Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott told Indy Politics this week that if the Chicago Bears don’t end up moving across the state line to Indiana, the reason won’t be a weak offer from Indianapolis.
“If the Bears don’t come to Indiana, it’s not because we had a bad business deal, that’s for sure,” McDermott said. The bigger obstacle, he said, is sentiment — generations of fans tied to Soldier Field and a civic identity that doesn’t show up on a balance sheet.
He even pointed to the team’s fight song. “They couldn’t get over the fact that they’d have to change the fight song, you know… that’s nostalgia, and that’s what we’re fighting right now.”
McDermott said roughly 30 Bears executives recently spent five hours in meetings going over “hundreds of different things,” and estimated the team is “definitely spending millions of dollars” on Indiana due diligence — “smart if you’re trying to get billions.”
“You can quote anything about that you want, man. I feel good about the Bears,” he said.
McDermott’s tone has hardened since. “There’s only one offer on the table,” he told The Times of Northwest Indiana, “and that’s from the state of Indiana.”
The shift comes as the Bears approach a decision the team has said will arrive by late spring or early summer. The franchise is choosing between its 326-acre site in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and a Wolf Lake site in Hammond. The NFL’s stadium committee, which includes Bears Chairman George McCaskey, is scheduled to meet with team leadership Wednesday for a status update, according to ESPN and the Chicago Tribune.
The Illinois House last Wednesday passed HB910, the so-called megaprojects bill that would let the Bears negotiate property tax certainty in Arlington Heights for up to 40 years. The vote was 78-32, and the bill now moves to the Illinois Senate, which gavels back into session Tuesday.
In a statement reported by WGN-TV, McDermott called the House vote “movement, but not resolution.” He added: “The Bears needed this level of urgency from Illinois three years ago, and they didn’t get it.”
The Illinois bill faces complications. The Bears issued a statement saying “additional amendments are necessary” before the Arlington Heights site is feasible. Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters Friday there is a “need for speed” in the Senate, and signaled that a 9% amusement tax added by the House would need to come out, according to Capitol News Illinois. Senate sponsor Sen. Bill Cunningham told NBC Chicago he doesn’t expect a “Senate game plan” until later this week.
Indiana’s framework has been in place since February. The General Assembly passed Senate Enrolled Act 27, modeled on the 2005 law that financed Lucas Oil Stadium. The act creates the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority, authorizes a 12% admissions tax, doubles Lake County’s innkeeper tax, allows 1% food-and-beverage taxes in Lake and Porter counties, and routes roughly $1 billion in public infrastructure funding through a stadium development district.
Earlier this month, the State Budget Committee approved a related Indiana Toll Road agreement that would trade twice-annual toll increases for $700 million in upfront payments tied to the stadium project, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.
McDermott told NBC Chicago over the weekend that the Bears have likely already spent at least $10 million on Hammond due diligence. “I know for a fact we’re not being played,” he said. “This is not a leverage play.” He values a built-out Wolf Lake development — what he calls “Bearsville” — at roughly $6 billion. The City of Hammond is assessed at $4 billion.
House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, who sponsored Senate Bill 27 in the House, told the Capital Chronicle that “conversations with the Bears continue to go well and we are optimistic.” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said the league wants the matter “resolved sooner rather than later.”
McDermott said he is trying not to react to every development out of Springfield.
“I try not to get too excited or too depressed about the developments because they’re constant,” he told NBC Chicago.
He returned to his original point in his conversation with Indy Politics.
“At the end of the day,” he said, “it comes down to good old-fashioned emotions.”
