State Senator Sue Rezin gives Chicago Bears 50-50 chance to stay in Illinois

State Sen. Sue Rezin said Tuesday she believes the Chicago Bears’ stadium search remains a toss-up, despite the team’s recent move to advance plans for a new stadium in northwest Indiana

State Sen. Sue Rezin said Tuesday she believes the Chicago Bears’ stadium search remains a toss-up, despite the team’s recent move to advance plans for a new stadium in northwest Indiana. Five weeks after the Bears’ board of directors voted to move forward with a proposed stadium development in Hammond, Indiana , Rezin, R- Morris , said she gives Illinois a “50-50 chance” of keeping the franchise. “I would give it a 50-50 chance to have the Bears stay in Illinois,” Rezin said.

Rezin was asked to give a legislative update at the Grand Victorian of Sycamore , 1440 Somonauk St., on Tuesday morning. She was there visiting Jack Connerton, a lifelong Green Bay Packers fan who is two months older than the Bears organization. Connerton will turn 107 on July 25, and the Bears franchise turns the same age on Sept. 20.

The Bears have played in Chicago since Connerton was two. Like Connerton, Rezin said her family’s football allegiance is with the Packers; however, as the deputy minority leader in the Illinois Senate, she said a legislative solution to the Bears stadium saga remains in the works. “It comes down to a legislative fix in Springfield to allow the Bears to be able to invest the kind of money that they want to build out the stadium, whether it’s in the suburbs or downtown Chicago ,” Rezin said.

The Chicago Bears purchased a 326-acre property in Arlington Heights that was formerly the Arlington Park Racetrack for $197.2 million in February 2023. But it has not been a foregone conclusion that a new stadium, meant to replace Soldier Field as the Bears’ home, would be built there. News of the organization’s decision to advance the project in Hammond prompted quick and divisive reactions from state lawmakers .

At the time, Rezin said if the Bears left the state, Illinois would have one less major business and employer. On Tuesday, she said the organization’s exit isn’t a certainty. “I think if they do stay in Illinois, they more than likely will be in the suburbs just because they purchased a couple hundred acres there and it’s easier to build out the transportation and the logistics for the Bears stadium as well,” Rezin said.