There is a “shared commitment” to bring the Chicago Bears to Indiana.
Indiana lawmakers announced Feb. 19 that they have reached an agreement to locate the football team’s new stadium in northwest Indiana, pending passage of a bill that would provide a financial package and framework for any due diligence on the proposed Hammond site. This comes nearly two months after the team president’s fateful letter sparked breathless talks.
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“This represents a transformative investment for Northwest Indiana and our state,” House Speaker Todd Huston told the House Ways and Means Committee, adding that the Chicago Bears are interested in investing $2 billion in a stadium site in the region.
Indiana lawmakers also, in the form of Senate Bill 27, have outlined a set of investment pledges from the state, Lake and Porter counties to make the stadium a success.
“The passage of SB 27 marks the most meaningful step forward in our stadium planning efforts today,” Beers said in a statement. “We are committed to completing the remaining site-specific due diligence to support our vision of building a world-class stadium near the Wolf Lake area of Hammond, Indiana.”
The Feb. 19 announcement is by no means a final deal, and Gov. Mike Brown, who has been involved in the negotiations, clarified in a statement that it was a “negotiation framework for a final deal.”
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“We have built a strong relationship with the Bears organization that will serve as the foundation for a public-private partnership that will create a world-class stadium and win for taxpayers,” he said.
A Dec. 17 open letter from Bears president and CFO Kevin Warren expressed the status of negotiations on the long-planned Illinois site and his interest in expanding the search to the broader Chicagoland area, including northwest Indiana.
It caught the region’s leaders by surprise, but not entirely unprepared: The previous year, lawmakers had already established a new “Northwest Indiana Professional Sports Development Commission” charged with figuring out how to build the infrastructure needed to attract professional sports teams. The commission had been collecting money by holding meetings before the letter came.
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Soon, Indiana leaders began putting other puzzle pieces into place. In mid-January, legislative leaders authored a bill to create a stadium authority that would have the power to build and finance facilities. The bill moved quickly through the legislative process, receiving unanimous approval from the House Ways and Means Committee in late January and passing the Senate on February 19. Next, it goes to the House floor.
More: The Indiana Senate approved a bill to finance an NFL stadium with an eye on the Chicago Bears
In public statements, the Chicago Bears encouraged these events, calling them “significant milestones”. But there was some competition in Indiana: Lawmakers and dealmakers in both Illinois and Iowa have respectively booed to get their own stimulus packages.
The bill requires the local governments involved to take several steps to bring the fiscal deal together: require the city of Hammond to pass a 12% admissions tax on large events held in the city; Lake and Porter counties will adopt a county-wide 1% food and beverage tax, and Lake County will pass a 5% innkeeper tax. Revenue from these taxes will go toward paying off bonds for stadium construction.
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Contact IndyStar Statehouse Reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her at X@kayla_dwyer17.
This article originally appeared in the Indianapolis Star: Chicago Bears ‘committed’ to Indiana move. Here’s what needs to happen
