MOORE’S SUMMARY: Despite concerns from Arlington Heights officials that the Chicago Bears would not wait until the end of the Illinois General Assembly’s spring session for an answer on the property tax legislation they say is needed to build a domed stadium on the 326-acre site they own in the village, team leadership all but confirmed Monday that they will give lawmakers more time to work through the legislative process.

KEVIN WARREN’S TAKE: In an interview with NBC Sports’ Mike Florio and Chris Simms at the NFL owners’ meetings in Phoenix on Monday, Bears President Kevin Warren basically confirmed that the franchise will give Illinois lawmakers the space to work through their legislative process. Bills typically don’t reach Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk until May.

“We don’t have a set deadline, but I am confident that sometime this spring/summer, we’ll know,” Warren said. “I mean, we have to know because we would have completed the due diligence in Indiana and we’ll see what happens in Illinois.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Indiana lawmakers approved legislation in late February that set up a framework to build a publicly owned and funded Bears stadium across the state line in Hammond. This set off a panic in some corners of Chicago sports media and among officials in Arlington Heights, who believed the Bears could be on the cusp of leaving the state without immediate action from Illinois lawmakers, who were just weeks into a legislative session that doesn’t wrap up until May 31

Gov. JB Pritzker and state Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, both said last week the team hasn’t given them a hard deadline, though each added that action on the property tax bill “needs to happen sooner rather than later.”

PILOT: The bill would freeze property tax assessments on the sites of so-called “megaprojects” and instead allow developers to negotiate a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes with local governments. Pritzker supports the measure, but many lawmakers have concerns about the long-term tax revenue implications for their communities.

I asked Pritzker on Monday about those concerns, especially in the context of broader worries about the state’s already sky-high property taxes. The governor was quick to remind that projects would be built on properties where “no development is really occurring and wouldn’t occur unless there’s some incentive or some benefit to a company.” And, as written, it would not apply to the broader stadium district.

“I think there is real benefit to a bill like this because it attracts development, and in the case of the Bears development, it appears it is not aimed at building new housing, which would add significantly to a burden of a community,” Pritzker said in Chicago, adding that it “rather will hire people locally and provide development that wouldn’t have otherwise occurred.”

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS OR BUST? Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has tried to revive the idea of a stadium on the city’s lakefront while other groups have pushed the former Michael Reese Hospital site in Bronzeville. But Warren confirmed the team believes “strongly” that Arlington Heights is “the only site in the state of Illinois” that’s feasible, citing the need for space for a surrounding mixed-use district surrounding the stadium.

TIME IS MONEY: Warren said stadium construction costs increase about $150 million per year, which would place the price tag at nearly a half-billion dollars higher than three years ago, when the team finalized the purchase of the Arlington Park property.

‘NOT A MAY 31 THING’: While the Bears appear to be giving Illinois lawmakers space, Buckner told me last week that he’s optimistic this won’t come down to the wire.

“I don’t see this as a May 31 thing,” Buckner said.

One way or another, there should be some clarity on the Bears stadium saga sometime in the next eight weeks.