Chicago Mayor Proposes $2.2 Billion Plan To Entice NFL Team To Stay; Bears Moving On To Safer Suburb

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JULY 29: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot appears on stage during Lollapalooza 2021 at Grant Park on July 29, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.

On Monday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposed a $900 million to $2.2 billion Hail Mary offer to convince the Bears to stay in their home stadium of over 50 years.

However, the Chicago Bears stated in a press release earlier this month that they wouldn’t consider any other offers, even for their home stadium, Soldier Field. The NFL team reaffirmed that sentiment to ESPN this week, noting that they were set on moving to another location over 30 miles away.

“As part of our mutual agreement with the seller of that property, we are not pursuing alternative stadium deals or sites, including renovations to Soldier Field, while we are under contract,” stated the team.

The Bears plan to move to Arlington Park, the longtime site of Churchill Downs’ thoroughbred racing in Arlington Heights. That area experiences well below the national median of crime levels, according to multiple crime statistic analyses. Census data reports that the area has a median household income of over $100,200, and just over four percent of residents were in poverty.

[i]It's sad to see this once great city circling the drain.[/i]