McCook, Illinois Makes its Pitch for the New Chicago Bears Stadium
· Yahoo Sports
Earlier this month, it was reported that the Chicago Bears were “focused” on Hammond, Indiana, for their brand new state-of-the-art stadium.
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Okay, sure, whatever…
It’s been two weeks since that report, and the focus on the Hoosier state seems to have gone nowhere.
In fact, Illinois lawmakers still feel they are in the game with one state rep proposing a South Shore site, and another proposing legislation that would “establish a framework for a public-private partnership that encourages major economic development projects to remain in Illinois rather than relocate to neighboring states.”
And now McCook, Illinois, a village about 15 miles southeast of Chicago, has a plan in place for the Bears to build there, which McCook Mayor Terrance Carr and Clerk Ken Lyons personally delivered to Halas Hall on Thursday.
According to an article by Steve Metsch of the Desplaines Valley News, the proposed site is 150 acres of filled in quarry land at the southeast corner of 55th Street and East Avenue in McCook, currently owned by Vulcan Materials Company.
Mayor Carr said that “Vulcan has some concerns,” but they are open to selling with the asking price hovering around $160 million, “because they know they have a gem now.”
His proposal: The Bears or the village would buy the land. Then the Bears would build a domed, 80,000-seat stadium, which the team would give to the village. In return, Carr would charge the team $1 a year in rent. As a publicly owned stadium, it would be exempt from property taxes.
The McCook idea has been in place since January, but now Bears Chairman George McCaskey and Team President Kevin Warren have the details of the plan in hand.
McCook is near both Interstates 55 and 294, and historic Route 66 runs through the Village, with an abandoned portion of the route running right near the quarry.