Latest Bears stadium legislation would add $3 to ticket prices at Arlington Heights site to help pay off Soldier Field debt
Tickets to games and other events at the Chicago Bears’ proposed Arlington Heights development would come with a $3-per-person tax under legislation filed in the Illinois House on Thursday that seeks to jump-start stalled talks over state assistance for the team’s anticipated decampment to the northwest suburbs.
Proceeds from the $3 admission tax would go to help pay off debt incurred to fund renovations of Soldier Field two decades ago.
Initial reaction to the proposal was tepid from the suburbs, city legislators and the Bears. But the bill’s chief sponsor said the move was an effort to keep alive conversations about the future of a Bears stadium with the scheduled end of the spring legislative session less than a month away.
State Rep. Marty Moylan, a Des Plaines Democrat who previously was the northwest suburb’s mayor, said one of the goals of the bill was to gain support from Chicago lawmakers who are reluctant to back a Bears move, particularly with the city still on the hook for renovations at the team’s longtime home on the lakefront.
“This is a living document. If there’s issues that we think pertain to the bill, we will file an amendment to change it. But right now we have a bill. It’s viable. I got a lot of support, and people are excited about it,” Moylan said Thursday. “I’ve got to get 60 votes and that’s how we do it. You’ve got to build a consensus. And I’m working it. I’m working this bill hard to make it a good bill.”
The measure incorporates elements the Bears have sought to aid their move to the suburbs, including a freeze on the property tax assessment for the 326-acre former Arlington International Racecourse site, which the team bought earlier this year for $197 million. In addition to an enclosed stadium, the team’s plans call for a massive entertainment and residential development.
A measure that would implement the assessment freeze, with the team making negotiated payments to the village of Arlington Heights and other local taxing bodies, was introduced in the Illinois Senate earlier this year but failed to gain any momentum, with even the bill’s sponsor expressing reservations.
Moylan’s proposal includes a similar setup but would create a local oversight board made up of representatives of local taxing bodies and state legislators from the area that would have to approve any incentive agreements or zoning decisions within the project site.
The plan also would pool revenue generated on the site from state sales tax, hotel tax and liquor taxes and a new 3% surcharge on sports betting revenue into a fund to help Arlington Heights and surrounding communities pay for infrastructure improvements.
Arlington Heights would get 35% of the revenue, with Cook County, Palatine and Rolling Meadows each getting 10%, and 7% each going to Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights and Wheeling.
Despite Moylan’s optimism that his plan would provide a path forward for negotiations, local officials were caught off guard by its introduction.
Arlington Heights officials found out about it Thursday morning, Village Manager Randy Recklaus said.
“I can tell you that no one from the village was consulted on the development of this bill, nor to our knowledge were any of the project stakeholders,” Recklaus wrote in a email. “The village is continuing to work with the Chicago Bears Football Club, our neighboring communities, area school districts, and all other stakeholders on the exploration of the development of the site to ensure that whatever is built there is in the best interest of the community and surrounding region.”
The Bears have said they will pay to build a new stadium, but would only proceed with their planned $5 billion mixed-use development if they get tax “certainty” and public funding for infrastructure such as roads, utilities and stormwater management. Apartments, condominiums and other development planned for the site would be built by private developers — and could mean the added expense of more students for local schools.
Officials with Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214, one of three districts that would see changes to their tax revenue under the Senate’s assessment freeze legislation, were “not consulted” on the latest proposal, said Kenneth Arndt, co-interim superintendent. The district “is currently reviewing the proposed legislation,” Arndt said.
Democratic state Rep. Mark Walker of Arlington Heights, who introduced a separate proposal in the House that mirrors the stagnant Senate measure, said he was familiar with Moylan’s bill but hadn’t thoroughly reviewed it.
“I read one paragraph about it,” he told the Tribune Thursday afternoon. “I know of no one that Marty’s talked to. I just guess it’s a bunch of new ideas that people should talk about.”
Rep. Kam Buckner, a Chicago Democrat whose district includes Soldier Field, said he had not yet reviewed the bill but reiterated his past position on a Bears’ move to Arlington Heights, saying that he doesn’t support state funding that would assist the team in taking that option.
“The General Assembly shouldn’t be taking the stance of giving a huge subsidy to the Chicago Bears to leave the city of Chicago,” he said. “I want to find smart … ways to keep the Bears home and to make this work for all of us.”
The Bears declined to comment on the latest proposal in Springfield but in the past have bristled at the idea that the team has any obligation to help retire debt related to the prior renovations of Soldier Field.
Due to refinancing and years of primarily paying interest instead of principal, the debt ballooned from the original $399 million to $631 million.
Chicago’s hotel tax was supposed to pay off the debt, but with the loss of business due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions, the city was forced to pay $27 million toward the debt last year.
With annual payments rising to $90 million by 2032, there are doubts about whether the hotel tax will be enough to pay off the debt.
If the Bears left their lease at Soldier Field early, say in 2026, they would owe a penalty of $84 million. Team officials previously told the Tribune that they paid more than $200 million toward the stadium construction, plus rent totaling more than $118 million since 2003.
“Paying off the bond debt is not the Bears responsibility and has never been contingent upon the team’s home games at Soldier Field,” the team said in a statement issued earlier this year. “Any suggestion that leads people to believe the Bears are responsible for any portion of the repayment of bonds, or the bond debt payment is dependent on the team’s home games at Soldier Field, is completely misleading.”
The legislative session will end just days after Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson is inaugurated as Chicago’s new mayor. Johnson has said he supports the Bears staying in Chicago and has asked the team to not make any decisions before he takes office, but he’s also been noncommittal about how he would keep the team and said Mayor Lori Lightfoot has “soured” the relationship between the team and the city.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has previously expressed skepticism about providing state assistance to aid the team’s move, other than helping pay for infrastructure as the state would for other large projects.
“The governor looks forward to reviewing the proposal as it makes its way through the legislative process,” Pritzker spokesman Alex Gough said Thursday of Moylan’s legislation.
Kubzansky, McCoppin and Petrella reported from Chicago. Tribune reporter Rick Pearson contributed.
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