Kevin Warren: New Chicago Bears stadium 'Focus is now' on lakefront and Arlington Heights

The Chicago Bears' efforts to build a new stadium took another turn at the NFL Owner's Meeting on Wednesday morning.

Some information hasn't changed. Bears' CEO and President Warren reiterated how the franchise's goal remains to have shovels in the ground to begin building in the calendar year 2025.

The location, though, is down to two areas. After nearly every stadium update in the past year reiterated the team's focus on a new lakefront stadium, Warren said the franchise is now expanding its focus to multiple areas.

"The focus now is both downtown and Arlington Heights," Warren said. 

The Arlington Heights location is the 326-acre area the team officially owns in the city of Arlington Heights. It exists where the former Arlington Park racetrack once stood.

The Bears have explored multiple options in the past year, including the lakefront, Arlington Heights and the Michael Reese hospital site in Bronzeville. The Bears released renderings and held a press conference on April 24, 2024.

The Bears have shifted toward Arlington Heights being a real possibility for their new stadium.

"These are not linear processes or projects," Warren said. "They take time, they take a lot of energy and effort. I am very, very pleased with where we are."

The Bears originally ran into roadblocks with Arlington Heights due to the annual property tax bill for the Bears' potential stadium. In December 2024, the Arlington Heights Board of Trustees cleared that roadblock when they approved a tax settlement with three school districts, settling the annual property tax bill for a potential stadium site at $3.6 million. It also helps the Bears officially own the 326-acres, which they officially purchased in Feb. 2023 for $197.2 million.

Arlington Heights' new mayor-elect, Jim Tinaglia, told FOX 32 he would want to bring the Bears and the Chicago White Sox to Arlington Heights.

Meanwhile, the Bears' roadblocks with the lakefront stadium include the need for public funding as well as the need to adjust Lake Shore Drive. In the plan for a lakefront stadium, the Bears included the need for improved access to DuSable Lake Shore Drive, which would include a new overpass, relocation of a Lake Shore Drive exit and new ramps to the Museum Campus area. 

"Both have their pluses and minuses," McCaskey said. "We'll have to see how it plays out."

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One of the pros in McCaskey's mind is how the Arlington Heights site could be accessible year round.

"It’s idyllic, and if there were sufficient improvements in infrastructure to make that location accessible 365 days of the year, it can be a fantastic opportunity as well," he said.

McCaskey did note his grandfather, Chicago Bears founder and NFL founding father George Halas, also once looked at Arlington Heights as a potential location for a stadium.

"George Halas identified it over 50 years ago as an ideal place for a Bears stadium," McCaskey said. "It's pad ready — It's got the Metra stop. plenty of acreage."

The team planned to break ground on a lakefront stadium in summer 2025. It remains to be seen how this new shift in focus could affect the specific timeline for those plans.

"I think we, collectively as a group, are where we thought we would be," Warren said.