Bears unveil their lakefront stadium plans as Gov. J.B. Pritzker says ‘I remain skeptical’
CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears — one of the National Football League’s charter franchises — on Wednesday unveiled plans for a new stadium project on the lakefront partly funded by the public that would give the team a facility in line with many of the NFL’s ultra-modern, fan-friendly structures.
Joined by Mayor Brandon Johnson and other local political leaders, team officials held a noontime news conference at their current home — 100-year-old Soldier Field — where they detailed what the multipurpose, fix-roofed, 77,000-capacity stadium and surrounding area would look like and sketched out how the plan would be funded.
Absent from the event was Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who earlier in the day repeated his skepticism of a plan that relies on public funding.
But Bears team President and CEO Kevin Warren called it “a special day.”
Johnson said the project would “result in no new taxes on the residents of Chicago.” He and Warren rattled off the community benefits and big-name events the project would bring, like Super Bowls,
