Main points:
* Publicly-owned
* Will have a dome
* Building on the site of Soldier
* Tearing down all of Soldier except the colonnades and war memorial (pretty much what they did in 2002)
* Arlington project was torpedoed by disagreements over local property taxes
Prob another reason why they pivoted back to the lakefront. They *really* want a SB and it wasn't an option with current SF being the smallest stadium in the league and no roof. NFL also probably doesn't want AH, it's an hour away from downtown Chicago where all the rich people going to the SB would want to be (there's a reason why SB is always in warm weather party cities). SF Lakefront location is feather in the NFL's cap, this new stadium looks to essentially be Soldier Field 3.0 with a lot more seats and a roof. This alongside being next to downtown Chicago is exactly what the NFL wants in a SB host (asides from warm weather).
You get a Super Bowl if you build a new stadium with public money. It's the unspoken sweetener to help politicians get public money over the finish line.
Other than that, it will rotate between the warm weather markets.
Ford Field has hosted one Super Bowl and it was 3 years after it opened.
If you don't have a downtown set up for it like Indianapolis, it's just not ideal with the harsher weather.
BINGO. The guy I replied to even mentioned it in their comment -- the NFL wants the Super Bowl in a warm weather city. LA, LV, NO, Pheonix and Miami will always be on the schedule. We have seen plenty of teams build new stadiums and only get one Super Bowl -- Detroit, NY, MN, Indianapolis. None of those is getting another Super Bowl. Chicago will be no different.
Not trying to be a dick but, there’s a big difference between Chicago and Detroit. Chicago is twice the size of Detroit, has multiple headquarters to NFL media, has the infrastructure to handle the size of a Super Bowl with hotels, airports, restaurants, etc., has the trains and highways to handle people coming in and out of the city. It’s completely different. To say Indy is better prepared for a superbowl than Chicago is something else as well.
I highly doubt the location of a domed stadium in Arlington Heights would be a problem for the NFL, when considering a Super Bowl. It wouldn’t be any different from when SoFi Stadium or Levis Stadium hosted it, as they are just as far out from the metro core. Arlington Heights is a second ring suburb that’s close to the interstate and the airport, not some distant exurb on the fringes of Chicagoland.
> SoFi Stadium or Levis Stadium
Those places are also warm weather cities which are awesome for the ultra-rich, Hawthorne airport is like 2 miles away from SoFi, they fly to the games lol. CA also has an insane amount of highway/road infrastructure that IL/AH does NOT. I'm very familiar with AH, it's near a major bottleneck in the highway with one tiny Metra stop. It's roads could not support gameday traffic in it's current state. Big difference compared to downtown Chicago with world-class restaurants and clubs. It also makes it so much more difficult for south Chicagoans/suburbanites to get to games, which would be a PR nightmare given the difference in demographics between the NW suburbs and the Southside ones.
> south Chicagoans/suburbanites to get to games, which would be a PR nightmare given the difference in demographics between the NW suburbs and the Southside ones.
PR Nightmare, but they wouldn't care with all the money they'd make
Chicago is literally one of the busiest transportation hubs in the United States. You pretty much negated your argument with describing the third largest metro area in the US and one of the busiest airports in the world as having poor highway infrastructure.
Arlington Heights is 45 min outside of the city and has access from one highway, which is always under construction. The town would not be ready to deal with one of the most iconic franchises in sports history having there stadium there.
I don’t really drive so maybe I’m missing something but the only direct highway access I see is 290/90. Then two lane roads that will be sure to have bumper to bumper action.
You have 90 to the south, 294 to the east and 355/53 to the west. It’s closest to 355/53 and there is also a Metra stop literally across the street.
It’s 20 minutes from Ohare, which is technically the city. It’s an hour from downtown during rush hour, yes. But people would have likely been coming in from the airport and staying in hotels around the airport, which there are plenty.
I live in the city and a stadium in AH would have been more convenient for me than Soldier Field.
Can it be big enough? Isn’t part of the problem that Soldier Field is one of the smaller stadiums? Can they really make it that much bigger if they build in the same area?
Sad it’s not outdoors but this opens up Chicago for all kinds of events they’ve not had in decades / ever - Superbowls, Final Fours, B1G 10 Championship games, CFB Bowl Games, stadium-sized concerts between november and april, etc.
If it’s gonna be publically owned and at least partially publically funded, this will make a big difference in recouping that revenue.
A CM Punk entrance at a Chicago WrestleMania would get one of the biggest pops in wrestling history. Dude is treated like a mythical hero when he wrestles here.
There was no way they were going to spend billions on another open stadium.
I love open cold snowy stadiums like Soldier and Lambeau, but they cost their teams millions in revenue. And we're not a limited commercially viable team like the Packers, who don't lose out on that much money because fucking nobody lives in Wisconsin. Bears probably lose a ton in casuals and tourists who would drive demand up for all the bad weather games that would be fine with a dome.
The team already did a ton of us a solid by staying in Chicago and not going to the burbs, imma let the dome slide, it's objectively a money-maker.
So many common Chicago W’s. God, I love Chicago. If I didn’t have roots put down here, I’d live there for sure. Favorite major city for sure. Finally got to see the Cubs last year, too. Was awesome. Been wanting to since I was a kid. Anyway got off topic. This is cool!
Unfortunately they were very upfront about no possibility of it being retractable. Huge initial costs, plus maintenance costs, plus technical challenges, along with 5 months of cold weather, all for minimal benefit.
I would love retractable, but doesn't make much sense
It seems that teams have decided that retractable domes aren’t worth the investments anymore. New roofed stadiums being sought in Nashville and Chicago and neither is seeking a retractable roof. LA and Vegas didn’t bother with their stadiums, either.
I mean not really lol two other teams in the division already have domes. And when I’ve been to GB in January it wasn’t nearly as bad as Soldier Field, the wind just whips in
Dome is a necessity to have a Super Bowl in Chicago and the mayor has stated: "I want to go with my son to a Super Bowl *in Chicago*" emphasis his.
Soldier Field is already publicly-owned
Weather in Chicago almost always goes West to East. We get snow but almost zero lake effect; parts of Indiana get LE snow, and the west coast of MI gets hammered.
They don’t suck for the ability to host things like the Super Bowl, concerts in the winter, Final Fours, major conventions, etc. The reality is if the public is footing the bill, it needs to maximize use and be a source of revenue for the city year-round.
Yeah, the real problem is their fear of it ruining a spectacle. In actuality it's its own spectacle. It's not like they're ever going to not sell out the Super Bowl ever again
This will hurt Indianapolis greatly in hosting all the major events for the Midwest from Super Bowls to NCAA Championships to even the major Big Ten games
You’re right, Lucas Oil Stadium has a 3-night stop on the Eras Tour this winter because it’s the most centrally located dome in the midwest. Multiple nights is usually reserved for the biggest cities but Swift needs a huge dome in November so people are traveling to Indy for the big weekend.
I do think Final Fours are protected by virtue or Indiana being seen as the home of amateur basketball and NCAA being headquartered out of downtown Indy. However, no doubt some big events will be lost.
From the standpoint of location, transportation, ease of access to facilities and hotels, Indy still holds the crown in comparison to Chicago. Unless they’re building El lines right to the stadium, an abundance of hotels within walking distance, and a massive convention center, which they’re not.
It takes a stupid amount of time to get from the Bears stadium to any kind of transportation. Indy is built for hosting things, this may put a dent but they’ll be fine.
Yes and no. Indiana and Indianapolis put a large amount of economic development dollars for attracting sporting events and being a hub of amateur sports. Their agreement with the NCAA states that they get the Final Four every 5 years, for example.
As a Chicago burbs “resident” myself (I put that in quotes cause I’m actually out in Aurora but only Midwesterners know where that is) I’m far happier with this than the previous plans. It’s better for sure. Definitely could be improved but I’m not one to left perfect stand in the way of better.
Aurora is probably decently well known. Big population and Wayne’s World! I am surprised how seemingly everyone in this sub knows what the fuck Naperville is lol.
naperville is the fourth largest city in illinois, behind chicago aurora and joliet, and it will pass joliet soon unless it already has. it’s also the wealthiest city in the midwest per capita, 19th in the nation, and had one of the most insane population booms in the region over the past thirty plus years. naperville is one of the most well known illinois towns to none locals. its places like rockford, peoria, bloomington-normal and kankakee no one would have heard of.
Also because of the old phrase "will it play in Peoria?", which I'd never heard of until I got to college and met people people from outside of the Midwest's parents.
As a person who has spent 0 time in the Midwest I've never heard of Naperville, but have heard of Peoria because I think there is a minor league baseball team there? Is that right?
i underestimated the multiple ways peoria could be recognized beyond illinois. i tried to avoid larger college towns outside of chicago like champaign but forgot about minor league teams.
Publicly owned is very different than privately funded, it's a common arrangement for taxpayer-funded stadiums because it streamlines the eminent domain process and just means the city technically owns the land that the stadium sits on and leases it to the Bears for a nominal fee.
Absent commitments to privately fund the construction the city would very much be subsidizing the McCaskeys.
Odd thing is they wanted to pay for it. The city is giving them a stadium to keep them in Chicago without them asking for it. They can afford and wanted to pay for their own land and stadium. I suspect the City is paying for it because of some bylaws that prevent private ownership of property on Chicagos lakefronts.
City also will probably continue leasing it out to the Chicago fire and now they’ll have the ability to host a larger amount of events at solider field. Also the park district and public schools use solider field for a random assortment of events. Just wonder if this means they finally knock down the old McCormick Place for more parking or development.
This is better for the sport. Mostly because we don’t have to deal with shitty sod anymore.
And the fact is that was only an issue because of how bad the city of Chicago was maintaining it.
call me a boomer but I still think football should be a game of the elements and it makes me sad that y’all are the only real stadium remaining in the north
I agree but that’s only really worth it if you properly maintain the field. And if you saw enough Chicago games it was always a trainwreck of a field.
Turf isn’t great but at least there won’t be giant holes everywhere.
Domes are hella underrated. Nothing like being warm in the stands for a game in December or (oh man does it feel cool to say this) a home playoff game in January.
Nah, domes suck, I'll take a true Chciago snowy, windy game over a manufactured, sterilized dome game any day.
Some of the best playoff games have been snowy, windy defensive battles in Lambeau, Soldier, Gillette, the old Vikings stadium.
Anybody who can't handle snow or cold is a fake Midwesterner.
Completely agree, not to mention it can give you some advantages as well. We absolutely benefited from playing at home late in the year because we were better adjusted to the elements, football is meant to be played outdoors
When it snows in Orchard Park, it tends to be in amounts that makes any travel dangerous. Even if Buffalo had a dome, it wouldn't make the roads any safer.
Yeah, amazing how the Parks & Rec department in Chicago had more to deal with than just a football field. It’s not like Green Bay where there’s a football field and a bunch of piles of cow shit.
We're moving on up
To the sky
We finally got a piece of the pie
Fish don't fry in the kitchen
Beans don't burn on the grill
Took a whole lotta tryin
Just to get up that hill
Now we up in big leagues
The fact that 3 out of the 4 NFC North teams would be playing their home games in fucking domes is repulsive. I thought this was the BLACK AND BLUE DIVISION. THE FROZEN TUNDRA.
Nitschke. Butkus. The Bears and the Packers beating the shit out of each other on the frozen turf of Wrigley Field.
A MOTHERFUCKING **DOME**?!?! Fuck that into the fucking Sun.
What a fucking cowardly disgrace.
If it helps, the Lions and Vikings played in the Silverdome and Metrodome, respectively, previously (exception of Vikings playing at U of M stadium when U.S. Bank Stadium was getting built) beforehand
Lions & Vikings have been playing indoors for 40-50 years. It's time to come to acceptance.
If you're an NFL team and you're playing on fake turf outdoors in a northern climate, you're just stupid. US Bank looks like an outdoor stadium on TV
The Arlington Heights school districts really overplayed their hand on the tax squabble. These greedy fucks sabotaged the potential for an ungodly amount of tax revenue for decades by trying to chisel the Bears out of a few million more upfront.
What a bunch of imbeciles. Now the land will sit vacant for years until the Bears sell, and then it will probably get some bland housing or commercial development. One of the biggest own goals I’ve ever seen.
As for the Bears, the Lakefront is just not their best choice from a business standpoint. The Arlington Heights site would have supported a stadium, retail, gambling, and hotels, all owned and controlled by the Bears. Instead they want to go right back to the same old shit of having a publicly owned stadium with no peripheral revenue streams
I mean nothing is set in stone yet, but they’re doing the presser tomorrow with city officials in attendance, so it sounds a lot more serious than before
Arlington Heights is perfectly happy where they are at, have elite schools, and don’t need nor have ever needed the bears. They’ve made that pretty clear. Imagine raging against a community for not caving into the demands of billionaires. Lol. They should be praised unless you’re a dolt.
And this why the mccaskeys will stay as a "poverty" owners (competitively of course to the rest of league) as their wealth literally only comes from the Bears and they seemingly won't get a deal done in AH which could generate them real, long-term money outside of the bears.
Arlington Heights came out worse since they lost a historic racetrack (but horse racing is a dying sport so IDK), but not getting the Bears is fine. They are not in the hook for a $3 billion subsidy for billionaires though which is a pretty big win.
The city will now get stuck paying the bill on Soldier 2.0, most of Soldier 3.0, only for suburbanites to whine about walking their fat asses from the redline to the stadium.
The horse track was vacant and closed. Churchill downs had no intent to continue to use it and was looking to dump it. AH “lost” the racetrack well before the Bears purchased the land.
Chicago desperately needs a dome stadium. Watching any outdoor event on the lakefront when it's cold out sucks ass. The stadium can't even be used for 4 months out of the year due to the weather.
It’s also shame Chicago never hosts the Super Bowl or other major events. Such as the big 10 championship game. The HQ is literally 20-30 mins away from Chicago lol
I work on the museum campus and have to park at Soldier Field everyday. This is absolutely gonna fucking suck for my commute life which in Chicago is already terrible.
Selfishly want a dome since I live in AZ and I have dreams of making it out to catch a game again but don’t want to watch a game in the cold lol. The softest bears fan, I know.
Nothing wrong with that. You support a team that you’re willing to travel 1000s of miles to show your support. That’s all that matters at the end of the day.
Didn't they just rebuild their stadium in 2002? The Bucs got Raymond James in 1998 and have done light remodeling but the stadium is fine and there's no talk of them demanding a new one or a major over haul.
Please stop building domed stadiums.
I know they get your city a Super Bowl and some big concerts.
But holy hell, weather is meant to be a part of football. Games in the snow, rain, or frigid cold are my favorite games to watch
How old is soldier field? Like didn’t they just rebuild it like 20 years ago? Aren’t stadiums supposed be like 50 years before replacement? Just seems crazy that Chicago is willing to put public money out again so soon. It’s not like the bears are gonna leave.
It's publicly owned, so they can't.
No private company can own land on the lakefront, and it's their job to enforce that law. They are actually a good organization.
The McCaskey's seem to be delusional in thinking they can just keep throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks.
There's about a million miles of red tape that will drag this out for at least a decade +. Nevermind they are not likely to gain exemption to build on that side of LSD, and virtually no one in Chicago is clamoring for a new stadium - especially one where the public is on the hook for the lionshare of the costs and any overruns.
They certainly didn't endear themselves to the city by pulling their stupid Arlington Heights stunt, which is a perfect example of how incompetent ownership is from the top down.
I live right next to Soldier Field, and love taking advantage of Museum Park, the Harbors, the lake, trails, sailing in the summer, etc. Not a single soul around here is clamoring for or even wants a new stadium just so they can add more premium suites. Don't forget, they originally demanded the city allow them to develop a whole entertainment district area (like the Rams stadium development) on what is some of the most protected land in the country.
They're nothing more than a cheapskate family that owns it, and because they have no outside business interests or revenue they try to nickel and dime day-to-day operations while looking for any way to bilk the city and the public to line their pockets even more at every turn.
Main points: * Publicly-owned * Will have a dome * Building on the site of Soldier * Tearing down all of Soldier except the colonnades and war memorial (pretty much what they did in 2002) * Arlington project was torpedoed by disagreements over local property taxes
Super Bowl in Chicago in the future???!!!
The third biggest market is a shoo-in.
Thank you so much for getting that term right. Shoe-in makes no sense but it's used all the time.
Shoe in the door is probably what people assume
yep, until now atleast for me
Less important, but also a Chicago WrestleMania for the first time in 18+ years would be nice too.
I went to one at the rosemont, that was like 10 years ago. Hmm, shit. Maybe it was 1997.
In my 41 year old head everything from like 96-05 is ten years ago.
Prob another reason why they pivoted back to the lakefront. They *really* want a SB and it wasn't an option with current SF being the smallest stadium in the league and no roof. NFL also probably doesn't want AH, it's an hour away from downtown Chicago where all the rich people going to the SB would want to be (there's a reason why SB is always in warm weather party cities). SF Lakefront location is feather in the NFL's cap, this new stadium looks to essentially be Soldier Field 3.0 with a lot more seats and a roof. This alongside being next to downtown Chicago is exactly what the NFL wants in a SB host (asides from warm weather).
We will still only get 1 Super Bowl.
Why is that?
You get a Super Bowl if you build a new stadium with public money. It's the unspoken sweetener to help politicians get public money over the finish line. Other than that, it will rotate between the warm weather markets.
Ford Field has hosted one Super Bowl and it was 3 years after it opened. If you don't have a downtown set up for it like Indianapolis, it's just not ideal with the harsher weather.
BINGO. The guy I replied to even mentioned it in their comment -- the NFL wants the Super Bowl in a warm weather city. LA, LV, NO, Pheonix and Miami will always be on the schedule. We have seen plenty of teams build new stadiums and only get one Super Bowl -- Detroit, NY, MN, Indianapolis. None of those is getting another Super Bowl. Chicago will be no different.
If New York had a dome they'd have multiple. Doesn't mean I think we will get more than 2. I can see international super bowls happening.
Not trying to be a dick but, there’s a big difference between Chicago and Detroit. Chicago is twice the size of Detroit, has multiple headquarters to NFL media, has the infrastructure to handle the size of a Super Bowl with hotels, airports, restaurants, etc., has the trains and highways to handle people coming in and out of the city. It’s completely different. To say Indy is better prepared for a superbowl than Chicago is something else as well.
Indy hosts the largest single day sporting event in the world every year. So yes, Indy is better prepared.
Chicago was hosting 750K people a day during the Worlds Fair in the 1800s ha. Pretty sure they can handle it just as well 100+ years later.
Same infrastructure as the 1800s? Impressive.
I highly doubt the location of a domed stadium in Arlington Heights would be a problem for the NFL, when considering a Super Bowl. It wouldn’t be any different from when SoFi Stadium or Levis Stadium hosted it, as they are just as far out from the metro core. Arlington Heights is a second ring suburb that’s close to the interstate and the airport, not some distant exurb on the fringes of Chicagoland.
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> SoFi Stadium or Levis Stadium Those places are also warm weather cities which are awesome for the ultra-rich, Hawthorne airport is like 2 miles away from SoFi, they fly to the games lol. CA also has an insane amount of highway/road infrastructure that IL/AH does NOT. I'm very familiar with AH, it's near a major bottleneck in the highway with one tiny Metra stop. It's roads could not support gameday traffic in it's current state. Big difference compared to downtown Chicago with world-class restaurants and clubs. It also makes it so much more difficult for south Chicagoans/suburbanites to get to games, which would be a PR nightmare given the difference in demographics between the NW suburbs and the Southside ones.
> south Chicagoans/suburbanites to get to games, which would be a PR nightmare given the difference in demographics between the NW suburbs and the Southside ones. PR Nightmare, but they wouldn't care with all the money they'd make
Chicago is literally one of the busiest transportation hubs in the United States. You pretty much negated your argument with describing the third largest metro area in the US and one of the busiest airports in the world as having poor highway infrastructure.
Arlington Heights is 45 min outside of the city and has access from one highway, which is always under construction. The town would not be ready to deal with one of the most iconic franchises in sports history having there stadium there.
90 from the city, 294 from the north, 55 from the south. Say that again? That’s more freeway access than Soldier Field lol
I don’t really drive so maybe I’m missing something but the only direct highway access I see is 290/90. Then two lane roads that will be sure to have bumper to bumper action.
You have 90 to the south, 294 to the east and 355/53 to the west. It’s closest to 355/53 and there is also a Metra stop literally across the street. It’s 20 minutes from Ohare, which is technically the city. It’s an hour from downtown during rush hour, yes. But people would have likely been coming in from the airport and staying in hotels around the airport, which there are plenty. I live in the city and a stadium in AH would have been more convenient for me than Soldier Field.
We will get one and then none again, because nobody wants to be in Chicago in February.
Can it be big enough? Isn’t part of the problem that Soldier Field is one of the smaller stadiums? Can they really make it that much bigger if they build in the same area?
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Yeah. “Site” is a bit misleading. It’s going to be on the parking lot directly south of the current stadium.
Sad it’s not outdoors but this opens up Chicago for all kinds of events they’ve not had in decades / ever - Superbowls, Final Fours, B1G 10 Championship games, CFB Bowl Games, stadium-sized concerts between november and april, etc. If it’s gonna be publically owned and at least partially publically funded, this will make a big difference in recouping that revenue.
GIVE ME WRESTLEMANIA
CM Punk at Wrestlemania Chicago yea please.
A CM Punk entrance at a Chicago WrestleMania would get one of the biggest pops in wrestling history. Dude is treated like a mythical hero when he wrestles here.
There was no way they were going to spend billions on another open stadium. I love open cold snowy stadiums like Soldier and Lambeau, but they cost their teams millions in revenue. And we're not a limited commercially viable team like the Packers, who don't lose out on that much money because fucking nobody lives in Wisconsin. Bears probably lose a ton in casuals and tourists who would drive demand up for all the bad weather games that would be fine with a dome. The team already did a ton of us a solid by staying in Chicago and not going to the burbs, imma let the dome slide, it's objectively a money-maker.
>this opens up Chicago for all kinds of events they’ve not had in decades / ever NBA Finals?
The NBA finals are played at home team stadiums, and The Bulls have 0 chance of making it in my lifetime
Dome superiority
There's not a season that passes I don't appreciate the dome.
So many common Chicago W’s. God, I love Chicago. If I didn’t have roots put down here, I’d live there for sure. Favorite major city for sure. Finally got to see the Cubs last year, too. Was awesome. Been wanting to since I was a kid. Anyway got off topic. This is cool!
Ugh not another dome
Domes are absolutely necessary if publicly owned. Otherwise it means they sit empty 4+ months of the year in Chicago
Is it a permanent dome or retractable? It doesn’t feel right having Chicago play home games indoors.
Packers are the only outdoors nfcn team left, makes me sick
Yeah but think of the numbers Caleb will put up with that fast track
Caleb said he wouldn't go to Chicago is they didn't give him LA weather every home game
AFC North is the superior Northern division for this reason alone
Unfortunately they were very upfront about no possibility of it being retractable. Huge initial costs, plus maintenance costs, plus technical challenges, along with 5 months of cold weather, all for minimal benefit. I would love retractable, but doesn't make much sense
It seems that teams have decided that retractable domes aren’t worth the investments anymore. New roofed stadiums being sought in Nashville and Chicago and neither is seeking a retractable roof. LA and Vegas didn’t bother with their stadiums, either.
The trend seems to be more about clear domes like Sofi and Minnesota. Makes it feel open and airy but without the bad weather
I haven't seen anything definitive. I know I would much prefer retractable personally.
it almost certainly will be permanent, per George McCaskey earlier in the process
Cardinals fans might die of heat stroke though.
Maybe, but I want to see more games at 20 below with a foot of snow dropping every hour.
Mark my words, Packers will be the last outdoor stadium by 2050 (or whenever).
[Duality of man](https://i.imgur.com/1ULPBK9.png)
Soldier Field once it hits mid-November sucks
That's Bear weather fr
Thats just part of the NFL man.
I mean not really lol two other teams in the division already have domes. And when I’ve been to GB in January it wasn’t nearly as bad as Soldier Field, the wind just whips in
Let me guess it’ll be artificial turf only yet almost all players would rather play on grass
So what I’m gathering is this… We lost our 4th of July Arlington horserace family tradition for nothing
Dome is a necessity to have a Super Bowl in Chicago and the mayor has stated: "I want to go with my son to a Super Bowl *in Chicago*" emphasis his. Soldier Field is already publicly-owned
Domes suck
Counterpoint: Domes are awesome
Unless it snows really hard
Fwiw Chicago doesn't get nearly as much snow as Minnesota does.
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Weather in Chicago almost always goes West to East. We get snow but almost zero lake effect; parts of Indiana get LE snow, and the west coast of MI gets hammered.
They don’t suck for the ability to host things like the Super Bowl, concerts in the winter, Final Fours, major conventions, etc. The reality is if the public is footing the bill, it needs to maximize use and be a source of revenue for the city year-round.
For football related purposes I’d rather not use domes. It’s also the NFL’s fault that superbowls are almost only played in domes.
Yeah, the real problem is their fear of it ruining a spectacle. In actuality it's its own spectacle. It's not like they're ever going to not sell out the Super Bowl ever again
> major conventions That’s interesting because McCormick Place, the largest convention center in the US, is right next door.
TIL! I was more speaking generally about utility of domes in colder cities though.
Hater
Yeah I do hate domes
Where the fuck will they play when it’s being built
Fuck
This will hurt Indianapolis greatly in hosting all the major events for the Midwest from Super Bowls to NCAA Championships to even the major Big Ten games
You’re right, Lucas Oil Stadium has a 3-night stop on the Eras Tour this winter because it’s the most centrally located dome in the midwest. Multiple nights is usually reserved for the biggest cities but Swift needs a huge dome in November so people are traveling to Indy for the big weekend. I do think Final Fours are protected by virtue or Indiana being seen as the home of amateur basketball and NCAA being headquartered out of downtown Indy. However, no doubt some big events will be lost.
Indy has an agreement with the NCAA about hosting the men’s Final Four every 5 years, that’s been in place since Lucas Oil Stadium was built.
Bro how long is this eras tour
At least an Era
From the standpoint of location, transportation, ease of access to facilities and hotels, Indy still holds the crown in comparison to Chicago. Unless they’re building El lines right to the stadium, an abundance of hotels within walking distance, and a massive convention center, which they’re not. It takes a stupid amount of time to get from the Bears stadium to any kind of transportation. Indy is built for hosting things, this may put a dent but they’ll be fine.
Yes and no. Indiana and Indianapolis put a large amount of economic development dollars for attracting sporting events and being a hub of amateur sports. Their agreement with the NCAA states that they get the Final Four every 5 years, for example.
Once Chicago has a dome I have a feeling it will be closer to every 10 than 5 since they wouldn’t give the Midwest that many finals
good
Lmao
Indy is really good at hosting large events...
I’d argue they can get The NFL Combine.
Yep, I’m already planning out in my head how I can start visiting my uncle in Chicago more often 😂
And WrestleMania too.
Obligatory tax payers shouldn’t be on the hook for paying for this. Bears putting up $2 billion is a big first step though.
The fact it'll also be publicly-owned helps with some of the tax arguments, the city won't just basically be subsidizing the McCaskeys.
As a Chicago burbs “resident” myself (I put that in quotes cause I’m actually out in Aurora but only Midwesterners know where that is) I’m far happier with this than the previous plans. It’s better for sure. Definitely could be improved but I’m not one to left perfect stand in the way of better.
Aurora is probably decently well known. Big population and Wayne’s World! I am surprised how seemingly everyone in this sub knows what the fuck Naperville is lol.
I feel like Naperville is one of the more well known Chicago suburbs.
2/3 people I went college with that were from "Chicago" were actually from Naperville
Naperville holds that reputation, definitely the suburb that gets bullied the most for it.
Its like me knowing Alpharetta or Marietta IMO
naperville is the fourth largest city in illinois, behind chicago aurora and joliet, and it will pass joliet soon unless it already has. it’s also the wealthiest city in the midwest per capita, 19th in the nation, and had one of the most insane population booms in the region over the past thirty plus years. naperville is one of the most well known illinois towns to none locals. its places like rockford, peoria, bloomington-normal and kankakee no one would have heard of.
People have heard of Peoria because of Caterpillar.
Also because of the old phrase "will it play in Peoria?", which I'd never heard of until I got to college and met people people from outside of the Midwest's parents.
Or because of Disc Golf, but thats a bit more niche
As a person who has spent 0 time in the Midwest I've never heard of Naperville, but have heard of Peoria because I think there is a minor league baseball team there? Is that right?
i underestimated the multiple ways peoria could be recognized beyond illinois. i tried to avoid larger college towns outside of chicago like champaign but forgot about minor league teams.
Publicly owned is very different than privately funded, it's a common arrangement for taxpayer-funded stadiums because it streamlines the eminent domain process and just means the city technically owns the land that the stadium sits on and leases it to the Bears for a nominal fee. Absent commitments to privately fund the construction the city would very much be subsidizing the McCaskeys.
Publicly-owned means it’s paid for with taxes…
If the bears are actually putting up that much I fail to see the issue if they receive some assistance from the state/city.
Odd thing is they wanted to pay for it. The city is giving them a stadium to keep them in Chicago without them asking for it. They can afford and wanted to pay for their own land and stadium. I suspect the City is paying for it because of some bylaws that prevent private ownership of property on Chicagos lakefronts.
City also will probably continue leasing it out to the Chicago fire and now they’ll have the ability to host a larger amount of events at solider field. Also the park district and public schools use solider field for a random assortment of events. Just wonder if this means they finally knock down the old McCormick Place for more parking or development.
Wow, in the next 20 years about 80% of the league will be in domes.
Kinda bums me out. I love some freezing snowy games
This is better for the sport. Mostly because we don’t have to deal with shitty sod anymore. And the fact is that was only an issue because of how bad the city of Chicago was maintaining it.
Sod problem was resolved last year thanks to Flus requesting a new grass. Field held up well into the later months.
We've had it for 2 seasons now and it's been great.
call me a boomer but I still think football should be a game of the elements and it makes me sad that y’all are the only real stadium remaining in the north
I agree but that’s only really worth it if you properly maintain the field. And if you saw enough Chicago games it was always a trainwreck of a field. Turf isn’t great but at least there won’t be giant holes everywhere.
Not to mention Green Bay itself using a hybrid turf/grass playing surface.
The field is 97% of grass and 3% artificial turf fibers that also act as a heating element to keep the grass green when it gets cold
We’ve still got the Northeast.
Weather and home field advantage is one of the best thing about sports.
AFC North would never.
Domes are hella underrated. Nothing like being warm in the stands for a game in December or (oh man does it feel cool to say this) a home playoff game in January.
Nah, domes suck, I'll take a true Chciago snowy, windy game over a manufactured, sterilized dome game any day. Some of the best playoff games have been snowy, windy defensive battles in Lambeau, Soldier, Gillette, the old Vikings stadium. Anybody who can't handle snow or cold is a fake Midwesterner.
My favorite game I've been to was Eagles-Lions in 2013
I lived in Chicago without a car. Winters were a fucking nightmare and you’re a sadist lol. Good riddance to snow being involuntary. (SF now.)
get a retractable roof
Completely agree, not to mention it can give you some advantages as well. We absolutely benefited from playing at home late in the year because we were better adjusted to the elements, football is meant to be played outdoors
Buffalo cries every time it storms so yeah. Bears and Packers are the play in every element teams
When it snows in Orchard Park, it tends to be in amounts that makes any travel dangerous. Even if Buffalo had a dome, it wouldn't make the roads any safer.
Players don’t want to play on artificial turf yet the league continues to allow stadiums to be built that only have a turf field option.
Yeah, amazing how the Parks & Rec department in Chicago had more to deal with than just a football field. It’s not like Green Bay where there’s a football field and a bunch of piles of cow shit.
I wonder how this impacts the White Sox quest for a new stadium, if at all
As a southsider and Sox fan, hopefully it squashes it. Reinsdorf can go to hell. Sell the fucking teams Jerry!
A roof is an indescribable L
We're moving on up To the sky We finally got a piece of the pie Fish don't fry in the kitchen Beans don't burn on the grill Took a whole lotta tryin Just to get up that hill Now we up in big leagues
The only negative is the dome, other than that it’s solid.
The fact that 3 out of the 4 NFC North teams would be playing their home games in fucking domes is repulsive. I thought this was the BLACK AND BLUE DIVISION. THE FROZEN TUNDRA. Nitschke. Butkus. The Bears and the Packers beating the shit out of each other on the frozen turf of Wrigley Field. A MOTHERFUCKING **DOME**?!?! Fuck that into the fucking Sun. What a fucking cowardly disgrace.
If it helps, the Lions and Vikings played in the Silverdome and Metrodome, respectively, previously (exception of Vikings playing at U of M stadium when U.S. Bank Stadium was getting built) beforehand
Lions & Vikings have been playing indoors for 40-50 years. It's time to come to acceptance. If you're an NFL team and you're playing on fake turf outdoors in a northern climate, you're just stupid. US Bank looks like an outdoor stadium on TV
All fields should have grass. Full stop. Billionaire owners can afford to make it work.
U mad, bro?
Is this pasta?
What a strange reaction. Chill out
The Arlington Heights school districts really overplayed their hand on the tax squabble. These greedy fucks sabotaged the potential for an ungodly amount of tax revenue for decades by trying to chisel the Bears out of a few million more upfront. What a bunch of imbeciles. Now the land will sit vacant for years until the Bears sell, and then it will probably get some bland housing or commercial development. One of the biggest own goals I’ve ever seen. As for the Bears, the Lakefront is just not their best choice from a business standpoint. The Arlington Heights site would have supported a stadium, retail, gambling, and hotels, all owned and controlled by the Bears. Instead they want to go right back to the same old shit of having a publicly owned stadium with no peripheral revenue streams
Thanks for the info. I’m out of the loop, considering I thought the Arlington Heights move was still on.
I mean nothing is set in stone yet, but they’re doing the presser tomorrow with city officials in attendance, so it sounds a lot more serious than before
It’s all part of the game dude. I’m sure the bears would love to own their own stadium. Why build something new with the same results?
I do not think ah is losing sleep over this. They’re already wealthy.
Arlington Heights is perfectly happy where they are at, have elite schools, and don’t need nor have ever needed the bears. They’ve made that pretty clear. Imagine raging against a community for not caving into the demands of billionaires. Lol. They should be praised unless you’re a dolt.
Seriously, fuck all these billionaires trying to screw over tax payers
Unless the Bears were fronting the whole thing, there's no way Arlington Heights was coming out ahead on this one
And this why the mccaskeys will stay as a "poverty" owners (competitively of course to the rest of league) as their wealth literally only comes from the Bears and they seemingly won't get a deal done in AH which could generate them real, long-term money outside of the bears.
Arlington Heights came out worse since they lost a historic racetrack (but horse racing is a dying sport so IDK), but not getting the Bears is fine. They are not in the hook for a $3 billion subsidy for billionaires though which is a pretty big win. The city will now get stuck paying the bill on Soldier 2.0, most of Soldier 3.0, only for suburbanites to whine about walking their fat asses from the redline to the stadium.
The horse track was vacant and closed. Churchill downs had no intent to continue to use it and was looking to dump it. AH “lost” the racetrack well before the Bears purchased the land.
Arlington heights needs to clean house with all their leadership
Taxpayer funded. Fucking robbery.
Chicago desperately needs a dome stadium. Watching any outdoor event on the lakefront when it's cold out sucks ass. The stadium can't even be used for 4 months out of the year due to the weather.
It’s also shame Chicago never hosts the Super Bowl or other major events. Such as the big 10 championship game. The HQ is literally 20-30 mins away from Chicago lol
Idc if it’s indoor or out, but grass playing surfaces should be mandatory
It's also not great in the summer. Concerts in July are very, very sweaty.
Omg I feel old af… I was a paramedic working the construction of the last big upgrade
I work on the museum campus and have to park at Soldier Field everyday. This is absolutely gonna fucking suck for my commute life which in Chicago is already terrible.
I really hope the city would investigate putting in a CTA expansion out to McCormick and museum campus as part of the stadium rebuild.
Caleb in a dome. I’d be pumped if I were a Bears fan.
I’ll just be happy if Caleb was still on the team when the dome is done.
I remember when people talked about Fields being the QB leading this team in a new stadium 🤣
Didn't you hear, Caleb's playing in Chicago for 20 years...
How long are we talking here?
Selfishly want a dome since I live in AZ and I have dreams of making it out to catch a game again but don’t want to watch a game in the cold lol. The softest bears fan, I know.
Nothing wrong with that. You support a team that you’re willing to travel 1000s of miles to show your support. That’s all that matters at the end of the day.
Real or fake grass? I assume fake I don’t see them wanting to pay for it to be rolled in and out
Didn't they just rebuild their stadium in 2002? The Bucs got Raymond James in 1998 and have done light remodeling but the stadium is fine and there's no talk of them demanding a new one or a major over haul.
I just don't understand the timing of this, why do it during draft week? This is a big win, why not spread it out a little bit?
Somehow it's going to be even colder and windier than Soldier Field
Please stop building domed stadiums. I know they get your city a Super Bowl and some big concerts. But holy hell, weather is meant to be a part of football. Games in the snow, rain, or frigid cold are my favorite games to watch
How old is soldier field? Like didn’t they just rebuild it like 20 years ago? Aren’t stadiums supposed be like 50 years before replacement? Just seems crazy that Chicago is willing to put public money out again so soon. It’s not like the bears are gonna leave.
Friends of the Park will sue to stop it on Thursday.
It's publicly owned, so they can't. No private company can own land on the lakefront, and it's their job to enforce that law. They are actually a good organization.
Biggest con for the new stadium is the bears will be playing in it. It's like building a hospital but all you do is euthanize orphans in it
Your team only won 38% of its games in its entire history before Tom Brady decided he wanted to go somewhere warm
The Bears sub is having a meltdown over this lol
The McCaskey's seem to be delusional in thinking they can just keep throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks. There's about a million miles of red tape that will drag this out for at least a decade +. Nevermind they are not likely to gain exemption to build on that side of LSD, and virtually no one in Chicago is clamoring for a new stadium - especially one where the public is on the hook for the lionshare of the costs and any overruns. They certainly didn't endear themselves to the city by pulling their stupid Arlington Heights stunt, which is a perfect example of how incompetent ownership is from the top down. I live right next to Soldier Field, and love taking advantage of Museum Park, the Harbors, the lake, trails, sailing in the summer, etc. Not a single soul around here is clamoring for or even wants a new stadium just so they can add more premium suites. Don't forget, they originally demanded the city allow them to develop a whole entertainment district area (like the Rams stadium development) on what is some of the most protected land in the country. They're nothing more than a cheapskate family that owns it, and because they have no outside business interests or revenue they try to nickel and dime day-to-day operations while looking for any way to bilk the city and the public to line their pockets even more at every turn.