A state senator said Thursday that he told the Chicago Bears there will be no public funding for a new stadium — and questioned why taxpayers should subsidize a $5 billion organization while cutting benefits for struggling residents.

Speaking to the Illinois Press Association, state Sen. David Koehler (D-Peoria) explained why the Bears’ proposal failed using a simple rule of Springfield politics.

“You’ve got to learn how to count,” he said. “You got to count to 30 in the Senate and 60 in the House. When you do that, you can probably pass a bill. Well, the Bears didn’t know how to count.”

The Bears’ proposal passed the House but faced a fatal problem in the Senate: 28 Chicago-area legislators — House members and senators combined — said they wouldn’t vote to remove the team from the city.

“You’re gonna ask them to take a vote to get rid of the Bears in Chicago? That’s not a good vote,” Koehler said.

The Bears sought tax predictability through a PILOT agreement — payment in lieu of taxes — that would allow them to negotiate incentives with Arlington Heights and surrounding tax districts. The Senate passed a bill allowing any Cook County community over 70,000 population to form a sports authority and offer such incentives. The bill did not advance in the House.

Koehler said he made his position clear when the Bears contacted him last summer.

“I don’t care what you do. I just don’t expect one dime out of [downstate] taxpayers’ pockets to pay for your stadium,” he said that he told Bears officials.

He contrasted the Bears’ request with state budget pressures. While legislators worked to help residents losing SNAP and Medicaid benefits, he said, the team wanted a tax break.

“In a year when we were trying to figure out how to help save people who were getting cut off SNAP benefits, cut off Medicaid benefits — where we going to take and give a huge tax break to the McCaskeys?” he said, referring to the Bears’ ownership family. “The Bears are worth about $5 billion. That’s not good politics.”

Koehler pointed to past stadium deals — the White Sox in 1988 and Soldier Field in 2000 — as cautionary tales. Those arrangements required governors, mayors, and legislative leaders working together and still barely succeeded.

“It’s a different day and age,” he said.

When an audience member joked, “What if the Bears paid for SNAP benefits?” Koehler laughed and said, “If the Bears paid for SNAP benefits, we can do that. I’ll call, too. That’s a good idea.”