Bears stadium bill falls short as Illinois legislative session ends

The State of Illinois tried taking a page out of the 2025 Chicago Bears playbook over the weekend with a furious effort to pass a new stadium bill, but the clock ran out with no resolution. The state legislative session ended early Monday morning, and the Bears' stadium remains in limbo as the organization continues to weigh their options in Arlington Heights, IL, and Hammond, IN, for their new home. And just like the Bears, there was plenty of drama.

Late Saturday night, the Megaprojects bill that would have allowed the Bears to obtain property tax certainty died in the Illinois Senate after previously passing the House of Representatives. With that setback, State Senators Bill Cunningham and Napoleon Harris, a former NFL player, spearheaded a new bill that would allow municipalities with a population threshold of at least 70,000 in Cook County to create a sports stadium authority, similar to what Indiana created for the Bears earlier this year. Chicago and Arlington Heights both meet that population criteria, among a few other municipalities.

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In short, the municipality would own the stadium and the Bears would be responsible for construction costs, but it would eliminate any property taxes the team would pay. And the team likely would still keep the revenue brought in, according to Illinois politics reporter Brenden Moore. The bill dropped at 11 p.m. Sunday evening, just one hour before the session was set to end.

The session went into overtime, and in the wee hours of the morning, the State Senate voted to approve the bill, and it went to the House of Representatives. That's where things ended, however. The House adjourned without a vote on the bill, once again providing uncertainty for the Bears. House Speaker Chris Welch seems confident this will pass but wanted time to review the bill. "We'll get it right, we'll get it done," he said via political reporter Ben Szalinski. But Welch also shot down calling a special session to get it done. "No, that's for sure," he said when asked about the possibility. Barring a change, the next time the House will be back in session will be in November.

The Bears have previously stated they intend to make a decision regarding their future home in the late spring/early summer and remain committed to that timeline. "We will finalize our evaluation of both Arlington Heights and Hammond and remain on the late spring/early summer timeline that we have previously communicated. We will provide an update when we have a decision to share," the Bears said via a statement early Monday morning.

While things are trending in the right direction for the Bears to remain in Illinois, the organization may decide enough is enough and commit to Hammond, which was resolved months ago by the Indiana government. For now, though, the waiting game continues.

This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears stadium bill falls short as Illinois legislative session ends