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.
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.
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.
Gov. JB Pritzker dismissed a last-ditch pitch from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to keep the Chicago Bears from leaving city limits, telling reporters Monday morning that the mayor had “no plan” to do so.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson tested his clout in Springfield this week by – publicly and privately – urging state lawmakers to reject a megaprojects bill that would clear the way for the team to leave the city’s lakefront for a domed stadium in suburban Arlington Heights.
Rep. Kam Buckner is pushing back on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s characterization of his megaprojects bill as a giveaway for large developers that would harm Chicago.
