Bears thought they got their stadium on lakefront

I think this might need to be spelled out for people.

This whole thing is about leverage and negotiations.  Period.


Eventually, there WILL be a new stadium built.  That stadium will be in Arlington Heights.  Everything else is just posturing.


Here's why:

First, the whole reason why the Bears want a new stadium comes down to one thing:  Control.


Right now, the Chicago Bears don't own their own parking or concessions, which for a stadium are the 2 largest generators of revenue.

The Bears also don't own their own field.  The Chicago Park District manages it, which means there is also funding tied to it.  And even for the stadium remodel, local group "Friends of the Parks" threw up enough of a stink that they got a cut too when the "spaceship" was built inside Soldier Field.

That all together is millions if not billions of dollars for connected people in Chicago, and they don't want to lose their piggybank.


Now, I am about to get really real here:

The Bears were serious about moving to Arlington Heights back before the Soldier Field remodel happened.  They had had enough at that time.  However, Mike McCaskey was completely out of his depth.  Because back then, even with all these different interests in Chicago, people knew - the Daleys reigned supreme.  They were connected to everything, above board AND underground.  They owned the city and much of the state as well.

So when the Bears were making serious moves THEN to get to Arlington Heights, Daley just had to make some calls to his teamsters and, let's just say, not exactly above board patrons who would be considered movers and shakers in the gambling world (remember, even then the site was always the Arlington Heights race track), and had it shut down, leaving the Bears NO CHOICE but to come crawling back to Daley.  It's honestly how Ted Philips became such a favorite of the family - he was the only one with any negotiation sense, and somehow pulled something humiliating back into getting a reworked Soldier Field done, by playing ball with Daley AND giving up on the control the Bears wanted, which was all the leverage Daley needed to make the remodel happen.

But just because they were able to save face with that move, don't think the McCaskeys ever forgot about that.

Because when this latest stadium foray started this time, do you guys remember what preceded it?

www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chicago-bears-betrivers-and-rivers-casino-announce-multi-year-exclusive-partnership-301317214.html#:~:text=CHICAGO%2C%20June%2022%2C%202021%20%2F,a%20multi%2Dyear%20exclusive%20partnership.

It also just so happens that BetRivers owns the land the Bears were eventually going to purchase.  AND are the type of "underground connected" company that Daley was able to leverage against the Bears the last time.  And now there is no Daley in Chicago, which also helps because now all these interests where Daley is pulling the strings, they are all vying for themselves with no one central puppet master any more, which makes divide and conquer easier for moving out.  There is no one strong force to block the Bears, and now the Bears have a deal with a connected company who now has a VESTED FINANCIAL INTEREST in there being a stadium in Arlington Heights - which means even if anyone tried this time to "make some calls" to call this off, they likely will be told to go scratch, because the skin is already in the game now.  In short, before ever announcing interest in a stadium in Arlington Heights, the McCaskeys learned and got "protection".

Then they bought the land, invested a ton of money into the new stadium project, etc.

AND if they can get it across the finish line, they can FINALLY get all the control they are lacking in the City.

You really think those groups are going to let the Bears have control over their own parking, field, concessions?  NAH.  NO WAY.  NOT HAPPENING.

The Bears and McCaskeys are too financially and politically tied to Arlington Heights.  That's where it is going to be.  Even if they too have their own groups that want their cut (like the teacher's union of all things, pfft), its a lot less hassle to deal with than Chicago Politics.

My suggestion is simply this:

Until a shovel breaks ground, assume that the Stadium will be in Arlington Heights and everything in the media are just various factions trying to gain leverage for their own purposes.

This has just gotten to be a wait and see thing. What has happened so far does not make much sense to me so trying to game it out is just an exercise in frustration. Not that I'm a stranger to that

He'd actually be WORSE than Ted.

Ted rescued the McCaskeys from a terrible situation.  Warren would have actually stolen defeat from the jaws of victory if they either don't get a stadium deal done, or it gets done but in Chicago with the same terrible stipulations the Bears are currently working with.

Yeah. When this came out with the taxes, the very first thing I thought of is who in their right mind would negotiate a stadium deal without some sort of iron clad tax deal going forward. One of the very first steps you do before committing to the property.