Indiana wants me (lord, I can't go back there)

[samhexum]

Chicago Bears say they will proceed with plans for a stadium in Hammond

The Chicago Bears will proceed with plans for a new stadium in Hammond, Indiana, the organization announced Friday.

“Yesterday, the Chicago Bears Board of Directors met and voted to advance our stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana, with the exact site to be selected,” the team said in a joint statement from Chairman George H. McCaskey and President and CEO Kevin Warren. “We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city. It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.”

The board’s decision comes less than a week after the Illinois legislature adjourned, without taking up a last-ditch Senate bill that would have allowed Arlington Heights or Chicago to enter into a public-private ownership deal with the NFL franchise. Such legislation would have given the team a path to build a new stadium without paying property taxes on the facility, bill sponsors said.

The Illinois General Assembly’s failure to take up the bill, which several House lawmakers said was due to a lack of time to study the proposal, immediately raised questions about the fate of the Bears’ future home stadium. The team has an offer from Indiana to construct a taxpayer-financed stadium and surrounding mixed-use entertainment district in Hammond, near Wolf Lake, 20 miles southeast of Chicago.

The Indiana state legislature approved a bill earlier this year that created a framework for the Bears to build a stadium in which the team will invest over $2 billion in constructing the stadium and the state promises to invest $1 billion through various taxes.

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