Gov. JB Pritzker and top Illinois lawmakers appeared to be caught off guard this morning when the Chicago Bears publicly celebrated progress on an Indiana stadium deal just hours after pulling the plug on a key hearing in Springfield.

The team praised an Indiana House committee’s approval of legislation creating a stadium finance authority in Hammond. The authority would acquire land and tap local taxes to help build a publicly financed stadium near Wolf Lake, just across the Illinois border.

The approval came with just one week left in Indiana’s legislative session. The bill does not clearly identify the exact level of public subsidy involved. Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston said the Bears have made a $2 billion private commitment to the Hammond location.

While the Bears may have initially hoped to use Indiana to gain leverage in Illinois, the team may have found a deal that is too good to turn down. 

To the extent the talks in Indiana have added urgency to the negotiations in Illinois, the Bears now find themselves in the precarious position of trying to advance legislation in two states without making public comments that could sour relationships or scuttle talks on either side of the border.

The bill was approved unanimously at the same time the Illinois House Revenue and Finance Committee was meant to meet to discuss the megaproject legislation the Bears have long that would allow the team to negotiate a property tax break with Arlington Heights taxing authorities. 

Representatives from the village of Arlington Heights, local school districts and other supporters were expected to testify in favor of the bill this morning, despite uncertainty over the contents of a long-negotiated amendment that has been under discussion for weeks.

But the Bears pulled the plug on the meeting last night after a “productive three hour meeting” yesterday, Pritzker’s office said this morning. 

In a post on X, Gov. JB Pritzker’s spokesman said the Bears requested a hearing on the proposed megaproject legislation under consideration in the General Assembly be canceled “to make further tweaks to the bill.”

“Illinois was ready to move this bill forward,” Matt Hill wrote. “This morning, we were surprised to see a statement lauding Indiana and ignoring Illinois.”

A source within House Democratic leadership confirmed the Bears asked for the meeting to be canceled and said the state legislators are seeking clarity from the team.

The meeting included Bears representatives, senior staff from Pritzker’s office, Rep. Kam Buckner and Sen. Bill Cunningham. But Bears team president Kevin Warren did not attend, according to a source familiar with the ongoing talks. 
Neither Buckner or State. Rep. Mary Beth Canty, who represents Arlington Heights and sponsored the bill that was up for discussion in committee, immediately responded to requests for comment.

The group has been meeting regularly to hammer out the specifics of the mega-project legislation and to discuss how Chicago could be accommodated if the team departs Soldier Field for the suburbs. 

An amendment to the existing legislation has not been filed, but the sources close to the discussions said progress has been made and all parties left yesterday’s meeting believing the outstanding issues were not insurmountable.

Buckner and members of the Chicago delegation have effectively blocked the legislation from moving forward without the Bears offering a tangible benefit to the city. 

The Bears indicated at the meeting that if the Indiana bill was approved they would issue a statement in the morning championing the legislation while stopping short of making a commitment to move across state lines. 

Pritzker and state leaders believe the team undersold what was expected in Indiana this morning, despite the team not formally making a commitment to leave Chicago for Hammond. There is also frustration that the team has not commented on the progress of negotiations in Illinois.

In the statement issued today, the Bears said the Indiana committee approval this morning marked the “most meaningful step forward in our stadium planning efforts to date.”

“We are committed to finishing the remaining site-specific necessary due diligence to support our vision to build a world-class stadium near the Wolf Lake area in Hammond, Ind," the statement said.

The two proposals are dramatically different and Illinois is unlikely to ever approve the direct stadium subsidies on offer in Indiana. 

Instead, Pritzker has indicated the state would subsidize infrastructure costs in Arlington Heights to support the $5 billion mixed-use stadium-anchored development and leaders in Arlington Heights have made clear they would agree to a deal that delivers a significant property tax break if the Bears move forward with the plan. 

The final details of the megaproject legislation are unclear, including the level of investment required to be eligible for the subsidies and how long the property tax would remain in place. In some iterations, developers like the Bears would also be eligible for a sales tax break on construction materials.