A bigger and better Soldier Field? Lightfoot pitch to keep Bears in Chicago

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday she wants the Bears to stay in Chicago and is ready to work with the team she loves to expand and improve Soldier Field and maximize revenue year round, but d ‘a “prudent budgetary manner that does not exclude other uses.”

Three months ago, Lightfoot cavalierly rejected the Bears’ decision to make an offer to buy the Arlington Heights International Racecourse property as the same old crying wolf boy bargaining ploy.

She doesn’t do that now.

In a Zoom meeting with the Sun-Times editorial board that mainly focused on its 2022 budget, Lightfoot made it clear that she takes the Bears’ threat to leave Chicago seriously.

A die-hard Bears fan and season ticket holder, Lightfoot has recognized the need to improve the fan experience at Soldier Field and transform the stadium into a year-round revenue generator.

“I’m a Bears fan. I want the Bears to stay in the city of Chicago. And we are ready to work with them to try to address their concerns. But, I have to do it in a way that is fiscally prudent and does not exclude other uses at this stage, ”she said.

“We are looking at ways to improve the fan experience at Soldier Field. … I know it can be better. I’ve been to other stadiums across the country where the fan experience is far superior to what we have at Soldier Field.

Lightfoot has been asked repeatedly if turning Soldier Field into a year-round revenue generator included the option of adding the retractable dome that many Chicago movers thought the city should have built in the first place.

She never answered the question. Lightfoot would paraphrase the lyrics of the Rolling Stones.

“You can’t always get what you want. But you can try sometimes and get what you need, ”the mayor said – without singing.

Getting serious, Lightfoot said she was “very sympathetic to some of the things the Bears have identified” and that there are “a lot of different options we need to think about to really improve” the fan experience and strengthen. “income generating opportunities – not just for Bears games.

“There are other stadiums across the country that I have been to that have really taken advantage of the ability to make the stadium a year round destination – not just something that is only used during the football season. , then that sits dormant for the rest of the year, ”she said.

“This stadium is on a museum campus. … Outside of bear season, there is no real dining experience except food in the museums themselves. Even afterwards, if you want to enjoy a good meal or get together somewhere else, you have to get out of the stadium footprint.

On the day the Bears took the option on the Arlington property, Lightfoot said the Bears were “on a lease” at Soldier Field. She dismissed their real estate maneuver as a “negotiating tactic” the team had used before.

“Like most Bears fans, we want the organization to focus on building a winning team on the pitch, finally beating the Packers and staying relevant last October,” she said. declared. “Everything else is noise. “

Overall, the Bears want more control over a lakeside stadium that was remodeled for them almost 20 years ago at the expense of Chicago taxpayers who still won’t be paid in full for decades.

Associated Press

The Chicago Park District owns Soldier Field, so the team is limited in what they can do with increasing capacity (currently around 62,000), modernizing aspects of a 97-year-old building. , the sale of sponsorships for certain areas of the stadium and the construction of a museum open all year round and a gift shop.

Nothing would hold them back in Arlington Heights, where Mayor Thomas Hayes openly campaigned to lure them. Hayes called a possible Bears move a “best case scenario” for his village.

On Monday, Lightfoot said she was “putting together a small team” to try and meet the needs of the Bears.

“I am ready to sit down with the Bears at any time. But it takes two to dance. They need to articulate to me and my team a specific set of demands and we haven’t gotten that from them yet, ”she said.