The Chicago Bears are still trying to find a location for their proposed domed stadium and are now reportedly taking a second look at a site in Bronzeville, a predominantly Black community in the city.
The Chicago Sun-Times cited unnamed sources in reporting the team had originally rejected the city-owned 48.6-acre site that was once home to the Michael Reese Hospital, claiming it was “very narrow” and would need to be built over an active rail line. The hospital was demolished in 2009 and has been mostly vacant ever since. The property was considered as the potential site of an athletes’ village when Chicago sought the 2016 Summer Olympics, and in 2021 the Chicago City Council approved a $3.8 billion mixed-use redevelopment project called Bronzeville Lakefront – but to date, only infrastructure upgrades have occurred at the location.
However, the Bears are taking a second look at the Bronzeville site after earlier proposals for a new stadium next to their longtime home at Soldier Field and in the suburb of Arlington Heights brought negative feedback due to the team’s insistence on public funds to help finance the $4.6 billion project – the Bears said they would only cover 70% of the stadium’s costs.
Mayor Brandon Johnson did not confirm that the team is considering the Bronzeville site, only stating in a Tuesday press conference that his goal was to “keep them in Chicago – and as long as we’re clear about, not just keeping them in Chicago but creating opportunities for real economic development, that is important.”
Still, a spokesperson for Gov. JB Pritzker, who opposed the use of public funds on the project, said his “stance on the stadium issue remains unchanged regardless of possible locations.”
Photo courtesy of the Chicago Bears
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