CHICAGO -- Three days before hosting their biggest game at Soldier Field in years, the Chicago Bears are exploring moving outside the city for which they are named.
In an open letter to fans Wednesday evening, team president and CEO Kevin Warren said the Bears will explore other locations -- including outside of Cook County, where the team owns a 326-acre property in Arlington Heights, Illinois -- to build a domed stadium.
That includes moving the Bears out of Illinois altogether.
"In addition to Arlington Park, we need to expand our search and critically evaluate opportunities throughout the wider Chicagoland region, including Northwest Indiana," Warren said. "This is not about leverage. We spent years trying to build a new home in Cook County. We invested significant time and resources evaluating multiple sites and rationally decided on Arlington Heights.
"Our fans deserve a world-class stadium. Our players and coaches deserve a venue that matches the championship standard they strive for every day. With that in mind, our organization must keep every credible pathway open to deliver that future."
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker pushed back against a potential move of the team out of the state.
"Suggesting the Bears would move to Indiana is a startling slap in the face to all the beloved and loyal fans who have been rallying around the team during this strong season," Pritzker spokesperson Matt Hill said in a statement. "The Governor's a Bears fan who has always wanted them to stay in Chicago. He has also said that ultimately they are a private business."
The Bears purchased the Arlington Park property that formerly housed the Arlington International Racecourse for $197 million in 2023, shortly before Warren replaced Ted Phillips as team president and CEO. The Bears proposed building a 60,000-seat fixed-roof stadium within a $5 billion mixed-use development.
Not long after closing on the land in Arlington Heights, the team began exploring options for a new stadium site when it announced its plans to build at the Arlington Park site were "at risk" as negotiations over property taxes reached a $100 million impasse.
Shortly before the 2024 draft, the Bears shifted their focus to building their new stadium on the lakefront south of Soldier Field and announced they would invest more than $2 billion in private money into the construction and development of the stadium and surrounding areas.
Although the team has maintained that the construction of a new stadium will be privately funded, concerns over the burden placed on taxpayers to fund the infrastructure around the stadium led to an impasse. That led the Bears to explore Arlington Heights once again as an option, which Warren announced during league meetings in April. Ahead of the Bears' home opener against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 8, Warren released a letter to fans, saying the team's sights were set on building in Arlington Heights. He has said throughout the year that the goal was to break ground before the end of 2025.
However, the Bears have been in a battle with lawmakers over tax breaks and securing $855 million in public funding for costs related to building the new stadium.
"We have not asked for state taxpayer dollars to build the stadium at Arlington Park," Warren said. "We asked only for a commitment to essential local infrastructure [roads, utilities, and site improvements], which is more than typical for projects of this size. Additionally, we sought reasonable property tax certainty to secure financing. We listened to state leadership and relied on their direction and guidance, yet our efforts have been met with no legislative partnership."
The Bears' current lease at Soldier Field runs through 2033. On Saturday night, the 10-4 Bears will host the Green Bay Packers in a high-stakes meeting that will heavily determine Chicago's path to the postseason.