If you build it, they will come?
Some Iowa state senators introduced a bill this week that would expand the state’s major economic growth attraction program, creating financial incentives that could lure an NFL team seeking to build a stadium in the Hawkeye State.
Their target? The Chicago Bears.
‘After years of Bears fans seeking refuge across the Mississippi River from the incompetence, corruption and punitive tax and regulatory climate in the state of Illinois, it is time for the team to join their fans on the west side of the river,’ Republican Scott Webster, one of the legislation’s sponsors said in a statement.
‘Iowa can offer the Bears everything they need to build a world-class facility, tax certainty and the public infrastructure they need in a state led by common-sense conservatives.’
The recruitment pitch didn’t end there.
‘While Illinois and Indiana squabble over this issue, we are ready to get off the sidelines and into the game,’ Kerry Gruenhagen, another senator sponsoring the bill, said in a statement. ‘Bringing an NFL team to Iowa would attract jobs, tourism and fans to our state and give us the opportunity to showcase what Iowa really has to offer. Iowans have dedicated themselves to our college sports teams, and we’re ready to attract a professional team to our great state.’
While Iowa was the stage for ‘Field of Dreams,’ it isn’t home to any major professional sports franchises.
One of the NFL’s original franchises, born in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys, the Bears have been seeking a new stadium for years. Tenants of historic Soldier Field, the league’s smallest venue in terms of capacity (61,500) in downtown Chicago since 1971, the Bears had planned to move to suburban Arlington Heights, where they own a 326-acre tract of land that used to be the site of Arlington International Racecourse.
But team president Kevin Warren wrote in a letter to season ticket-holders in December that an inability to get assistance from the state of Illinois in offsetting infrastructure costs around the proposed project had led the team to consider alternatives. The team has committed to paying for construction of a new stadium itself.
‘We have not asked for state taxpayer dollars to build the stadium at Arlington Park. 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,’ Warren wrote. ‘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.
‘We have been told directly by State leadership, our project will not be a priority in 2026.’
Warren specifically cited Northwest Indiana as a potential locale to build a new stadium.
However, Illinois officials continue working to find a solution that would keep the Bears, a beloved team and one on the rise after winning the NFC North for the first time since 2018, in the Chicagoland area, where they’ve played since 1921.
‘There’s a lot of discussion, a lot of ongoing conversation with the Bears, and indeed, frankly, progress that’s been made. So I’m pleased about that,’ Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday.
‘But I’m going to let the Bears talk about what it is that they want to get done and how they want to get it done. And I’m obviously involved in negotiations and so are my entire team, as well as the members of the Legislature.’