Arlington Heights Or Chicago, Warren Says Bears 'Have Good Choices'

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — When he hit the ground running nine months ago as the Chicago Bears President and CEO, Kevin Warren brought a lengthy to-do list with him, anxious to get a storied NFL franchise turned back in the right direction.

Like the priorities he was tasked with tackling over time, helping to deliver a new state-of-the-art stadium to Bears fans was never designed to happen overnight. But now, less a year into his tenure, where the Bears will eventually play their home games remains a work in progress with plenty of moving parts.

Once seen as the Bears' lone focus, Arlington Heights remains near the top of mind for Warren, who on Wednesday, said that his stadium plan remains the same even if how the team finds its future home has added some twists and turns. Since opening the door to other locations — including the City of Chicago and other suburban locations — the Bears continue to delve into the details of delivering a first-class game day experience to fans.

Yet, when exactly they will announce their next moves remains the multi-billion-dollar question.

“I am focused on making sure that we build the most progressive, smartly priced, on-time, under-budget stadium development project that's ever been built in the National Football League,” Warren told reporters at the Bears’ end-of-season news conference on Wednesday. “So that's what we're focused on every single day.”

The Bears closed on a $197.2 million purchase agreement on the former Arlington Park Racecourse property 11 months ago. Since then, demolition has started and the team has unveiled what the 326-acre plot that Warren called "really special" on Wednesday and that could eventually look like with a mixed-use site that would not only include a domed stadium, but retail, entertainment, and residential properties designed to make the site a Mecca for Bears fans coming to the village.

Yet in a meeting last summer with residents and interested shareholders in Arlington Heights, Warren said that things with Arlington Heights officials had reached a stalemate. He said that the village was no longer the team’s lone focus and that everything was on the table. Now to start the New Year, Arlington Heights remains very much still in play, Warren said.

The Daily Herald reported last month that officials from Arlington Heights, the Bears, Northwest Suburban High School District 214, Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211, and Palatine Township Elementary District 15 have been working to resolve a property tax dispute. Warren said that those conversations continue, but that the issue – along with property taxes for local residents – are just some of the issues that need resolving.

While many — including Arlington Heights officials — still believe that the village will still eventually be the Bears' home, Warren said on Wednesday that although the longer things play out the more expensive a building project becomes, he is committed to not rushing things.

Instead, he plans to remain deliberate, repeating an often-used adage that, “time is money.”

“I've said it all along, that the moment that a shovel goes in the ground, I'm confident that we will be able to have a building to play in 36 months after that happens,” Warren said on Wednesday.

Despite Arlington Heights seemingly locked in as the team’s future home when Warren was hired after running the Big Ten Conference, he said Wednesday that considering all of the options was always his plan. He disagreed with the notion that things had somehow pivoted and said that his strategy all along was delivering a new stadium home that Bears fans would embrace in the long run.

He said that while demolition at Arlington Park began and negotiations over the assessed value of the property and the tax implications for residents and local school districts continued, the team’s commitment to keeping all of its options open never wavered. He said that he didn’t consider ongoing negotiations with suburban school districts and local property owners as a “roadblock” but instead as an opportunity to build relationships and have meaningful conversations.

Asked Wednesday specifically about Arlington Heights, Warren said that the team still owns the racecourse property and that he remains in communications with “individuals” from the village at the same time as conversations continue to take place with the City of Chicago and Mayor Brandon Johnson.

He said that while the 326-acre property provides a unique setting as does a Chicago downtown area Warren referred to as the best city in the world. He said that while the Arlington Park property provides a vast open area that could be developed into a top-notch area for not only Bears game, but hosting championship events like Super Bowls, College Football Playoff games, Final Fours and concerts, the opportunity to consider the differences between landing in a suburban area versus the Chicago’s downtown area must all be pondered.

Warren’s focus on keeping everything on the table remains one of his biggest talking points, but said that while there are a “bunch of next steps”, one of them is settling on a location once and for all.

“That stadium is a 40-year decision, and we need to make sure we get that right and that we're very deliberate in our thought process,” Warren said.

He added: “(The City of Chicago) has many pluses, and so I'm just a big proponent of the Chicagoland area. I'm a big proponent of Arlington Heights, but there's something that's really special about downtown Chicago…. I believe that we're blessed here in Chicago. A lot of places that you live, you don't have options that we could be talking about Arlington Heights or Chicago. So, we're fortunate. We have very good choices here.”