Pritzker Administration Pushes Next Steps on Stadium Saga to Bears
Governor JB Pritzker speaks to reporters Tuesday in Chicago. (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
Both Governor JB Pritzker and one of his top aides Tuesday pointed blame for the state’s failure to advance legislation to keep the Chicago Bears on the franchise itself and said the team needs to step up to help find a final resolution.
Pritzker spoke to reporters after a speech at a Chicago children’s hospital Tuesday while we spoke with Deputy Governor Andy Manar on the radio.
Pritzker certainly downplayed Friday’s announcement from the team, which claimed it was focused on a site in Hammond, Indiana after lawmakers failed to advance stadium legislation before the General Assembly adjourned in the early morning hours of June 1.
“I put together the deal to start with. The Bears didn’t come with a list.” Pritzker said of the so-called “megaprojects” bill that passed the House but didn’t have enough support among Democrats to advance in the Senate. “They decided to glom onto the megaprojects bill that I proposed.”
While the team said it was moving forward with Indiana, both Pritzker and Manar played down the announcement.
“I don’t think much has changed, at least from our perspective,” Manar said. “Both chambers of the General Assembly have each passed bills where a majority of members have given their thumbs up to a package of incentives. "The statement from the Bears seems to be more of what we’ve heard from them to date.”
Pritzker says his office has already received calls from the Bears to continue negotiations with state leaders to find a path forward in Illinois, but Manar said the Bears still haven’t made their preferences clear.
“We haven’t heard a word from the Bears about how they feel about either one of those two bills,” Manar said. “While we still know today that their preference would be to stay in Illinois, particularly developing the site in Arlington Heights, I think it’s incumbent on the Bears now to say to the sponsors of the bill and to state government and to the governor how they feel about both of those bills.”
Pritzker said his priorities for a stadium haven’t changed.
“The first priority to me is, we’re not raising people’s taxes to pay for a privately owned stadium. That’s number one,” Pritzker said, though the team hasn’t asked for public money to construct the stadium.
But finding a path forward continues to be a challenge for state leaders as Manar didn’t shy away from a belief there’s trust issues between the administration and team, but the two sides can still move forward.
“It’s unquestionable that there is a deep feeling of being misled at this point,” Manar said. “What we would like, what the Governor would like, what our administration would like is for the Bears to take a look at both bills that the House and the Senate passed to focus on what they think works for them. The ball is in their court and I think they need to do it.”
Both Pritzker and Manar seemed optimistic the House, Senate, administration, and Bears can reach an agreement and that legislators could be called back before veto session in November to pass a bill.
“They’ve got to figure out how they can get the legislature, both sides, around the same bill, and I would be happy to call a special session,” Pritzker said.
