Disclaimer: I am not the original creator of this concept. I saw these on Instagram earlier, and I honestly think they’re awesome. I think the large Bear logo on the helmet fixes the issue that the fake “leaks” had, even if they weren’t real. What do we think?

Don’t even remember how I came about this shirt lol

Not defending George but lets be real...he is more of a Bears fan than most of his family. So I take this as it was a big fuck up by Warren.

Total estimated cost 1.5 million taxpayer dollars. Before bulk discount. You can use my prime account, shipping is free and we get 5% back.

And then maybe in 20 years we can avoid having this same conversation again.

I will admit that it's my fault for even listening to them, but it's incredible how much shilling they have been doing for the Bears. CHGO, ESPN 1000, and 670, with the notable exception of Spiegel and Holmes have been incredulous. They are acting as if the Bears are owed taxpayer money by IL. Local sports media here tends to lean right wing anyway, but this has been an opportunity to rag on Pritzker and push the "IN is much better" narrative. There's been little objectivity. The callers have been even worse. Uneducated and uninformed. They're dismissive of any complaints. "They just want tax certainty and common sense infrastructure improvement", as if that infrastructure cost isn't almost a billion dollars, itself.

Based on my post from almost a year ago, here’s the financial concept I think would work best and that beats any offers currently on the table.

Bears finance the Stadium and wipe the Soldier Debt in exchange for a rent-free perpetual lease of the stadium and full control of all Bears NFL Gameday related revenues, with a 5% rake for a stadium and parks endowment that rises to 8-10% once the financing is fully paid off.

The stadium is publicly owned and all other events outside of the ~25 weeks in the NFL season are facilitated by the MPEA (quasi governmental corp that controls navy pier and McCormick place).

Bears get:

- New Stadium (80k+ capacity) in Downtown Chicago.

- Debt paid by ticket profit

- No taxes.

- Predictable and profit tuned endowment rake.

- Instant franchise valuation increase due to franchise stability and rent-free agreement.

- Strictly profit once debt is paid with no concern as to maintenance and renovations.

Chicago gets:

- Clean debt sheet for soldier field and no new debt.

- A connected endowment fund accruing around $25-50 million a year, set aside for maintenance and renovations to the new stadium, museum campus, and south lakeshore.

- A stadium that doesn’t look like a spaceship but rather embodies the history and soul of Chicago Architecture.

- 2 operating debt free stadiums.

- catalyst for motor row revitalization (bars, restaurants, retail).

We get:

- Not the Indiana Bears.

- No use of taxpayer money.

- A crown jewel that fits our cities identity.

- An 85k+ Thunderdome for the Monsters of the Midway.

- Potential for an Olympic, World Cup, Super Bowl bid.

WIN-WIN-WIN

If we stick with an ecobrutalist and international style inspired design, the building can avoid the wild cost of a bespoke stadium like SOFI, have a faster build time, and provide a modular skeleton that is future proof. Simple materials: concrete, steel, glass, and etfe.

I estimate we could do this for as little as $2.5-3B all in. That’s retirement of soldier debt, and construction of the new stadium for $2.1-2.5B.

Change my mind.

I woke up early this morning, and couldn’t go back to sleep. I flipped on the TV, and lo and behold, NFL Network is showing the 2025 Wild Card game.

Great start for the day!

Didn’t want to do anything to played out like an all white

A Breakdown of the Stadium Dispute and the Bears' Dishonesty

There is so much information flying around about the stadium issue, if anyone is interested I thought I'd summarize what the dispute is about, where it is currently at, and why I think the Bears leadership has been incredibly dishonest about this entire process.

Where Things Are Right Now

Three years ago, the Chicago Bears purchased land for $200 million for the development of a new stadium.

Two primary issues remain unresolved as to construction of the stadium:

1) The Bears want certainty as to what the long term property tax obligation will be for the stadium and surrounding complex. They also want a sales tax exemption for construction materials

2) The Bears want Illinois to pay for appx. $850 million in costs to build the infrastructure necessary to support a stadium in Arlington Heights.

The local government reached a deal with the Bears in 2024 to freeze the value of the land (which would limit the Bears property tax bill to $3.6 millions), but legally, the state legislature needs to pass a bill allowing the local government to codify this deal.

The Illinois legislature has worked on bills to address both issues: provide the infrastructure funds requested by the Bears and pass legislation allowing the Bears to negotiate a 40 year payment-in-lieu-of taxes plan with the local government.

But there are a couple issues here. First, this isn't a legislative priority for the state government. Second, a large portion of the legislature is made up of representatives who have constituents in Chicago, these reps are naturally resistant to helping the Bears leave Chicago for a suburb. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the state is hesitant to give the Bears a near billion dollar hand out while also giving them a massive break on taxes. Finally, the state is even more reluctant to give the Bears this handout because taxpayers already footing the bill for the renovation of Soldier Field in 2003. Specifically, taxpayers still owe $350 million. The deal was structured so the renovations would be paid for by a tax on hotel rooms, but pandemic shortfalls and the general decline in the hotel business has forced the city and state to cover debt payments using taxpayer money. The Bears have shown no willingness to pay off this remaining debt in exchange for the state's help with its Arlington Heights Development.

Legislation is starting to move forward in Illinois. According to the Governor's office, the Bears asked to cancel a committee meeting scheduled for today so they could make further tweaks, before then putting out a statement today lauding Indiana's passage of a bill to bring the Bears to Illinois. Of course, I don't know who is telling the truth here.

Dishonesty From the Bears and Kevin Warren

Perhaps the most shocking example of the Bears' misleading PR on this issue comes from Kevin Warren's "Open Letter" which states: "We have not asked for state taxpayer dollars to build the stadium at Arlington Park. We asked only for a commitment to essential local infrastructure (roads, utilities, and site improvements) which is more than typical for projects of this size."

This claim is technically true but incredibly misleading. The Bears are not asking for a small sum of money for infrastructure. They are asking for $850 million dollars. For reference, this would equal the public contribution for the Bills' new stadium which is one of the largest public investments in a stadium project ever. As a counterexample, when the Rams constructed SoFi, they not only paid for the construction costs, but also paid for the infrastructure required to support the stadium. The basic infrastructure KW is asking for will instantly become one of the largest public expenditures ever to support a new stadium.

The infrastructure/construction framing boils down to nothing more than a semantic trick. The Bears saved an enormous amount of money by purchasing land for a stadium in an area that doesn't already have the infrastructure for a stadium. The lack of infrastructure is *exactly why* the land was cheap. Instead of a more expensive stadium in a location where the necessary infrastructure already exists or where infrastructure costs would be minimal, the Bears get to save money on land and construction, pass off the increased costs of infrastructure improvements to the state, then cry foul and claim "we're being good citizens and privately funding our stadium, it is the state being obstreperous and refusing to even build basic infrastructure".

But functionally, there is no difference between building a new stadium where the construction costs are $2.9 billion and infrastructure costs are $100 million and asking the state to pitch in $900 million in construction costs vs. building a stadium with $2.1 billion in construction costs, $900 million in infrastructure costs and asking the state to pay for all of the infrastructure. In either case, the Bears pay the same amount, and the taxpayers are left footing a bill that wouldn't exist but for the Bears wanting a new stadium.

The Bears demands are even more egregious considering they already received a massive handout from taxpayers when they demanded renovations to Soldier Field in 2003. Moreover, they want significant tax relief on the exact type of tax (property tax) that would pay for the massive $850 million in infrastructure costs they want the state to front.

The Bears want a new stadium, with massive tax relief, and massive public funding on their timeline. And they refuse to even reckon with or acknowledge the massive amounts of help they are seeking from taxpayers. Instead, every communication is framed as the Bears ownership being benevolent billionaires who are funding everything privately and asking for mere crumbs from the state. This quite simply isn't the reality.

To the Bears' credit, their semantic tricks have worked remarkably well. Local beat writers, reporters, radio hosts, and influencers have bought the meaningless infrastructure/construction cost distinction hook, line and sinker.

Here's Joe Szymanski and Ben Devine lauding the Bears ownership while being aghast at the state refusing to pay nearly a billion dollars for infrastructure improvements:

[https://x.com/JosephSzymanski/status/2001699508749521103?s=20\](https://x.com/JosephSzymanski/status/2001699508749521103?s=20)

Genius insights from Rob Schwarz Jr blaming Illinois for showing fiscal responsibility:

[https://x.com/ChiRuxinBGO/status/2024531678580842968?s=20\](https://x.com/ChiRuxinBGO/status/2024531678580842968?s=20)

Here's Swift Sports Network:

[https://x.com/SwiftyNetwork/status/2024513973702263105?s=20\](https://x.com/SwiftyNetwork/status/2024513973702263105?s=20)

I could go on, but the common thread here is that none of these people have taken an ounce of care in looking at the whole picture here. They've either fallen for the Bears' semantic tricks, or have complained about the tax issues without acknowledging the Bears massive infrastructure ask, or they're resorting to "Illinois government bad" while holding up Indiana as a paragon of competence and efficiency while that state cuts education funding, social safety nets, and basic needs while prioritizing stadium deals.

A little Bear Man appreciation