Explaining the blitz of news about the Bears’ potential move to Indiana

The Colts are done for the year, but news is heating up about the potential for the Chicago Bears to move their stadium to Indiana, Here’s the scouting report: The Bears want a new stadium. They say Soldier Field isn’t cutting it anymore. They’ve purchased a huge site in one of Chicago’s suburbs that formerly was home to a racetrack. The team says it's willing to pay for stadium construction, but the team needs the Illinois Legislature to help pave the way with about $855 million in infrastructure improvements and by approving a bill that would enable a long-term property tax deal. In December, Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren announced that the team wasn’t getting anywhere with the Illinois Legislature and that it was expanding its search for a new stadium site to include northwest Indiana. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and local officials in the area immediately jumped at the opening and the chance to get the ball rolling.

There was a healthy amount of skepticism that the Bears were namechecking Indiana simply to get leverage with Illinois. But several surprising developments in the last two weeks show that Indiana is moving quickly to lay the groundwork for a stadium, the Bears are giving the state serious consideration and that some Illinois officials are seriously concerned about losing the team. In this episode of the IBJ Podcast, we’ll review the moves made by the Bears and Indiana officials that have brought us to this point. We have two guests: We’ll first hear from Marc Ganis, a consultant for pro sports teams who has lived in Chicago for three decades; and then we’ll hear from Mickey Shuey, who covers real estate and sports business for IBJ.