While Indiana officials play up their efforts to lure the Chicago Bears across the border for a new stadium, Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday that he and his staff have made “progress” to incentivize the football team to stay in Illinois. The governor’s comments come as Pritzker’s January calend ar shows he had two scheduled conversations with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell while Goodell was in Chicago for the Bears-Packers playoff game on Jan. 10. During his time here for the game, Goodell joined Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren and Chair George McCaskey on a tour of the Arlington Heights site the team owns, and sites in northwest Indiana, including one near Wolf Lake in Hammond. The first conversation between the governor and Goodell was a scheduled half-hour phone call on Jan. 9, while the second was a half-hour discussion between the two on Jan. 12, according to the governor’s calendar entries. The governor’s office on Monday declined to comment on how the conversations went or what was said. But the scheduled talks underscore that efforts surrounding the Bears stadium have not gone dormant, even though the team said in December it was exploring a move to northwest Indiana after negotiations with Pritzker and his Democratic allies in the Illinois General Assembly hit a lull. The key sticking points in Illinois have been over how the state would legislatively or financially aid the team in its desire to build a stadium in Chicago’s northwest suburbs. In particular, topics have evolved around assistance for infrastructure around a proposed Arlington Heights stadium, property tax certainty for the team and payment of debt for the Soldier Field renovations done more than 20 years ago at the team’s behest. Sources familiar with the discussions between the Bears and state of Illinois officials said both sides have been meeting regularly since early December to hammer out legislation for this spring’s legislative session in Springfield. The talks have been in line with public infrastructure improvements for or around the Bears stadium site in Arlington Heights and so-called megaprojects legislation that would make it easier for the Bears to negotiate with local governments over property taxes, sources said. In addition, the governor’s office has sought for the Bears to implement measures to make games more affordable, the sources said. Since the Bears’ December announcement that opened the door to a stadium across the border, Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Braun has said his administration was “working hard” to attract the Bears and has pushed a bill to establish a state authority to “acquire, construct, equip, own, lease, and finance” a sports stadium. But on Monday, Pritzker, during an unrelated news conference in southwest Illinois, cast an optimistic tone when he described Illinois officials’ relationship with the Bears these days. “There’s a lot of discussion, a lot of ongoing conversation with the Bears, and indeed, frankly, progress that’s been made. So I’m pleased about that,” he said in Belleville, where he and other lawmakers talked about a bond program meant to spur economic development in Illinois communities. “But I’m going to let the Bears talk about what it is that they want to get done and how they want to get it done. And I’m obviously involved in negotiations and so are my entire team, as well as the members of the legislature.” The Tribune reported that in late December, Pritzker’s office signed a new $25,000 contract with an outside attorney to continue advising the administration in negotiations with the Bears through the end of June. Pritzker on Monday also reiterated his position on the Bears’ quest for state incentives that he does not want taxpayer money paying for the stadium itself but would be willing to use state money to help the team with infrastructure funding, which generally includes improvements to roads and other transportation-related initiatives. “We are helping businesses build infrastructure, for example, which they would need, and other things that are sort of available, again, to any business that is growing or building something new in the state of Illinois that’s putting people to work,” the governor said. “You know, those are normal incentives, and that’s what I would expect that we will end up with the Bears, you know, depending on where it goes.” A team consultant estimated last year that infrastructure improvements from near Illinois Route 53 and changes to a nearby Metra train line could cost more than $850 million in public funds. What’s more, the Bears would likely need megaproject legislation that would allow them to negotiate with local governments over property tax bills. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, left, and Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren talk before a game between the Bears and the Jacksonville Jaguars at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Oct. 13, 2024. Goodell recently joined Warren and Chair George McCaskey on a tour of the Arlington Heights site the team owns, and sites in northwest Indiana. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) Another issue for Bears officials is more than $500 million in outstanding public debt from the controversial 2003 Soldier Field renovation, a tab currently covered by city hotel taxes and, when that falls short, by Chicago’s share of state income taxes. The Bears’ lease at Soldier Field expires in 2033, but it can be broken early with a penalty, and the team says it will take three years to build its new stadium. But even with the debt paid off, that alone might not be enough to satisfy state lawmakers who represent swaths of Chicago and are reluctant to incentivize the team to move out of the city limits, even if it’s to Arlington Heights. In Springfield a few weeks ago, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, a Democrat from Hillside, sent out a survey to other House Democrats about where they stand on the Bears issue. The results of that survey were not available. As for whether he’s taking the Bears’ interest in relocating to Indiana seriously, Pritzker said Monday, “I never take anything as if it’s a bluff.” “I mean, I’m always concerned about making sure that we’re attracting businesses or keeping businesses in the state of Illinois,” he said. “So we’re in consistent conversation with the Chicago Bears — have been, by the way, for, I don’t know, a year and a half or two years. And specifically, I think there’s a real possibility that many of the things that we put on the table to work with the Bears on are things that they’re willing to do to stay in the state of Illinois.” ...read more read less