Chicago Bears promote longtime executive to help oversee stadium development
CHICAGO (CBS) – It's still not clear where the Chicago Bears' new stadium will be, but the team hired the person who will help get it built.
The Bears announced the appointment of Karen Murphy to be the newly created executive vice president of stadium development and chief operating officer.
Murphy has been with the team's front office for 25 years. She will work with Bears president Kevin Warren to develop a state-of-the-art stadium, whether it's in the City of Chicago or suburbs.
She started as a controller in 1999 before being promoted to the team's chief financial officer in 2002.
"I have spent my whole career as the only woman in the room, but it never intimidated me," Murphy said in a statement. "And actually, I took that as an opportunity to bring some diversity of thought. That's not easy, but I relished it."
The Bears closed on the purchase of the Arlington International Racecourse property in Arlington Heights in February of last year. Demolition of the former racecourse grandstand and other structures was completed in October.
The closing came two years after the team agreed to purchase the Arlington racetrack property for $197 million – after which the plan for a new stadium in Arlington Heights, while always characterized as far from final, was sounding like all but a done deal but for some formalities.
In January of last year, Warren made it clear that he was ready to lead the team's move out of the Chicago and into a new stadium in Arlington Heights. He said at that time that the Bears' sole focus for a new stadium was the Arlington Heights site, and they are not considering any options to stay at Soldier Field, the smallest stadium in the NFL.
But by June of last year, Warren was calling the plan to move to Arlington Heights a "stalemate." And at a news conference Wednesday, he emphasized the focus as being on getting a plan for a new stadium right – regardless of where it ends up being built.