Taking the subsequent step towards constructing a brand new stadium, the Chicago Bears on Thursday introduced an informational group assembly to debate the potential buy and improvement of Arlington International Racecourse.
Team officers in a press release stated they’ll current conceptual plans subsequent week for a transit-oriented, mixed-use leisure district anchored by a stadium in Arlington Heights that will be one of many largest improvement tasks in Illinois historical past.
The assembly is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, within the health club at Hersey High School, 1900 E. Thomas St. in Arlington Heights.
Anticipating a big crowd, seats will probably be accessible on a primary come, first served foundation. The parking heaps will open at 5 p.m., with doorways opening at 5:30 p.m.
The assembly is informational solely. If the undertaking had been to maneuver ahead, the staff acknowledged, all required public conferences would happen later earlier than Arlington Heights officers.
The announcement is consistent with statements by Mayor Tom Hayes that the village will seemingly start holding conferences this fall to debate the proposal.
Last yr, the staff and monitor proprietor Churchill Downs Inc. introduced an settlement for the Bears to purchase the 326-acre racetrack website for $197 million, pending remaining evaluations and approvals by each events. The deal is predicted to be closed by early 2023.
Any improvement must be accepted by village officers. The mayor has welcomed the staff’s proposed transfer from Soldier Field in Chicago, and has floated the thought of restricted native taxpayer assist.
In response, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduced a proposal to construct a dome on prime of Soldier Field, and increase its capability from 61,500, the smallest within the National Football League, to 70,000.
But town, already working at a deficit and nonetheless paying off the stadium’s final renovation in 2003, has not specified how it will pay for such a pricey undertaking.
Lightfoot’s press workplace issued a press release that she has made a “compelling case” for the Bears to remain in Chicago at a “tier one” stadium.
“The city will continue to make the case to the Bears, the NFL and the public that a revitalized Soldier Field makes the most economic sense,” spokeswoman Kate LeFurgy stated.
Arlington Heights Mayor Hayes referred to as the assembly an encouraging signal.
“They’re increasing the speed of the project as we move forward toward making this a reality,” he stated. “This is an opportunity to get initial feedback from the community, so it’s a very important and exciting part of the process.”
He emphasised that this isn’t a village assembly, and he wouldn’t be current in order to not intervene.
A Bears spokesman declined extra touch upon the assembly.
The assembly is predicted to be extra about all the improvement of the property as an leisure district than in regards to the advantageous particulars of the stadium. It is an opportunity for the staff to let the general public know the place it’s at with the undertaking and encourage suggestions. The staff is predicted to emphasize that the acquisition of the property — and the following improvement — isn’t but a executed deal.
The Bears have referred to as Soldier Field residence since 1971, however the staff has mentioned or proposed taking part in its video games elsewhere all through a lot of the final 50 years.
Wrigley Field served as the unique residence venue for the staff when it moved to Chicago in 1921 and remained there by way of 1970.
But the Bears had been compelled to discover a new residence after the American Football League merged with the National Football League and required stadiums to seat not less than 50,000 followers.
A latest ballot commissioned by a self-described libertarian group discovered {that a} majority of Arlington Heights residents surveyed assist the Bears transferring from Soldier Field to their village, however oppose any tax subsidy to assist the staff accomplish that.
The ballot, launched final month, discovered that 72% of respondents accepted of the Bears’ proposal to construct a stadium on the closed Arlington International Racecourse — however 68% opposed utilizing tax {dollars} to assist the staff.
The ballot additionally discovered sturdy assist for an ordinance to ban Arlington Heights from utilizing taxpayer funds to assist construct a stadium or different “corporate welfare” by a 55%-30% margin.
The survey was sponsored by Americans for Prosperity-Illinois, a gaggle based by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers, and surveyed 300 registered voters within the village.
The prior renovation of Soldier Field value some $690 million, of which taxpayers had been on the hook for $432 million, plus a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands in curiosity, which they’re nonetheless paying by way of 2032.
That renovation was broadly seen as underwhelming, leaving an undersized stadium shoehorned inside the unique facility’s colonnades.
The Bears have by far the oldest stadium within the NFL, relationship to 1924, however it’s owned and operated by the Chicago Park District. Since the staff arrived in 1971, each different staff within the league apart from the Green Bay Packers has constructed a brand new stadium.
Just since 2009, a number of the league’s premier franchises close to Dallas, New York and Los Angeles and elsewhere have constructed palatial services outdoors of their residence cities.
In the meantime, public sentiment has turned in opposition to subsidizing groups price billions of {dollars}. Research typically has proven that such massive expenditures don’t pay for themselves.
Chicago Tribune’s Gregory Pratt and A.D. Quig contributed.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com