What Is a Stadium Authority? How the Bears Deal Could Work in Arlington Heights

Author’s note: I gathered the information in this post from public reporting, government documents and public records and from the text of the bills as described by Capitol News Illinois and the Chicago Sun-Times. 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

If Illinois keeps the Bears, the deal will probably be built around a stadium authority. That is the structure lawmakers floated in the final hours of the spring session, and it is the structure Crain’s Chicago Business reported on October 29, citing unnamed sources, as the basis of a deal that is “close.” No bill has been filed yet, and the Bears have not commented. But because the phrase is going to come up constantly during the veto session (November 17–19 and December 1–3), here is what it means and how it would work in Arlington Heights.

The short version

A stadium authority is a public body, a unit of local government created by state law, that owns a stadium. The team pays to build it and plays there under a long-term lease. Because the stadium is publicly owned, it pays no property tax. That is the whole point of the arrangement from the team’s side: the Bears have said a finished stadium district in Arlington Heights would otherwise face property tax bills of more than $100 million a year.

Illinois already has one of these. The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority (ISFA) owns Rate Field, the White Sox ballpark, and it carries the debt from the 2002–03 Soldier Field renovation. The spring 2026 bill was explicitly modeled on it.

What the spring bill would have done

The stadium-authority language was HB 958, Senate Amendment 2. It passed the Illinois Senate 37–17 at 3:39 a.m. on June 1, 2026. The House adjourned without voting on it, so it died. Its main features:

Any Cook County municipality with at least 70,000 residents could create an authority. That includes both Chicago and Arlington Heights, so the bill was not written for one town.
The authority would own the land and the stadium. The team would pay for construction.
The stadium itself would pay no property tax.
The surrounding development, such as housing, retail, office and hotels, would stay on the tax rolls but could be placed in a STAR bond district.
The authority could issue revenue bonds.
The bill included no money for roads or other infrastructure.

What are STAR bonds?

STAR bonds (“sales tax and revenue” bonds) let a district borrow money for development and pay it back with the extra state sales tax generated inside that district. In practice, sales tax that would otherwise flow to the state is redirected to pay off the bonds. Kansas used STAR bonds to lure the Kansas City Chiefs across the state line; Kansas set the boundaries for that district on October 13, 2026. The House megaprojects bill also would have expanded STAR bonds to Cook County communities with more than 70,000 people.

How it differs from the “megaprojects” PILOT approach

The first plan lawmakers tried was different. HB 910, the megaprojects bill sponsored by Rep. Kam Buckner, passed the House 78–32 on April 22, 2026. It let very large projects negotiate a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, with local taxing bodies. For projects over $1 billion, the Bears’ tier, the PILOT could last up to 40 years. Half of the PILOT money would have gone to property tax relief, mostly rebates for homeowners in the affected districts. The bill stalled in the Senate in late May.

	Megaprojects PILOT (HB 910)	Stadium authority (HB 958 SA2)
Who owns the stadium	The team	A public authority
Property tax on the stadium	A negotiated, fixed payment for up to 40 years	None
Surrounding development	Taxable; STAR bonds possible	Taxable; STAR bonds possible
Homeowner relief built in	Yes, half of PILOT money	No
Infrastructure money	No	No
Status	Passed House, died in Senate	Passed Senate, House never voted

How it compares to Hammond

Sen. Bill Cunningham, the Senate’s lead negotiator, described the authority bill as the same basic setup Indiana already built. Indiana’s SB 27, signed by Gov. Mike Braun in February 2026, created a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority in Hammond. The state-created authority would own the stadium and lease it to the team, and Indiana would put roughly $1 billion of public money toward the project, funded by several sources: taxes captured inside a stadium district, a 12% admissions tax, a doubled Lake County hotel tax, a 1% food-and-beverage tax in Lake and Porter counties, and money from the Indiana Toll Road lease. Under the Indiana deal the Bears could buy the stadium for $1 once the bonds are paid off.

The big difference so far: Indiana’s authority comes with money attached. Illinois’s spring version did not. The deal Crain’s described in October would add state funding for roads and infrastructure, but no dollar figure has been reported.

The case for it

Supporters argue public ownership is a cleaner deal than a tax break for a private building. Cunningham said public ownership gives a clear public benefit, and the Bears would still pay to build the stadium itself. Gov. JB Pritzker has drawn a line between paying to build a privately owned stadium, which he opposes, and paying for public infrastructure, which he has said he is open to. Backers also point out that the surrounding district (homes, shops, offices, hotels) would still pay property taxes, and that a stadium that hosts Super Bowls, Final Fours and concerts brings amusement-tax revenue the village does not get today.

The case against it

Critics say public ownership is a bigger break, just packaged differently. Neil deMause of the stadium-subsidy watchdog site Field of Schemes estimated the PILOT approach was worth about $39 million a year to the team (a present value of roughly $670 million). He put the full exemption under the authority approach at about $53 million a year (roughly $900 million in present value), before counting any infrastructure bonds. The Cook County Treasurer’s office separately estimated the megaprojects break at about $39 million a year.

Critics also note that a STAR bond district diverts future state sales tax, so the cost shows up as money the state never collects rather than as a line item in a budget. Policy groups including ITEP have argued that these structures hide public costs rather than eliminate them.

What to watch

Whether a new bill is filed before or during the November 17–19 veto session, and what bill number it uses.
Whether infrastructure money is included, and how much. The Bears’ ask has been about $855 million.
Whether the bill addresses the remaining Soldier Field debt. The reported October framework does not.
Whether the bill limits authorities to certain towns, or leaves the option open to Chicago, as the reported framework would.
Whether the school districts that tax Arlington Park (Districts 15, 211 and 214) get anything in return for losing the stadium’s property tax.

I’ll update this explainer when bill text is public.