Hammond vs. Arlington Heights: The Bears’ Two Stadium Options Compared

Author’s note: I gathered the information in this post from public reporting, government documents and public records about both the Indiana and Illinois proposals. It reflects what was known as of October 30, 2026. Sources are linked at the bottom. If you spot an error or have a tip, please let me know. — Joe Bjorklund

Right now the Chicago Bears have two realistic places to build a new stadium: the 326-acre former Arlington Park they already own in Arlington Heights, and a lakeshore site in Hammond, Indiana. Officially, Hammond is ahead. The team’s board voted on June 5, 2026 to advance the Indiana project, and on August 13 team president Kevin Warren called Hammond the team’s sole focus. But on October 29, Crain’s Chicago Business reported, citing unnamed sources, that an Illinois deal is close and would most likely land in Arlington Heights. Nothing has been filed, and the Bears haven’t commented on that report.

Here is how the two options compare on the things that will actually decide this.

The quick comparison

	Hammond, Indiana	Arlington Heights, Illinois
Status	Bears’ declared “sole focus” since Aug. 13, 2026	Bears-owned site; revived by a reported (unconfirmed) Illinois deal
Law in place?	Yes. SB 27 signed Feb. 26, 2026	No. Spring 2026 bills died; veto session Nov. 17-19 and Dec. 1-3
Who would own the stadium	Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority (state-created), leased to the team	Under the reported framework, a local stadium authority
Property tax on the stadium	None (publicly owned)	None under the reported authority model; currently about $3.6M/yr on the vacant land under a 2024 deal
Public infrastructure money	About $1B available for district infrastructure	Bears’ ask is about $855M; no state figure attached to the reported deal
Team contribution	About $2B pledged	About $2B committed toward the stadium
Land	Lost Marsh site cleared as viable; adjacent Wolf Lake Terminal under study	Already owned (bought for $197.2M); grandstand demolished in 2023
Target timing	Gov. Braun’s goal: open by 2029	No public schedule; construction estimated at about 3 years
What’s missing	Lease, final site, cost estimate	A law, a reversal of the June 5 board vote, a traffic study, all village approvals

How Indiana built its offer

Indiana moved fast. In December 2025 the Bears said publicly they would look across the state line, and Gov. Mike Braun answered immediately that he was ready to deal. By late February 2026, the legislature had passed Senate Bill 27 by a 45-4 vote in the Senate, and Braun signed it within about an hour.

SB 27 creates a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority based in Hammond. The authority, not the team, would own the stadium and lease it to the Bears. Public money for roads, utilities and other district infrastructure, roughly $1 billion, would come from a stack of new and captured taxes:

A 12% admissions tax on tickets
Doubling Lake County’s 5% hotel tax
A 1% food-and-beverage tax in Lake and Porter counties
Taxes captured inside a new stadium development district
Money tied to the Indiana Toll Road lease

According to Capitol News Illinois, the Bears would keep the stadium’s revenue and could buy the building for $1 once the bonds are paid off. Indiana’s money is also already moving: about $300 million sits in a trust account, with another $200 million due in June 2027 and $200 million more in 2028.

Not everyone in Northwest Indiana is on board. Porter County officials objected to the food-and-beverage tax, since their residents would help pay for a stadium in neighboring Lake County.

The Hammond sites: Lost Marsh and Wolf Lake Terminal

The Bears have not picked a final parcel. In August, Warren said due diligence on the Lost Marsh site, near Hammond’s golf course and Wolf Lake, was complete and the site remained viable. The team was also evaluating the adjacent Wolf Lake Terminal property and said the two could be combined. In June the team was testing land nearby. Environmental questions around these lakeshore and former industrial parcels haven’t been publicly resolved.

Warren has also argued for speed, saying construction costs rise by roughly $150 million for every year of delay.

Where Arlington Heights stands

Arlington Heights has one thing Hammond doesn’t: the Bears already own the land. The team closed on the former racetrack for $197.2 million in February 2023 and cleared the grandstand that fall. The village approved a pre-development agreement in 2022 and overlay zoning that allows a stadium.

What Arlington Heights lacks is a state law. In spring 2026, the Illinois House passed a megaprojects bill (HB 910) that would have let the team negotiate long-term payments in place of property taxes, and the Senate passed a different stadium-authority bill (HB 958, Senate Amendment 2). Neither cleared both chambers before the June 1 deadline. Four days later, the Bears’ board voted for Hammond.

The October framework reported by Crain’s would borrow Indiana’s approach: a public authority would own the stadium, the stadium would pay no property tax, the authority could capture new sales tax from the surrounding development, and the state would pay for roads. No dollar figure for infrastructure has been reported, and the unpaid debt on Soldier Field’s 2002 renovation is reportedly still unresolved.

Even if Springfield passes something, Arlington Heights would still need a long local process. The Bears have not filed a planned-development application, and the traffic study the team paused in fall 2025 still hadn’t reached the village as of March 2026.

The money, side by side

On paper the two offers look similar. Both rely on public ownership to erase property taxes, and both put public money into infrastructure rather than the building itself. The differences are certainty and size. Indiana’s roughly $1 billion is in law and partly in the bank. Illinois’ contribution is a reported framework with no number. The Bears’ own infrastructure ask for Arlington Heights is about $855 million.

For the village, the stakes are real. A consultant hired by Arlington Heights, Hunden Strategic Partners, estimated about $15 million a year in new village revenue from a stadium district. The Bears’ consultant put it at $18 million. Neither figure includes the village’s own infrastructure costs, which aren’t known yet.

What to watch

Nov. 17-19 and Dec. 1-3: the Illinois veto session, widely described as the state’s last real chance.
A Bears board vote: any Arlington Heights deal would require the team to reverse or amend its June 5 Hammond vote.
A Hammond lease or site announcement: the clearest sign Indiana has closed the deal.
June 2027: Indiana’s next $200 million payment into the stadium fund.

I’ll update this comparison as soon as either side files something concrete.