‘We’re Going To Do Everything To Make It Happen’

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun is upping the tempo on an aggressive push to lure the Chicago Bears to a new home in the Hoosier State.

Braun said in an interview on 21Alive News the state has had “a lot” of communication with the Bears organization since team President and CEO Kevin Warren announced in December the team was exploring a move to Indiana. The governor said the approach to luring the team has to be methodical and executed when the organization is thoroughly ready. 

“We’re going to do everything to make it happen,” he said.

Bisnow/Ryan Wangman

Indiana’s pursuit of the Chicago Bears for a stadium move is ramping up.

Braun hinted at the speed of progress on discussions over the past week but cautioned that obstacles could come into play. The lukewarm interest from Illinois lawmakers for financing a new stadium and belabored negotiations have led the Bears organization to seriously consider other options, Braun said. 

Warren has repeatedly tried and failed to sway the state legislature to back a new stadium.

In 2023, the team purchased land in Arlington Heights to build a new home. The following year, it proposed staying in Chicago before settling on the Arlington Heights site once more in September, only to walk that back at the end of last year.

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel Welch doubled down Tuesday on state lawmakers prioritizing affordability over a stadium project in 2026. He said at an event at the City Club of Chicago that lawmakers are looking at measures to lower the cost of living.

“I don’t know anyone that has knocked on a door and (had) someone say anything about the Chicago Bears,” Welch said. “We have to stay focused on the things that people care about right now.”

But while many elected officials and Illinois residents have dismissed the Bears’ pining for the other side of the border as leverage in the organization’s ongoing negotiations with the state, there is precedent for the move. 

In December, the Kansas City Chiefs decided to leave their home of more than 50 years in Missouri to cross the border into Kansas, lured by more than $2B in taxpayer money. New York City nearly built a stadium in Manhattan for its football teams, but that was similarly derailed by a lack of appetite for public funding. 

“The New York Giants and Jets play elsewhere, and you got franchises all the time moving out of state,” Braun said. “You’re lucky that you can go that close and maybe keep everything you had and add more to it.”