The Chicago Bears took a new step in their stadium search on Friday, with the team saying its board of directors voted to advance a development project in Hammond, Indiana. A specific site has not yet been chosen, but the move keeps Northwest Indiana in play as the club presses ahead with a plan that has shifted more than once.
George H. McCaskey said the Hammond project is meant to connect Northwest Indiana to Chicago and open new opportunities for residents and businesses. Kevin Warren joined him in saying the team believes a world-class stadium in Hammond could transform the region, tying Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city.
That push comes as the Bears continue to sort through a decision that has already spanned years and multiple locations. The team signed a purchase agreement in September 2021 for 326 acres in Arlington Heights and later finalized the $197 million land deal with Churchill Downs Incorporated in 2023. The Bears unveiled a nearly $5 billion Arlington Heights plan in September 2022, then announced a plan for Chicago's Museum Campus in April 2024 before saying in May 2025 that they had made significant progress with local leaders in Arlington Heights.
The latest move also lands after Illinois lawmakers failed to advance a stadium-authority measure that would have cleared the way for Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local stadium authorities. Instead, the Bears said they were finalizing their evaluation of possible stadium sites in Arlington Heights and Hammond, and Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and state lawmakers had already backed the team's interest in Northwest Indiana. A state House committee passed a bill in February creating a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance, construct and lease a stadium, giving Hammond a more developed path than the Illinois side.
The open question now is whether the Bears settle on the tract near Wolf Lake they have been doing due diligence on, or another site in Hammond altogether. For a franchise that has played in Illinois since its founding in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys and has never owned its stadium since moving to Chicago in 1921, Friday's vote did not end the search — it narrowed the map.
