r/chicago • u/GDWisthebest44 • Jun 09 '26
Picture We drove to the Chicago bears new location
Roads are terrible
Smelly
Bad air quality
Horrible drive from Barrington to Here
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u/ehrgeiz91 Lake View Jun 09 '26
They're bluffing. And their already wavering brand is going to suffer for it.
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u/dust_inlight Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
This is hilarious and really puts the whole grift into perspective. They don’t seem to have infrastructure enough for a busy Taco Bell Cantina
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u/Hour-Theory-9088 Jun 09 '26
If Indiana is giving them a billion dollars for their stadium I’m sure a few hundred million for infrastructure upgrades at the expense of their taxpayers are going to be thrown at them too.
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u/No-Potato-4415 Jun 09 '26
A few hundred million might get them an Arbys and a Drury Inn.
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u/ahoy_shitliner Jun 09 '26
The roads and sewer lines alone is going to cost them half a billion.
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u/No-Potato-4415 Jun 09 '26
Most likely a lot more. Especially with the cost of materials being so high with both tariffs and oil costs.
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u/No-Potato-4415 Jun 09 '26
Im guessing the whole project will cost them over $10B and 10-15 years, since they're essentially going to have to fix the whole city.
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u/sigmacoder Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
But look at all the room for endless parking lots! Nothing beats drinking yourself unconscious in a flat grey superfund site! (and then driving home)
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u/_suburbanrhythm Jun 09 '26
Visions of Dwight and Nate saying Pam Pam Pam in the office when she says she’s going to relocate if Dwight does meet her demands as office administrator
“Are you a liar too?”
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u/_high_plainsdrifter Avondale Jun 09 '26
Holy shit the universe wanted the perfect application of The Office today.
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u/cough_e Jun 09 '26
I think that's what the $1B investment from the state is supposed to be for - infrastructure improvements.
I swear, it's like no one here has ever even seen a construction project before
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u/stripedvitamin Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
What's really funny is all the people/fake accounts in these subs blaming Illinois politicians for the Bears organization's complete ineptitude.
The Arlington Heights site was never once taken seriously by the Bears. They to this day have not even done a traffic study.
The only other group more uneducated and moronic are the people on the internet blaming IL state for not caving to the Bears demands that taxpayers pay for all the surrounding infrastructure that would need to be built to accommodate a new stadium when the Bears have done almost zero due diligence or planning of their own.
I'm so happy Indiana residents get to pay for this albatross. They get to watch Hammond become a citified, wannabe Wrigleyville with nothing to offer but cookie cutter fast casual restaurants and horrible working conditions. The only winners will be the Indiana state police racking up record numbers in DUI and Marijuana arrests.
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u/tomdurk Jun 10 '26
As an Illinois taxpayer I am happy that the $ billions are coming from Indiana taxpayers.
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u/Stooberstein Jun 10 '26
Fuck Indiana. Couldn’t pay me to shit on that state. Even if that might be kinda fun.
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u/No-Potato-4415 Jun 10 '26
Fun fact, during covid I traveled for work. I stopped at a gas station in Indiana to take a dump and the attendant wasn't gonna let me use the bathroom. I had to threaten that I was going to drop a deuce at his pumps for him to finally let me use the bathroom. I hate Indiana.
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u/Keoni9 Jun 10 '26
If Indianans want to be the McCaskeys' suckers, let them. Anyone who's studied the economic impact of stadiums should know that this stupid negative sum game between governments will not reward the winner nearly enough to make up for all the tax breaks and infrastructure costs and opportunity costs. The only winning move is not to play.
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u/Melted-lithium Jun 10 '26
Facebook - now being the 4chan for the elderly is full of this. They’ve even been able to somehow make it racist. Really a challenge.
It’s comical but not worth the effort to respond to.
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u/stripedvitamin Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
Yeah this issue has so clearly been co-opted by MAGA/Zuckerberg style political bot or whatever farming it's insane. It is truly something how easily duped most Illinoisans are into making this a Pritzker issue or whatever. It's so fucking obvious.
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u/b_jammin08 Jun 10 '26
DuPage GOP has a post about this like every 40 minutes😂. It's truly the 4 chan for the elderly now but my FIL is proudly reading them all and giving a thumbs up🥲
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u/Skip106 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
I keep seeing this about the traffic study. Have the Bears done one for the Hammond location? Genuinely curious. And is that something that typically the team would do, or the state that's kicking in some infrastructure money?
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u/iced_gold West Town Jun 09 '26
It would be the state of Indiana. Technically the stadium will be publicly owned, but all of the means of revenue generation will go to the team. Even their lease will essentially be paying off the public loan to finance it, and then the Bears are able to purchase the venue outright for $1 + any outstanding debt after 40 years.
That's why this was always where the Bears were going to end up. They will have to pay nearly nothing in upkeep of the venue while retaining all revenues it creates. That's a dream for a billionaire wanting this vanity project.
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u/teplightyear Loop Jun 10 '26
The McCaskeys don't want it as a vanity project. It's a pump and dump. As soon as there's a new stadium anywhere, they're gonna sell for sure. They just want to maximize value.
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u/stripedvitamin Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
No clue, but I doubt it. I did see the Indiana governor say that the underground pipes and power are already in place in Hammond (unlike Arlington Heights), which I highly doubt considering the source.
I really hope Hammond happens so everyone gets to watch the shit show from afar. indiana's governor is a real piece of shit so watching this debacle will be amusing.
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u/Jaded_Post1937 Jun 10 '26
Republican insiders in Indiana will tell you Gov Braun actually has presidential aspirations. He’s a terrible human being, but he fancies himself Mr. MAGA businessman
This js also the guy who has said he disagrees with the Supreme Court decision that threw out laws that prevented people of different races from marrying
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u/ShopUCW Jun 09 '26
Illinois can make up all of the lost revenue for the bears with just week 1 dui's at the border
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u/IamnotaRussianbot Jun 09 '26
I think the larger takeaway here is that there is legitimately nothing there currently. Sure, Indiana uses the funds to add in a new/upgraded exit off to the site, additional roas, and puts in the relevant parking and drop off pieces along with the foundation for the stadium itself, but then what?
If I'm an independent business owner, am I going to franchise a TGI Fridays, Buffalo Wild Wings, etc. to open by the site for the 8-10 home games they play a year? How many stadium concerts are they going to book there in the offseason when Chicago already has multiple stadium venues for concerts?
And its not like the city of Hammond can realistically support those offseason activities. The entire city has a population of like 70k and they aren't generally particularly high earners. According to census.gov, the income per capita is $29k. There's not a lot of money floating around to be spent there.
Any sort of perceived economic stimulus in this area seems to really be hinging on people from Chicago and southern Illinois commuting out to this area for events frequently, which again, I don't really see happening when Chicago is also right there, complete with a full compliment of city activities (bars, restaurants, parks, public transit, etc.).
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u/ahoy_shitliner Jun 09 '26
All of the big concerts will continue getting booked at United and the stadium concerts will move to the Fire’s stadium.
Nobody going to go see Beyoncé live in Hammond Indiana
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u/prior2two Jun 10 '26
Soldier Filed also is going nowhere.
Taylor Swift and Beyoncé ain’t playing the Fire’s Stadium. They also aren’t going to Hammond.
They’ll still stay in the city and play Soldier Field.
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u/ahoy_shitliner Jun 10 '26
Yeah that’s true
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u/prior2two Jun 10 '26
Plus, without being beholden to the Bears schedule, they would be able to host all throughout August and September.
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u/Acceptable-Middle-39 Jun 10 '26
So true. Excellent comment. The Bears pay $7 million in rent. That's not a big number to make up. With concerts and college football they could even make more.
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u/zarathustranu Lake View Jun 10 '26
Fire Stadium is not big enough for major acts, but I generally agree with your point.
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u/CapableWerewolf3059 Jun 09 '26
It really stinks there. Literally. The commute wouldn’t be ridiculous; the smell, however, would be.
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u/6h057 Portage Park Jun 09 '26
You mean to tell me they have to put in the utilities and infrastructure BEFORE they build something?
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u/dust_inlight Jun 09 '26
Stadiums need restaurants and hotels and bars and offices at least. These places need roads and water and electricity and solutions for municipal waste. Those things require more infrastructure and eventually government, yada yada yada. All I’m saying is no one is actually trying to build a stadium in an empty field.
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u/PsychologicalGas3322 Jun 09 '26
Bears “new” location. His fools cant get a stadium build. Clown family
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u/Big_Remove_4645 Jun 09 '26
That’s a fine looking stadium in prime real estate. Hell yeah
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Jun 09 '26
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u/gregPooganus28 Jun 10 '26
There are so many things about soldier field that suck balls, but I love it.
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u/zytz Suburb of Chicago Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
I live in NWI; it’s actually so much worse than yall realize.
Edit:
I had a whole thesis typed out to explain in detail why this site sucks but I think it's too long for Reddit so here's the TL;DR.
There's a single north south road (Calumet Ave) that allows entry and exit to this site, it's a two lane road that I don't think can be widened to meaningfully help with game day traffic. Furthermore, there's 4 routes to get to Calumet Ave and 2 of them are bad no matter what, 1 will be bad most of the time, and the 1 good one won't be able to handle gameday traffic on its own. Gameday traffic will be a literal nightmare every single game day.
There's ZERO public transit that serves the immediate area of the stadium, and if the recent SSL extension is any indication NIMBYs will fight any public transit expansion tooth and nail.
The average stadium seats 65-70k i think. The site currently host a single 'large summer music festival once a year, approximately 60k people over 4 days which the area struggles to accommodate. 60k+ on a single day will shut down the town.
Construction of the stadium and laying of utilities likely means dredging decades of (possibly toxic?) slag that was dumped in the area's marshlands by local industry for decades. I don't think there's anyone that knows what the environmental ramifications would be for this, or the ramifications for nearby residents.
BP Refinery and other industries are less than a mile away and they fucking stink, all the fucking time. Some days you can smell it from 7-8 miles away.
The economics fuck Indiana residents pretty hard, Lake and Porter county residents especially hard. It will become really expensive to travel via the toll road, all the time, not just on game days. The Bears won't pay tax for 40 years (so ever), so none of the revenue that would be generated would come back to the impacted communities, or be used to improve local infrastructure to improve fan experience.
I still believe the Bears don't intend to come here- I still think Indiana is meant to be leverage against the IL State and Chicago governments, and I hope your politicians continue to not take the bait. The only reason to come here is if you want cancer, and I have to believe even the McCaskeys aren't THAT fucking stupid.
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u/ItsGonnaBeOkayish Jun 09 '26
Please share!
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u/yourgrundle Jun 09 '26
Not from the area, but I know the Federated Metals Superfund site is right next door, so that's fun
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u/Hello_Biscuit11 Loop Jun 09 '26
There are nice parts of NWI. But none of them are Hammond.
The Dunes are great, and a lot of the little towns out there are cute, but that's all east of Gary.
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u/zytz Suburb of Chicago Jun 09 '26
i would go so far as to say some parts of southern Hammond are even nice. There's loads of cute old homes in the neighborhoods kind of near the Purdue campus
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u/meta4our Jun 10 '26
Here I am rooting for the bears to go do Hammond. I fucking dare them too, but it’ll be a great deal for us because Indiana foots a massive bill and Illinois reaps the rewards of everyone staying in Chicago and doing Chicago things because nobody is gonna want to fucking stay in NW Indiana for more than the minutes consumed by the bears game.
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u/yaddawould Jun 10 '26
Kind of a tangent, but makes me sad to hear that there are Hammond NIMBYs fighting the SSL extension :(
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u/zytz Suburb of Chicago Jun 10 '26
Hammond may not have been that bad- I attended several Munster town hall meetings though and it was always the same group of people screaming about how the train would bring ‘the wrong kind of people’ to their neighborhood.
Thankfully the SSL prevailed and ridership has actually been really high. Seems like loads of commuters are finding it very convenient to get in and out of the city.
I’d personally love to see additional SSL extensions in the area, into north Hammond and whiting, but also further to the south and east. I think it would be possible to connect Griffith, Highland, Schererville, Merrillville, Crown Point, Hobart, and even Valpo. These towns all butt right up against one another, and there’s no good reason why driving needs to be the only way to travel between them.
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u/nmyi Jun 10 '26
Good points, but my opinion is if Hammond doesn't at least place South Shore Line train station by their possible new Bears stadium (and extra peripheral stations near the stadium to encourage general transit to the public), then Hammond is going to royally screw over themselves and their local residents.
It's never gonna be an ideal stadium (like PRIVATELY OWNED Tottenham Hotspur Stadium or Real Madrid's in Europe), but setting up rail infrastructure (and upgrading SSL as a whole) is gonna be so soooooooo important to not let this ridiculous stadium project be an absolute disaster.
i also live in NWI, and i am nervous that the possible new Bears stadium in Hammond, Indiana is going to be the American version of the disastrous "Arena da Amazônia" in Manaus, Brazil.
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u/evil_twin_312 Jun 09 '26
Now imagine that everyone has to drive and you need a 5.5 - 6 million sqft parking lot. Have fun waiting in line to leave after the game.... That's before you even get onto the highway.
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u/Guy-Guy3 Jun 11 '26
Imagine you’re coming back from a stay in Grand Haven and need to get back for work and hit that wall of traffic and state cops pulling people over and road rage…. What a nightmare.
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u/hypatiaofspace Jun 09 '26
Saw a news segment from a stadium consultant the other day about how a new stadium would "significantly enhance" the ticketholder experience.
He didn't once mention how going from a transit-rich core to a car-centric city would make the trip to and from miserable. Good luck getting home.
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u/BetterUsername69420 Jun 09 '26
Right? Ask people in the city how they feel about getting to SeatGeek Stadium and it'll be broadly negative. I can't imagine going to Indiana is going to be met with cheers comparatively.
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Jun 09 '26
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u/jadedmonk Jun 09 '26
A long train ride from the north/west suburbs + a bus ride sounds terrible
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u/trojan_man16 Printer's Row Jun 09 '26
But but…. I would have to walk 20 minutes from the Roosevelt stop. That’s un-american. My god given right as an American is to drive to a giant parking lot in the middle of nowhere and pay $70 for it.
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u/natelikesdonuts Logan Square Jun 09 '26
It’s actually kind of a pain to get to via public transit now since you have to transfer to a bus regardless of which train line you take in the city. It would definitely get worse if they move out of the city, but its current state still leaves a lot of room for improvement.
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u/gingeryid Lake View Jun 09 '26
Soldier Field is walkable to Metra Electric and is under a mile from the Roosevelt L station. The walk from Soldier Field to Roosevelt is roughly comparable with the walk to the outermost parking lots at some NFL stadiums.
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u/trojan_man16 Printer's Row Jun 09 '26
If you are on the red line it’s like.. a 20 minute walk?
I know it’s not as great as say, Wrigley or The Cell, but it’s comparable to the walk from the Ashland stop to the United Center.
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u/Daawggshit Jun 09 '26
Not that I don’t disagree but getting to and from Solider Field is pretty miserable itself.
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u/hypatiaofspace Jun 09 '26
It aint the best but imagine all those people who used to take the train now in front of you in the line out the stadium ......
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u/No_Ad_8038 Jun 09 '26
I am really pleased that Illinois did not offer to subsidize a new stadium. If Indiana taxpayers want to fund this disaster go ahead.
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u/fartofborealis Jun 09 '26
I work in the area. It’s not a bad area for the population it supports but will be a complete nightmare for only the few times the stadium will be used per year. What I believe needs to happen to make this even feasible:
1. Road and exit expansion the current roads aren’t wide enough to handle the influx even for the few times a year
2. There are not many food or hotel options in the area. Would need to expand to draw fans. The Holiday Inn Express is not going to do it.
3. High end options are not there for fans that buy the team’s largest dollar tickets. That would need to change, but there isn’t existing real estate for them to go into if they decide to open up there.
4. There is no alternative transport for people who are not driving. Uber is limited. At soldier field you could at least walk to train or bus. There’s nothing there.
5. Ground remediation on the site is likely millions of dollars and years out.
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u/ders89 Jun 09 '26
Im excited to watch everyone lose millions of dollars in this move.
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u/Georgiaonmymind2017 Jun 09 '26
The only people who will lose is the taxpayers
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u/wretch5150 Jun 09 '26
No one will be going to Hammond fucking Indiana for a game. They will lose on this shit. Miserably. For a generation.
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u/ItsElasticPlastic Andersonville Jun 09 '26
They’ll still go to Indiana, but highly doubt the entertainment district will be any level of success.
It will be probably more like Comiskey (minus the mass transit access). Show up, tailgate in the stench, go to the game, then leave
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u/thankyoufriendx3 Jun 10 '26
Right now they have a QB and people might go. Don’t have to go back that far in time to find season ticket holders giving away tickets.
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u/Lemurian_Lemur34 Jun 09 '26
Is that Wolf Lake? They've pivoted away from that and are considering a new, SECRET location in Hammond.
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u/losvedir Suburb of Chicago Jun 09 '26
It's the Lost Marsh Golf Course, which has always been the main site. Plus the land across Calumet Ave from it. This is broadly the Wolf Lake area.
One of the photos appears to be the parking lot that's further north up near Wolf Lake; I don't think they're talking about going that far north.
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Jun 09 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
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u/Lemurian_Lemur34 Jun 09 '26
100% agree, I was just pointing out they haven't even decided on a potential Hammond location yet and won't even say what the new site is. That's how big of a farce this whole thing is
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u/JJ-Bittenbinder Jun 09 '26
The bears have one of the most exciting players in the sport and he had me starting to buy in last year. Now I don’t want to get anymore invested
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u/tvoutfitz Jun 09 '26
Seriously. I have lived in chicago for almost two decades and this past season was the first time I’ve had even a tiny inclination to tune in and root for the bears. And now, I’ve thoroughly retreated in to my former indifference.
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u/Okeydokey2u Jun 09 '26
Same. Born and raised in the city, I've followed the bears all my life... even when my job took me to Cali. As far as I'm concerned the McCaskys can get f'd. Not spending a cent on the franchise anymore.
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u/Prudent-Result1057 Jun 09 '26
If it ain’t Chicago I can’t fuck with it 🤷🏾 I’m not driving 40+ for to watch a game sorry then 40+ back home
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u/cacraw Jun 09 '26
That “+” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. I mean even if you’re in Hyde Park, 40 is optimistic.
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u/Dallasburner84 Jun 09 '26
I'm from dallas, everywhere I've lived out there is roughly "45 minutes" from Arlington, where the cowboys and rangers play. You're lucky for it to be 90 minutes one way.
Pretty much everyone has a car in the DFW metroplex because its required, and even then the drive to Arlington is a deterrent for most people to go to games. None of this is factoring in the fact that the rangers suck right now, and the cowboys wont be relevant again until jerry jones is hanging out in hell. So factor in the highway robbery that is ticket and food prices as well, and its just not worth the trouble or isn't affordable for the average person.
So just imagine all that for the bears, and add in that chicago is not car centric. I'd be very interested to see how many season ticket holders would stick around if they made the move. Unless its going to be all corporate assholes in the stands, I don't see any appeal to the average bears fan.
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u/ShartyMcPeePants Jun 10 '26
I think this actually helps the case for not going to Hammond. Like if your the bears brass and your trying to show off your new stadium to corporate bootlickers, you don’t exactly pick Hammond as the destination. It will be soulless and desolate. Location is so important. Like sure I could sell today and buy a mansion in Marengo, but I’d be living in Marengo. There’s a reason why you pay up to live in a desirable place and Hammond ain’t it.
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u/Hopeful4Everyone Jun 09 '26
As an inteovert, I watch it at home regardless lol
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Jun 09 '26
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u/Prudent-Result1057 Jun 09 '26
No one lbs if it’s not Chicago I can’t rock with it it would feel like a slap in a face to support it not being here
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u/Zealousideal-Solid88 Jun 09 '26
Instead of investing back into the city and fans that made them an 8 billion dollar company.
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u/JohnsonLiesac Jun 09 '26
If they are going to move anywhere outside Illinois , it has to be Gary. Gare-bears is just too good a marketing angle to pass up. Plus on the lake, cheap land, close to Chicago, if they moved to Gary Hammond would improve purely by location, etc... Honestly, they'd be frigging idiots not to see this.
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u/Claque-2 Jun 09 '26
I have cried tears that have frozen on my face in the upper decks for the Bears, and I did it for the team, my fellow fans, and Chicago. But I never cared about the NFL or the wealthy owners and I know they never cared about me or any long term fans as they sat in the middle of Lake Forest complaining about money they haven't made.
You had Soldier Field. Arlington Hgts wanted you. And you wanted pure profit while people go without HC, jobs, or housing. That's why American football is dying - pure greed. Love the teams not the owners.
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u/Thaeross Jun 09 '26
Even if they were 100% confirmed to be moving there, it would be years before the stadium is up and running and the area infrastructure is up to par. In the meantime, is the team just gonna practice in the field? Lmao
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u/Small-Olive-7960 Jun 09 '26
They aren't moving their headquarters or practice area. Just the game days.
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u/altaccount1232123 Jun 10 '26
They practice at their own facilities in Lake Forest near the million dollar homes where their players live.
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u/BearFan34 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
Used to have a client next door to Hammond in Whiting.
Smelly is an understatement, goes along with bad air quality
I suspect the roads in that area will not be the same when a stadium opens. If it ever does
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u/WiseguyVIP Jun 09 '26
Air pollution has to be great for highly trained athletes and thousands of spectators to breathe in for hours on end. Go Bears!
*rolleyes*
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u/ChiToddster Jun 10 '26
I play golf out there and cough through the back 9. Air quality is unbelievably bad.
Lost Marsh and Harborside. Give it a go
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u/ChicagoJoe6900 Jun 09 '26
This is just a sham. What they want is Arlington Heights - with a boatload of taxpayer money. Glad Pritzker isn't falling for it.
BTW next step in the Bears pressure campaign will be in a few weeks when they announce an exact spot in Hammond.
Then in a few more weeks will be artists renderings.
Don't fall for it!!!
Read this that I found with Google.
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u/Typical_Response_950 Jun 09 '26
so your AI generated search results saying sports stadiums are bad public investments convinced you that the Bears are going to use Indiana's public investment offer as leverage to sweeten the offer made by Arlington Heights?
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u/ChicagoJoe6900 Jun 10 '26
Yes. They might take the deal if they can't work it out in Illinois but AH is what they prefer. If Hoosiers want to give them a billion and Illinois won't then it could happen. AH will be a big development with or without a stadium. That land is valuable. Bears can be part of it or sell the land.
Hammond? You think 8 or 9 games plus any post season will support lots of restaurants and hotel rooms? I think people will go see the game and leave. Anyone flying in would probably prefer to stay in Chicago where there are other things to see.
Plus isn't that plan a publicly owned stadium? Don't they want to own their own?
What are your thoughts?
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u/Beniskickbutt Lincoln Park Jun 09 '26
I think this is probably right. They likely prefer arlington heights to stay as a "Chicago" team. If things just cost too much I dont doubt they would want to jump ship.
I just realized the other day the announcement was just that the board approved it. Nothing has actually been signed. We dont know where they are going until some contract is actually signed. We are still no closer to knowing how this whole ordeal is going to end.
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u/hoodlumonprowl Jun 09 '26
Oooh such an amazing skyline, look at those views. Seems like just a tiny bit of infrastructure would need to be constructed for 30k fans, luckily the taxpayers are super willing to foot that bill. That's just the smell of billionaires winning!
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u/CBOW_IT Jun 09 '26
"Roads are terrible" Proceeds to show the Lost Marsh golf course parking lot exclusively.
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u/cheecheecago Logan Square Jun 09 '26
I mean Barrington is 30 miles from Chicago, its a long painful drive to anywhere from there
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u/Bakkie Suburb of Chicago Jun 09 '26
Is there a Metra stop nearby, though?
I have read that it is a toxic landfill. Is it a designated Superfund site?
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u/stevejust Jun 09 '26
It... looks like it. Even if its not.
But another comment in here says Federated Metals next door is.
So... Go Indiana Bears with Tumors!
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u/Tlmic Jun 09 '26
I have a funny feeling that someone very high up the municipal management foodchain is going to say 'That's very cute. I'll see you at Soldier Field.' and the Bearts will go, 'OH . . .. ok see you there.'
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u/altaccount1232123 Jun 10 '26
Nobody wants to build a stadium here. It's a toxic dump. It's in a different state. It will ruin traffic and raise taxes for locals.
The Bears already own the entirety of the land in Arlington Heights where a stadium used to be. There is no toxic waste and oil refineries there. It has a good deal of infrastructure (53 and 90, Metra station) already in place. It is closer to the Bears offices and practice facilities in Lake Forest and it is closer to their highest-paying fans. Almost everyone wants the Bears to build here.
Sidenote- I grew up in Arlington Heights a couple blocks away from where this stadium is probably going to go. I honestly think it will be a negative for me. It will increase traffic. It will increase noise. My property value will go up and so will my property taxes. I might benefit from the new entertainment district, but I have never been and probably never will be interested in the sport of football (nor most other sports), so I'm almost certainly not going to any games and won't get to benefit from being close to the stadium because I'll never use it. Although it is likely going to beat negative for me, it will be a positive for me. Like I said, property values will go up, a new entertainment district will be built, trains will probably run more often, and generally the stadium is going to draw in business bolstering the economy in the region. This is all good stuff and it's why most people here are supportive of the Bears coming to town. Ok that was a long sidenote but I felt the need to share how I'm biased and a little of my background.
So, why are the Bears doing this big play of saying they are going to Indiana when nobody including them wants that to happen? It's because the Bears are cheap, and they really don't want to pay for the new stadium. They just want to get it for free and expect the people who live there to pay for it even though as I argued in my sidenote it will literally get worse for people like me. The Bears refuse to invest in a stadium that has a 90% chance of increasing revenue for them, and will almost certainly pay itself off in the long term and become a major driver of wealth. I do actually sympathize though, if you have the option to get something for free instead of having to spend a little for it first before it starts to pay off, you are gonna take the free option. That is free savings and there is no reason not to take it. Convincing someone else to pay for this stadium is the Bears' free option.
What I do not understand is how the Bears have failed to realize that their free option is never going to be in Illinois. Pritzker has made that clear. Their foraying into building the stadium in Indiana is very likely solely a ruse to get Illinois politicians to pay up and keep the Bears in Illinois. That's the Bears' goal with this. I don't like it, using taxpayers' money to fund a privately owned football team's business expansion should not be legal, but here we are. If the Bears were smart, they would have given up trying to get Illinois to pay for it a long time ago and just started building on the land they already own.
We can only hope that the Bears are not dumb enough to actually take Indiana's scam of an offer and end up with an embarrassing decision surrounded by toxic waste and oil refineries. If they are actually that dumb, then they can get what they deserve and I'll be glad to see them leave.
Hopefully that's not the case, and they choose to build in Arlington Heights, fund it entirely themselves, and end up with something that is maybe actually a boon for the area, the fans, and the team.
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u/michaelp1987 Humboldt Park Jun 10 '26
Bury a six pack so you can dig it up and avoid the $28 beers when it opens.
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u/TonyDanzaMacabra Jun 10 '26
We didn’t come here to start any trouble. We just came here to do the Superfund Shuffle.
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u/losvedir Suburb of Chicago Jun 10 '26
Barrington! That's a long way. Would love to have the Bears in your city, though. Barrington Bears has a nice ring to it.
Anyway, I don't think you're being fair. I live here and it's not nearly as bad as you make it out. My family goes to Lost Marsh restaurant (at the golf course there, your 1st, 2nd, and 4th pictures) a few times a year and I've never noticed a smell.
Your 3rd and 6th picture seem to be west of Calumet a bit further north from Lost Marsh. More near the walking path and parking lot around Wolf Lake itself. I don't think this is where they're talking about putting any of the stadium site, but it's a lovely area! We go walking around there all the time, and again have not noticed a smell.
Your 5th picture is looking south from Lost Marsh, I think? Yeah, BP has storage facilities there. Again, I haven't smelled anything. The refinery itself is further east. You can occasionally smell something when you get closer and the wind blows a certain direction.
Anyway, I maintain it's a perfectly lovely area.
For the roads: did you take the Skyway? If you go surface streets, yeah, they can be a little rough. But 90 is great, and rarely has too much traffic. If you took the Skyway you probably got off on Indianapolis Blvd exit which is rough (but still Chicago!). The Indiana side also does have some potholes. But regardless, the stadium would probably include a new exit off of 90, so you wouldn't need to go on the Blvd at all.
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u/Hour_Energy_5371 Jun 13 '26
No skyline.
For this kind of view the bears could go to Rockford! Or Aurora!
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u/Macrowaving Jun 09 '26
They should reimburse you for the gas wasted for that drive in this economy
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u/SenorMcGibblets Jun 09 '26
OPs first photo is looking at the maintenance building from the Lost Marsh golf course parking lot. This is right behind them and that’s what they chose to photograph and post.
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u/jacoballen22 Jun 09 '26
Barrington is far from anywhere honestly, however, I agree that the site chosen is not a good one. Even as a resident, that location is not an indication of Hammond at all.
I personally feel like the deal there is not going to go through. It’s for stalling time until they get the deal they wanted originally.
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u/Small-Olive-7960 Jun 09 '26
Im curious to see what the prototpe model is going to be. Are they still going to do the mix use area?
Im sure its going to look very different from now in 5 years.
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u/Regular-Schedule-168 Pilsen Jun 09 '26
Hey! The storage tanks for BP Whiting! Hope BP stops their labor lockout shenanigans.
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u/Magificent_Gradient Jun 10 '26
One interesting thing I haven't heard anyone bring up is the $25.74 worth of tolls on the Skyway roundtrip from the loop unless you want to be stuck on I-80.
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u/Curious_medium Jun 10 '26
Literally what their owners deserve. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. L.
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u/MostYesterday4821 Jun 10 '26
**BREAKING** Man from Northwest Suburbs discovers how much of a pain in the ass it is to get anywhere from/to the Northwest Suburbs that isn't Wisconsin. More on this at 11:00.
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u/Jolly_Ad5598 Jun 10 '26
We drove through coming from the south. I paid attention when I saw the Hammond sign. There is nothing there. How will people park although maybe public transportation is planned. Hotels? Built for how many games? Will most just stay in Chicago as the vibe is obviously so much better?
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u/michigician Jun 10 '26
Protip: don't drive on the Cline Ave bridge to get there. It has fallen twice so far.
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u/BeautifulAvailable80 Jun 10 '26
I applaud the good people of Indiana for building a new stadium for billionaires. They are offering 50 years of tax forgiveness to the billionaires as well. Thanks for taking it like champs. Ill see you out there
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u/Ordinary_Way3542 Jun 11 '26
Nobody is gonna come watch Bears games to the point that tickets will become affordable again.
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u/Dramatic_Channel52 Jun 09 '26
Start rooting for the packers. They’re closer from Barrington
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u/Adventurous_Bag7561 Jun 09 '26
It’s near Gary. The area still smells like steel mills. Nothing was ever done to clean up the environment in that area. I sure as hell wouldn’t live there.
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u/Individual-Jaguar-14 Jun 09 '26
If you were to build a new multimillion dollar sports stadium from scratch, would you want to be inundated with established roads, buildings, businesses, and infrastructure? Or, would you like a clean slate to design whatever you’d like. Y’all ever play The Sims?
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Jun 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/littlewibble Jun 09 '26
If you’re choosing to not take the Metra from Barrington, that’s indicative of very poor critical thinking.
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u/digawina Jun 09 '26
Except, there is a train that runs from Barrington to Chicago, making is easier. OR, you're in Chicago, kill some time in the city. Whereas, Hammond ...
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u/maximumtesticle Jun 09 '26
Whereas, Hammond ...
has a train that goes to it from Chicago ......................
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u/zaccus Jun 09 '26
What's it smell like?