Sports NFL Chicago Bears Chicago Bears’ stadium tactics over years of negotiations leave some Illinois leaders frustrated Share this: Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky Share on X (Opens in new window) X Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email State Sen. Bill Cunningham updates reporters on a Senate proposal to have a new stadium for the Chicago Bears built in Illinois during the final night of the spring legislative session on May 31, 2026, in Springfield. After the spring session adjourned, Cunningham, in a sports talk radio interview, described his frustration in working with the Bears through negotiations. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) By Jeremy Gorner | jgorner@chicagotribune.com | Chicago Tribune, Olivia Olander | oolander@chicagotribune.com | Chicago Tribune and Jake Sheridan | jsheridan@chicagotribune.com | Chicago Tribune PUBLISHED: June 6, 2026 at 5:00 AM CDT Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... SPRINGFIELD — Following a marathon week in which a legislative deal to incentivize a new Chicago Bears stadium in Arlington Heights collapsed and the team announced it is eyeing northwest Indiana instead, some Illinois political leaders blamed the Bears while still holding out hope for an eventual deal in Illinois. The Bears’ announcement Friday came about four months after the Indiana legislature passed a bill to aid the team in its move to Hammond. While Friday’s statement from the Bears said the team’s intention is to “advance our stadium project in Hammond, Indiana ,” it continues: “with the exact site to be selected.” To key Illinois lawmakers, that left wiggle room. State Rep. Kam Buckner and state Sen. Bill Cunningham, both Chicago Democrats and lead negotiators on the Bears stadium issue, said they spoke on Friday with Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren , who indicated that he looked forward to continuing discussions about a stadium, suggesting Illinois was still an option. Warren, however, made no mention of Illinois in the statement released by the team and said the team’s focus was now on the “exact site” in Indiana. In a prepared statement, Buckner described his conversation with Warren as “forward-looking.” “If a final decision had truly been made, I wouldn’t expect the focus to be on what comes next,” Buckner said. State Rep. Kam Buckner sits at his desk during the final night of the spring legislative session at the State Capitol on May 31, 2026, in Springfield. The Chicago Democrats is one of the lead negotiators on the Bears stadium issue. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) Cunningham also argued that the statement the Bears put out Friday is “not fundamentally different” than the one the team released Feb. 19 when the Indiana legislature inched closer to passing a bill to aid the team in its potential move to Hammond, before the bill eventually passed. A spokesperson for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also downplayed the news Friday, emphasizing that team officials have said an out-of-state move is not an absolute certainty. But as the team made its announcement, its tactics across years of negotiations — including ostensibly definitive statements about their intentions at a number of different sites in the region — drove several top Illinois leaders to open frustration. “The Bears have built a storied legacy in Illinois for over 100 years but have spent the last six years, and especially the last few months, shifting their position on a stadium location. That has hindered their progress,” Gov. JB Pritzker’s spokesperson Matt Hill said, homing in on the time period at the end of the General Assembly’s legislative session. “Today appears to be another instance of that after Illinois leaders have been working with the Bears in good faith.” Democratic state Sen. Robert Peters, who represents the lakefront area where the Bears currently play, last month criticized Warren for “this three-year cluster mess of the Bears stadium” and said Friday there were still details to work out in Hammond or at any other site “before we just take their announcements at face value.” “People don’t fly all over the world to go visit Hammond, no offense to Hammond. People don’t fly all over the world to go visit Arlington Heights, no offense to Arlington Heights,” in contrast to Chicago’s lakefront, Peters said. “To be honest with you, they want to maybe fleece taxpayers in Indiana, or get their golden nugget in Arlington Heights, and that’s something that they can choose to do. I choose to think about how special our downtown is.” State Sen. Robert Peters sits at his desk in the Senate chamber on the final hours of the spring legislative session at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield early on June 1, 2026. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) The Bears had been in discussions again with city officials about possible plans for a lakefront stadium while sites in Arlington Heights and Hammond were in the mix, Cunningham first disclosed last month. The involvement of Chicago officials in the conversation complicated negotiations between Springfield and the Bears, Cunningham said. After the spring session adjourned early Monday, Cunningham, in a sports talk radio interview, described his frustration in working with the Bears through negotiations. “They pivoted between various plans, back and forth between Arlington Heights and the lakefront, and that shifting continued right up until the spring, when they were publicly saying there was a binary choice between Arlington Heights and Hammond, while they were conducting, you know, let’s call them back-channel discussions with the city of Chicago,” he said on WSCR-AM 670. “I think they pumped hope into the idea that a lakefront stadium was still possible and that made it all the more difficult to get (state lawmakers from) Chicago to support a plan for Arlington Heights.” After an event Friday, Chicago Park District Superintendent Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, a Johnson appointee, said he supported the mayor working to keep the Bears in Chicago and believes the team left the option open, though he declined to say how Pritzker, Johnson and legislators can entice the team to stay in Illinois. What it will take is “a question for the Bears,” he said. One stadium expert believes Illinois could do something to keep the team, but time is running out. “This is a pretty big deal,” said sports stadium consultant Marc Ganis, who is not involved in the Bears project. “In a very short amount of time, the momentum behind Indiana will make this a total a fait accompli. It’s not there yet, but it won’t take very long.” Indiana state Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Mishawaka, right, speaks Feb. 26, 2026, at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis shortly before the Senate passed a bill that outlined a financial structure for a Chicago Bears stadium in Hammond. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) As some Democrats blamed the Bears on Friday, Republicans were already trying to saddle Pritzker, who is running for reelection this year and is widely seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, with a political loss and accused him of a lack of engagement, previewing a potential GOP talking point for years to come. “Gov. Pritzker needs to understand that failing to produce a serious proposal after three years to keep the Chicago Bears in Illinois isn’t good-faith negotiation — it’s dysfunction,” Senate Republican leader John Curran of Downers Grove said in a statement. The campaign for Republican governor candidate Darren Bailey said, “After 100 years, the Chicago Bears won’t be in Illinois — and it’s all because JB Pritzker and his disastrous agenda forced the heart and soul of Chicagoland to abandon its identity, its fans, and its state for more competitive waters.” Bailey, despite frequent questioning by reporters, has not identified what his own plan would be to keep the Bears. Olander and Sheridan reported from Chicago. Tribune r eporter Bob McCoppin contributed. 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