Why Pritzker is (Mostly) Right About the Bears
Governor JB Pritzker gestures at a bill signing earlier this month. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
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OPINION
I did a radio interview in Champaign a couple of weeks ago and some caller decided to drop dime and accuse me of being a “Pritzker apologist.”
All I could say was “tell them that.”
That’s to say, there aren’t a lot of policy issues out there JB Pritzker and I see the world eye-to-eye on.
But, these days I'm doing my best to call them as I see them, and I think Governor Pritzker is playing the conundrum surrounding a Chicago Bears stadium project mostly the right way.
Pritzker has a bit of a populist streak, much like the occupant of the Oval Office, but in this case, he’s right by claiming the public doesn’t want any tax dollars used for a new stadium. Polling backs it up.
The Governor continues to use the line about public funding for a stadium when he’s asked about the Bears stadium dilemma, including as late as this week when he was in Bloomington-Normal.
But the Bears aren’t asking for public funding for the stadium itself. They haven’t asked for public money for stadium construction since even before the ill-fated lakefront stadium proposal they pitched in 2024.
So it’s a little bit of a straw man argument for Pritzker to keep bringing it up.
Where Pritzker is getting unfairly criticized, as I see it, is over infrastructure. Pritzker has been consistent that the state is open to infrastructure improvements, especially around the Arlington Heights site. The Bears asked for $1.5 billion in lakefront infrastructure and some was, superfluous, to say the least, and state taxpayer would have been on the hook for every single dollar of it. Pritzker and most Democrats scoffed at the offer.
The team has reduced its infrastructure ask around the Arlington Park site to around $900 million, give or take. And Pritzker this week said many of the projects were already in the pipeline from the 2019 capital bill.
It’s not hard to see how a deal could be struck on infrastructure.
Pritzker is getting heat from some corners of Bears fandom for “changing his tune” after the Bears got good this year, but he’s been saying the same thing, publicly and privately, for months.
The biggest sticking point to a stadium deal right now isn’t who pays to build the stadium or who pays for infrastructure projects. It all comes down to property taxes. What an Illinois thing to say.
A white paper from former State Representative and friend of the progrum Mark Batinick, and backed up by numbers from the Tax Foundation, estimate the Bears would owe a yearly $210 million property tax bill on the Arlington Park site after it were developed. The highest in the NFL currently is SoFi Stadium in LA at under $10 million.
So, it’s fair for the Bears to come to local governments and say “hey, we need a little bit of a break here.) But to make this a viable project, they would need a huge, maybe even “yuge” change in property tax calculation for the site. That’s why the team has been so eager to attach itself to the so-called “mega project” bill that has been floundering through the General Assembly.
Pritzker has tried to frame the property tax argument as simply a conversation between the Bears and local governments, but it seems far too daunting just to come to a side deal with some school districts. That’s where legislation comes in.
And, with legislation, comes the reality that the Bears have repeatedly tripped on their shoelaces in recent years with lawmakers, eroding any and all good will they seem to have at the Statehouse.
So asking the thirtysome House Democrats and 15 Senate Democrats who live in the city of Chicago to pass a massive tax break for the Bears that allows them to move out of the city for the first time in 100 years, you can imagine the political pushback and vulnerability they face.
Which brings us to Indiana. The Hoosier state has vaulted the Bears stadium discussion back into the forefront after a poorly-timed letter by Bears President Kevin Warren to fans last month (right before the last Packers game) that indicated the team would potentially look outside of Illinois for a new stadium. I think it’s safe to say most of us thought it was a leverage play or a bluff, but I’ve been led to believe it isn’t.
Indiana’s governor, Mike Braun, a pretty feckless MAGA devotee (I have history with him I’ll tell you about some other time), appears ready to back up the Brinks truck to build a stadium for the Bears in…Gary, I guess? Or on the lakefront next to the BP refinery in Whiting? Doesn’t quite stack up. (So much for the “pride and joy of Illinois, eh?)
But don’t be surprised if there are some MAGA voices encouraging Braun to embarrass Pritzker, who has 2028 ambitions.
Pritzker has played his cards right for much of this saga, but it’s time for the rubber to meet the road. If he’s serious about keeping the Bears in Illinois, it’s going to be on him to make a property tax deal happen.
Will he fumble the ball or come through in the clutch?
