LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Bears are all-in on building a new stadium in Arlington Heights. Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren emphasized that point in a Friday press conference following the team’s joint practice against the Miami Dolphins at Halas Hall.

Warren and Bears chairman George McCaskey both discussed a continuation of focus on the Chicago suburb, where the McCaskey family owns a 326-acre plot of land that used to be a horse track is considered ready for construction.

McCaskey and Warren originally announced that Arlington Heights was the primary site this spring at the NFL owners meetings, and nothing has changed in that regard.

“We are still extremely focused on Arlington Heights, on building our stadium there,” Warren said Friday in his press conference. “That’s our plan. We strongly believe that is the only location in Cook County that will allow us to build a stadium, a new Chicago Bears stadium with a fixed roof. We are making great progress.”

The team has been meeting with political leaders in Arlington Heights on a weekly basis over the past few months. Warren’s stated goal of having shovels in the ground on a new stadium by the end of this calendar year isn’t quite as clear because there are some hurdles.

The team needs property-tax certainty before starting construction. That could come from approval from the Illinois state legislature passing a mega projects bill. It didn’t vote on the bill during the previous legislative session, but the Bears are hoping it will pass in October.

That would set a course for more tangible progress regarding stadium construction.

“But it is very, very important that it passes,” Warren said. “Because without that legislation, we are not able to proceed forward. We stand ready. The stadium is designed.”

So, what would come next if the bill passes?

“There are items we have to work on, and obviously, there is a process you have to follow with the village of Arlington Heights from an approval process,” Warren said. “But, obviously, they are committed. So, the goal would still be to be in a position to move dirt this year. There’s still work, some initial work that needs to be done to get the site ready, but to hopefully break ground next year formally, but to actually move dirt this year.”

McCaskey hired Warren to be frontman on this stadium project and generally let him speak on this issue, but the Bears chairman believes a new, privately-financed fixed-roof stadium would be good for the team, obviously, and the community at large.

“This is a world-class facility for a world-class fan base,” McCaskey said in his turn at the mic. “Chicagoland deserves it. We’re missing out on major events. It’s a great opportunity to provide jobs both on temporary basis and permanent basis and it’s a chance to attract major events to the greatest city in the world. The village of Arlington Heights would benefit. The city of Chicago would benefit. The county of Cook would benefit. And the great state of Illinois would benefit.”

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