After months of playing lawmakers in Illinois and Indiana against each other to seek the best deal, the Chicago Bears on Friday announced they’ll be moving to Indiana.
First, an answer to the easy question: they’ll still be called the Chicago Bears. The New York Giants and New York Jets play their home games in New Jersey, after all.
But the team announced that its board of directors on Thursday voted to advance a stadium project in Hammond at a site to be determined near Wolf Lake. That will put a new Bears stadium about 20 minutes closer to South Bend than their current home at Soldier Field on Chicago’s lakefront.
The news came after the Illinois legislature ended their session Monday without approving a deal. The team wanted financial incentives to move to a site it owns in Arlington Heights, a northwest suburb. But the Indiana General Assembly, with vocal support from Gov. Mike Braun, crafted an incentive package for Hammond.
Northwest Indiana congressman Frank Mrvan issued a statement saying, “The relocation of the Chicago Bears to Indiana represents a historic economic development victory for Northwest Indiana and our state … it will generate thousands of construction jobs, create new permanent employment opportunities, and expand the tax base that supports local communities.”
