The Chicago Bears took their latest step toward the 2024 season with a win in the preseason opener against the Houston Texans. During the action, both team president Kevin Warren and GM Ryan Poles stopped in to speak with the FOX commentary team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman about the state of the franchise. Poles spoke on his work retooling the Bears’ roster and, of course, the arrival of quarterback Caleb Williams. Warren got his latest opportunity to update on the new stadium situation.
Most people know the recent backstory. The Bears want to establish a state-of-the-art campus downtown along the lakefront south of Soldier Field. Unfortunately, Governor J.B. Pritzker and the state legislature have zero interest in entertaining the idea. Has this deterred Warren at all? Nope. He insists the process has gone as he expected.
“It’s exactly where I thought we would be. These are massive projects. The goal is still shovels in the ground in 2025 and opening in 2028.
“The focus is the museum campus downtown. That’s the most beautiful piece of property in the United States… We also are the largest landowner in Arlington Heights, so that’s still an opportunity.”
In essence, Warren is confident common ground can be reached on the museum campus issue by sometime next year. All the while, he knows he has Arlington Heights in his back pocket.
Many still believe he’s using this approach to curry favor in high circles. He wants to make it seem like he and Mayor Brandon Johnson are doing everything in their power to keep the Bears in Chicago. However, in the end the politics make it impossible, forcing them to pivot back to Arlington Heights. Don’t forget the suburb has relaxed its efforts to enforce heavy property taxes on the franchise, which had been the reason they pivoted to Chicago in the first place. That was considered the last obstacle to a deal happening.
In other words, Kevin Warren has his avenue to get shovels in the ground by next year. The trick is whether he can have his cake and eat it too by convincing the state government to work out a deal for that downtown stadium. He remains confident something will break, likely after the election season in November. The Bears president has been down this road before, having helped establish Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium a few years ago. The best thing to do is trust the process.
