The Bears Board of Directors has voted to advance the Hammond Indiana project, though a final site has not yet been determined.
Not really a surprise, but not a done-deal yet, either. But given the dysfunctional state of Chicago and Illinois politics, I don’t know how Illinois will keep them from moving, especially since the Illinois legislature is not due to be back in session until November (and I don’t see the governor calling a special session) and the NFL is pressing the Bears to make a decision.
While Hammond is in another state, the proposed site is only about 20 miles away from downtown Chicago The NYG and NyJ left new york city and state to wind up in East Rutherford,NJ
while I’m sure some former local fans were disappointed , the NJ location has worked for the Giants winning several Super Bowls along the way
And given their state of financial affairs it may not have been affordable for them to keep the Bears in state ( though happy to see Illinois bond rating has moved up a notch). I saw the city of Oakland and the county of Alameda get taken for a big ride when spending huge sums of money they couldn’t afford to have the Raiders move back from LA For all of their efforts the city of Oakland which seems to brush up against bankruptcy every few years has lost their 3 major league teams in the past 6 years
It’s about 60 miles from Halas Hall in Lake Forest to Hammond IN. Google says that’s a 68 minute drive. LOL!
I feel sorry for Bears ticket holders on the north side of Chicago, not only will they have a long drive but the ticket prices will almost definitely go way up (as Northwestern fans just discovered.)