LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Bears president Kevin Warren maintains that the shovels will go in the ground in 2025, starting the construction on a new Bears stadium.

2025 is, like, this year. And the Bears still haven’t locked in on a place to build one.

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Warren is confident in the progress toward acquiring a new stadium despite that fact and didn’t back off the bold promise made previously to get things going soon.

The Bears still remain focused on a site in downtown Chicago near Lake Michigan and adjacent to where Soldier Field currently sits, though that site has not been secured.

“So, the status is, downtown still remains the focus. The museum campus,” Warren said Tuesday in a press conference. “I feel that we’ve made a massive amount of momentum. Again, I’ve been here 20 months and we’ve made great progress.”

While the Bears are pushing to build in Chicago, they also own property in the Chicago suburbs and just worked out a tax dispute local officials on that site.

“Along those lines, we own 326 acres of beautiful land in Arlington Heights,” Warren said. “It’s a fantastic piece of property. We were able to get the memorandum of understanding done there.

“So, optionality does exist, but I’ll remain steadfast that the goal remains that we have shovels in the ground in 2025 and I’m confident that will happen.”

While skeptics may wonder if Warren can make good on his claim to start construction this year, Warren would back down from it.  

“We have stadium meetings every single day,” Warren said. “From a political standpoint, from a business standpoint, these things are massive projects. I’ve been here before in Minnesota (where he was central in building U.S. Bank Stadium).

“This is not buying a house where you go and find it and you put a deposit down and then you close on a certain day. There are so many things that come together. I think that you’ll see, especially as we get into the spring and summer, you’ll start seeing some of this progress that I’m talking about now. I feel the momentum is really moving in the right direction and from a stadium standpoint, we’re right exactly where I thought we would be.”

For more details on the Bears stadium construction project, click here.