Chicago Bears looking at 2 sites
for stadium in Indiana and could end up using both
[August 14, 2026]
By JAY COHEN
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — The Chicago Bears have at least one viable
site for a stadium in northwest Indiana and they are examining a
second location as they move closer to finalizing a place for their
new home.
The Bears announced in June that they were moving forward with a
stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana. They have completed
their review of what they are calling the Lost Marsh site, and they
are doing their due diligence on the Wolf Lake Terminal site. They
could merge the two options together in some way.
“Even though we’ve had occasional meetings with the state of
Illinois, our sole focus at this point in time is working on a
world-class stadium and mixed-use development in Hammond, Indiana,”
team President Kevin Warren said Thursday.
The Bears also had been considering Arlington Heights — about 30
miles northwest of Chicago — as a potential location for an enclosed
stadium. Wherever they end up, a name change is off the table.
“We will be the Chicago Bears whether we’re in Arlington or whether
we’re in Hammond,” chairman George McCaskey said.
The Bears, a charter NFL franchise, have played in Illinois since
the team’s founding in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys. They moved to
Chicago in 1921 and called Wrigley Field home before they started
playing at Soldier Field in September 1971.
The Bears’ lease runs through 2033, but they can pay a fee to break
the lease early. Soldier Field is about 40 miles south of Halas Hall
— the team’s headquarters in Lake Forest — and Hammond is about 20
miles south of the team’s lakefront stadium.
McCaskey acknowledged the “anxiety” of a move to northwest Indiana
for the team's fans.
“But when I’ve driven that route, other than a sign telling me so, I
wouldn’t know that I’ve just crossed the state border,” he said.
“And as Kevin said, once people see the building, once they get in
there, once they understand that our top priority from day one was a
world-class stadium experience, we think we’ll make that adjustment.
We think Bears fans are up for that.”
The Bears ramped up their focus on Indiana after a proposal to
provide financial incentives for the team to build its new home in
Illinois stalled in the state legislature. A committee in the
Indiana House of Representatives passed a bill in February that
established a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance,
construct and lease a stadium.
The Illinois Senate passed a bill that would have cleared the way
for Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local stadium
authorities, creating a pathway for the Bears to avoid paying
property taxes on a new stadium. But the House adjourned without
taking up the measure on the last day of the state’s spring
legislative session.
McCaskey said the team has had minimal conversations with Illinois
legislators since June. Asked if he was hopeful about Illinois
coming up with a plan and building in Arlington Heights, McCaskey
demurred.
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Chicago Bears Chairman George McCaskey addresses the team's ongoing
stadium plans during a news conference Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in
Lake Forest, Ill. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “has said to us many
times in league meetings, ‘Hope is not a strategy,’” McCaskey said.
“We have to deal with the here and now. We have to deal with real
circumstances, and these are the real circumstances.”
Speaking before McCaskey and Warren held their news conference,
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said his office has been in contact with
the team.
“We’re working hard to make sure that there’s an opportunity for the
Bears to stay in the state of Illinois, whether it’s in Chicago or
in Arlington Heights,” Pritzker said.
“I also want, at the same time, to protect the fans and the
taxpayers of the state. So we’re going to do everything we can to
make sure that that happens.”
The Bears have been pursuing a new home for years, but the process
has been hampered by repeated twists and turns.
The team announced in September 2021 that it had signed a purchase
agreement for 326 acres of land in Arlington Heights. The $197
million deal with Churchill Downs Inc. was finalized in 2023.
In September 2022, the team unveiled a nearly $5 billion plan for
Arlington Heights that called for an enclosed stadium that could
host Super Bowls and Final Fours. The conceptual illustrations also
provided for a year-round entertainment district with restaurants
and shopping.
But the Bears shifted their focus toward building a new stadium next
to Soldier Field after Warren was hired as team president in January
2023, replacing the retiring Ted Phillips. The plan to transform
Chicago’s Museum Campus got an enthusiastic endorsement from Mayor
Brandon Johnson and a tepid reception from Pritzker and state
legislators when it was announced in April 2024.
The team switched gears again in May 2025, announcing it had made
“significant progress” with local leaders in Arlington Heights.
Amid lingering efforts to secure tax incentives in Illinois, along
with as much as $855 million in public money for infrastructure at
the Arlington Heights site, the Bears began to take a closer look at
possible options in northwest Indiana.
“We’re in regular, almost daily communication with the state of
Indiana working on this,” Warren said. “We have an excellent deal, a
win-win partnership together. And the cost of the significance of
this decision from a stadium standpoint, we will make sure that we
take our time to get this right.”
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