Country Club Hills Stadium Offer Gives Bears A Chance At 'Touchdown': Officials

COUNTRY CLUB HILLS, IL — After the Chicago Bears celebrated their first home victory in nearly 400 days on Sunday, officials representing Country Club Hills are imploring the team to consider the south suburban community as a possible new home in the future.

Cook County Commissioner Monica Gordon said in a news release on Tuesday that she sent a letter to Bears owner Virginia McCaskey in September, asking that the team give consideration to building a new stadium in Country Club Hills.

The Bears have opened up conversations with various communities around the Chicago suburbs after announcing earlier this year that talks with Arlington Heights had reached a stalemate. Several suburban communities, including Naperville, Richton Park, Aurora and Waukegan have all reached out to Bears President Kevin Warren asking for consideration when it comes to the landing spot for a new stadium.

Warren said in a letter to season ticket holders that he was hoping to make progress on a landing spot for the best stadium in sports in the coming months. He said that all things remain on the table in terms of a possible suitor, but that the team was looking for a public-private partnership in locating a new stadium location.

Warren also mentioned ongoing conversations with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson about keeping the Bears in Chicago. The Bears have continued with the demolition of the former Arlington Park Racecourse after the team's $197.2 million purchase agreement of the property went final earlier this year.

However, like other officials who have pitched the Bears on alternate locations, Gordon and Ford are pushing what they say are valuable reasons for moving the team to a south suburban location.
“Country Club Hills’ strategic location near three major highways, the Metra Electric line, and the Indiana border gives the Bears the opportunity to develop a world-class stadium and experience that management purports to want for the team’s future growth,” Gordon said in the news release.

Gordon said that she and Country Club Hills Mayor James Ford are “imploring” the Bears to consider the South Suburbs as an opportunity to have a positive economic impact on a part of the Chicagoland area “that is ignored all too often”, Gordon said.

Ford did not immediately return a message to Patch on Wednesday seeking comment. A spokesperson for local officials told Patch on Wednesday hat Gordon is working to set up a face-to-face meeting with Bears officials to discuss the proposed County Club Hills location, which is set for a site located between 167th and 175th streets along Cicero Avenue.

The proposed stadium site would be close to Interstate 57, 80, and 294. In addition to the stadium, officials said that the city's proposed site would include an entertainment district, but that plans for residential properties would need to be discussed. City officials said that the site is ideal because local residents would not need to worry about increased gameday traffic as the site is not close to any local neighborhoods.

“After 50 seasons at Soldier Field, we and other south suburban elected officials are asking Warren and McCaskey to look to Inglewood in Los Angeles as a roadmap for transforming a predominantly Black area into a thriving residential, business, and entertainment district that will build generational wealth not only for the Bears but families throughout the Chicago Southland,” Gordon said in the news release.

She added: “I want to remind the team that it has the power to score another touchdown outside the stadium at a new home in the south suburbs.”