana got a hard on and jumped into it immediately.

They signed a bill in the span of two months, something the Bears have tried to do in Illinois for three and half years and still haven't gotten done. Here's the bare bones of that bill: The Bears can build their stadium in Indiana and pay ZERO taxes for 40 years, Indiana will give them $1 billion dollars for the stadium and over $700 million dollars in infrastructure cost. That is an offer that you can just never say no to regardless of the location. 

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Also on top of this going back to Illinois, the representatives from the city of Chicago are actually in favor of this versus the Bears going to Arlington Heights. Which sounds a bit interesting but not really, Hammond is only 25 minutes driving away from downtown Chicago versus Arlington being farther north. Their logic is that more people traveling in for events at the Hammond stadium would stay downtown versus stay in the suburbs if they moved to Arlington Heights. 

Final Verdict:

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At first, and after visiting Hammond I was not a fan of it whatsoever. It was a fine town but not somewhere built for an NFL team, but after really sitting here and thinking about it and seeing the dedication that the state of Indiana has shown to the Bears, I honestly don't care anymore. Arlington Heights is the premier destination 100% but Indiana will let the Bears build whatever the fuck they want, that town will look like a completely different place in the matter of 10-15 years. It will turn into an entire Bears town and Bears fans will travel to any stadium any where.

Nick Turani and White Sox Dave did some investigative reporting from the location on Tuesday's Wake Up Barstool.

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As long as we are able to go to a nice place and watch number 18 sling a football like nobody's business and keep stacking up NFC North titles? I'm happy with anywhere at this point. And to the people who say they won't be a fan anymore if the Bears move to Indiana? Get the fuck off the wagon because you were never on it, Bear Down. 

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