Gov. JB Pritzker says Bears' plan to spend $2 billion on new Chicago stadium a "good first step"
CHICAGO (CBS) – Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday weighed in on the Chicago Bears' proposal to build a new public stadium that would be paid for in part by $2 billion in private funds.
"I think we all assumed they were gonna put private money," Pritzker said. "If they weren't then there was no chance, and so that's a good first step, but I haven't heard a proposal that goes along with that $2 billion private investment that says that the state should be involved in anything."
This week, the Bears announced they want to build a new domed stadium, likely near Soldier Field. Much like his stance on a new White Sox stadium, the governor said he wants to make sure taxpayers get a return on their investment.
It was unclear exactly where the new stadium would be built and what would happen to Soldier Field, which first opened in 1924 and has been the Bears' home stadium since 1971.
Last summer, the Bears' plan to build a new stadium appeared to be focused on the site of the old Arlington International Racecourse in the northwest suburbs, after the team had spent millions to buy the site and tore down the racetrack.
But earlier this year, the team appeared to put that plan on the back burner in favor of building their new stadium along the Chicago lakefront.
Questions also remain about whether the Bears' plans would face a legal challenge. The city's lakefront protection ordinance largely prohibits new construction east of DuSable Lake Shore Drive. That ordinance was the basis of a lawsuit by the nonprofit Friends of the Parks that successfully blocked a previous plan by Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas to build a museum on the same site where the Bears now want to build a new stadium. Lucas instead ended up building that museum in Los Angeles.