Bears move to Indiana gets more real after Illinois delays stadium bill vote

Tue, June 2, 2026 at 8:18 PM UTC

Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz discuss whether the Chicago Bears will actually move across state lines to Indiana following Illinois officials’ failure to vote on a stadium bill proposal. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV .

Video Transcript

So you're saying there's a chance we could be looking at the Chicago Bears of Indiana.

All right, so Illinois had the opportunity to vet- to vote on their stadium initiative.

It did not make it to the voting process, which means it has been postponed all the way over to, fall.

So at this point right now, they had the chance, the Senate approved a $5 billion bill that would also help fund a stadium, but the House adjourned without taking up the bill.

So now there won't even be a vote.

The team responded in a statement saying that their timing remains late spring, early summer, which doesn't match a fall vote.

So all of a sudden, we get one step closer to what could be the Chicago Bears playing 35 minutes outside of Chicago in Hammond, Indiana.

We saying there's a chance?

There's definitely a chance.

Are you kidding?

This is all posturing and politics and money.

I, I think anyone, any smart business person would go wherever is more advantageous for them financially.

If moving the stadium to Indiana is going to help everyone's bottom line, that's what they're going to do.

I don't think that the warm fuzzies and the nostalgia of Soldier Field is gonna be enough to, you know, to, for the people who are gonna benefit from the stadium to leave it in Chicago.

I mean, we just saw the Chiefs are moving their stadium from Missouri to Kansas.

Now, it's the same city.

Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas.

It's not that It's the same thing.

But they are moving it from Missouri to Kansas, and now those are tax dollars, and that's money that the state of Missouri is missing out on, and now the state of Kansas is going to benefit from.

So I do think that there's a chance here.

I, I don't think Chicago is actually going to let that happen.

I think everyone is playing just a little bit of a game of financial and business chicken here.

So I think there is a chance they do actually move, but I think in the long run, the Bears and Chic- the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, are going to be able to get this figured out.

let's, I wanna put that, I wanna put that tweet back up real quick and see if we can get that up, that we just saw Ben Devine.

Cost decision to build a Bears stadium.

And I would just say to everybody, cost of Let's say this is the cost of decision to build a new Yahoo headquarters.

Hammond, zero taxes for 40 years, a billion dollars from Indiana, and $700 million from the state for infrastructure around it, or Arlington, 50 to $200 million annual tax bill, zero tax funds for stadium, zero infrastructure costs.

Like, if we were just talking about building new Yahoo headquarters in Chicago, they'd be headed to Indiana.

It's just a reminder that I know our fandom wants us to see these things as fan decisions.

They are, at their core, business decisions, and the business side of this says if Chicago, if Arlington doesn't change that proposal, that is a far better proposal for Indiana, and it would be bad business to not go where you can get the best, bang for your buck