The Chicago Bears executive leading the organization’s effort to build a new stadium met with Gov. JB Pritzker’s top economic development official in August, according to emails obtained by Capitol News Illinois via a public records request.
The Illinois Senate’s fifth-most senior Democrat is the second member of the chamber’s leadership team to plan an exit from state government in recent months.
Gov. JB Pritzker only had one scheduled meeting in May with the two main legislative negotiators of megaprojects legislation that would have allowed the Chicago Bears to negotiate and lock in a lower property tax payment for up to 40 years.
Two sources close to negotiations confirmed that legislation is being crafted that would enable local governments to set up their own stadium authorities — a mechanism that would allow the Bears to escape paying property taxes altogether.
Sen. Bill Cunningham said a PILOT bill is off the table, the Bears have had several previously undisclosed meetings with the city of Chicago, and Senate Dems want Chicago to be on an “equal plane” in competing for a new stadium.
With just over 24 hours left in the spring legislative session, several major issues remain in flux. Lawmakers are getting closer to finalizing the budget, the Bears megaproject bill remains a coinflip, hemp and cannabis reform was showing some signs of life, but sources tell us the governor’s housi
As lawmakers barrel towards their May 31 adjournment deadline, there’s been little movement in negotiations over a megaprojects bill that would clear the path for the Chicago Bears build a new domed stadium in Arlington Heights — and not across the state line in Hammond, Indiana.
With just 10 days before state lawmakers wrap up their spring session, there’s “substantial opposition” to megaprojects legislation that would ostensibly clear the path for the Chicago Bears to build a new domed stadium in Arlington Heights, a top negotiator told Capitol News Illinois.
