Bears board advances Hammond stadium plan, keeping the exact site open

The Chicago Bears’ Board of Directors has voted to advance the team’s stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana, with the precise location still to be selected. In a statement released Friday, Chairman George H. McCaskey and President & CEO Kevin Warren said the Bears believe a “world-class” stadium in Hammond could reshape the region by connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and nearby neighborhoods and suburbs.

This step matters because it reinforces how closely the Bears’ long-term facility plan is tied to political and tax structures on both sides of the state line. The Bears have played in Illinois since the franchise’s founding in 1920, and they have called Soldier Field home since 1971. According to reporting, their lease for Soldier Field runs through 2033, and the team has the option to pay a fee to break the lease early. A vote to press ahead in Indiana is therefore more than a feasibility exercise. It is the latest public indicator that the Bears are preparing for a scenario in which their next permanent stadium could be outside Illinois.

The Bears’ decision comes amid uncertainty over a different path that would have kept the project in Illinois. The latest cycle of state-legislature deadlines did not produce the measure the Bears were seeking. As described by, the Illinois House adjourned during the state’s spring legislative session without taking up legislation that would have cleared the way for Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local stadium authorities, a mechanism the Bears had been pursuing to help avoid paying property taxes on a new stadium in Illinois.

That legislative friction also aligns with the Bears’ own stated planning posture. AP reported that the Bears were finalizing evaluation of two possible sites, Arlington Heights and Hammond, and that they were working within a late spring or early summer decision timeline. AP also reported that the Bears still need NFL approval for the location of any new stadium, and that the league has been kept apprised of developments as the process has shifted.

The Hammond vote also sits on top of years of changing plans and geography. In 2021, the Bears announced a purchase agreement for 326 acres in Arlington Heights, a deal completed in 2023, and they unveiled a nearly $5 billion concept for the Arlington Heights site in 2022. The Bears later redirected attention to options near Soldier Field after Kevin Warren took over as team president in January 2023, and the Illinois Museum Campus concept received support from Chicago’s mayor while state legislators offered a more muted reception, according to AP. By 2025, the Bears had again shifted their emphasis toward Arlington Heights progress with local partners while continuing to assess incentives and infrastructure funding that could include public money on the Arlington Heights side, reported at up to $855 million.

In Indiana, the political foundation for a Hammond stadium has moved faster. AP reported that an Indiana House committee passed a bill in February establishing a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority designed to finance, construct, and lease a stadium. The Bears had been doing due diligence on a tract near Wolf Lake in Hammond, and Indiana Governor Mike Braun welcomed the Friday announcement as an economic opportunity for the region.

For the near term, the Bears’ board vote does not end the stadium debate. The team still has to select the exact Hammond site, move through the NFL approval process, and determine how far negotiations with Illinois leaders can go before deadlines force a definitive path. What to watch next is whether the Bears’ timeline tightens toward a single location choice, and how quickly both states can convert stated support into the specific authorization and incentive structures needed to make construction bankable. In an offseason built around football operations, this is the corporate football that determines where the Bears will play, host events, and market the franchise for decades.