The campaign to bring the Chicago Bear to Northwest Indiana picked up more momentum in the Hoosier State’s legislature.
NBC Chicago reports Indiana’s Senate passed SB 27 on Wednesday that creates the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority. The new agency will be responsibility of acquiring land and financing the construction of a domed stadium, potentially for the Bears as they seek to move out of their longtime home at Soldier Field.
The bill authorizes the new stadium authority to negotiate terms of a 35-year lease with a professional sports team and issue 40-year bonds that will be used to finance the construction of a new stadium.
The legislation will now head to the Indiana House. Gov. Mike Braun took to X to celebrate the bill’s passage in the State Senate.
“Indiana is open for business and the Chicago Bears have taken notice,” he posted. “The Senate’s passage of SB 27 to establish a Northwest Indiana stadium authority is the next critical step in the right direction to bring the Chicago Bears to the Hoosier state and to grow Indiana’s economy.”
The new bill puts additional pressure on the Illinois state government, which has been at odds with the NFL team over the financing of a new stadium in suburban Arlington Heights. Jim Tinaglia, mayor of Arlington Heights, responded to the bill’s passage in the Indiana State Senate by quipping, “I don’t think I’d want to be the Governor of Illinois when and if the Bears were to decide to leave the state altogether.”
Photo by Mark Goebel / Wikimedia Commons
