Naperville Mayor Meets With Bears, Offers Stadium Location Alternative

NAPERVILLE, IL — Ever since the Chicago Bears made it clear they planned to focus on calling the suburbs home rather than the city’s Lakefront where they have played for years, Arlington Heights was always the clear landing spot.

However, as demolition begins on Arlington Park, where the Bears closed on a $197.2 million property agreement with sites on developing more than 300 acres for a new stadium, Naperville has entered the discussion.

The Bears released a statement on Friday saying that Arlington Heights is “no longer our singular focus,” Bears officials said. New Bears President Kevin Warren met with Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli to discuss the option of building a new stadium in Naperville rather than in Arlington Heights, Naperville city officials confirmed to Patch on Friday.

In a letter sent to Warren last week, Wehrli wrote that he wished to “formally introduce our community to your organization as you consider or reassess your planned relocation. He added that the city would welcome the opportunity to “review your business needs and our available properties.”

The letter pitched the city’s access to interstates and to Metra stops, both of which the mayor said, could make Naperville a viable option for the Bears should they not go with their original plan.

“We have several available or to-be-available sites that may fit the characteristics you are looking for in your future home,” Wehrli wrote last week.

Friday’s meeting takes place in the same week when the Bears began demolition at Arlington Park, which, until Friday, had been the sole target of the Bears for a new stadium. After closing on the former racetrack property earlier this year, Bears officials said that there was still a long roadtoward deciding whether they would develop the property and build a new stadium on the 326-acre site.

Arlington Heights officials have passed along similar messages, indicating that there was still a lot to be accomplished in determining if the Bears would truly land there. But after months of saying that the Bears were only focused on Arlington Heights, Friday’s announcement indicated that they are clearly considering other suitors.

“It is our responsibility to listen to other municipalities in Chicagoland about potential locations that can deliver on this transformational opportunity for our fans, our club and the state of Illinois,” Scott Hagel, the Bears senior vice president of marketing and communications said in the statement.