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Bears submit bid for land in Arlington Heights as potential new stadium siteJason Lieseron June 17, 2021 at 6:47 pm

The Bears have played at Soldier Field since 1971. | Robert A. Davis

The team’s bid signals it’s legitimately considering leaving Soldier Field, home of the Bears since 1971.

The possibility of the Bears leaving Soldier Field for a new stadium in Arlington Heights became significantly more realistic once they put in a bid to buy the Arlington International Racecourse property.

The potential relocation had been little more than speculation until team president Ted Phillips announced the bid Thursday. Phillips couched it as the Bears exploring “every possible option” and allows them to “further evaluate the property and its potential” if their bid is accepted, and it’s obvious that means relocating is legitimately under consideration.

Arlington Heights mayor Thomas Hayes has campaigned for the Bears to move to his city and called them “a great fit.” He said Wednesday he had met with fewer than 10 potential bidders for the site.

The property covers 326 acres about six miles north of the Northwest Tollway. That’s far more space than they have at Soldier Field, it’s an advantageous location based on internal research that shows the majority of their fan base is in the north and northwest suburbs and it’s about half the trek from Halas Hall in Lake Forest.

The Arlington Heights property would be exclusively for a stadium. The team poured more than $100 million into renovating Halas Hall in 2019 and will hold training camp there for the foreseeable future.

The Bears have played at Soldier Field since 1971 and have a lease running through 2033. The organization doesn’t consider that lease to be a barrier, a source said, because it could negotiate a buyout and construction on a new facility would take years anyway.

Recently built NFL stadiums have been extravagant in design and enormous in price. The newly opened stadiums in Los Angeles and Las Vegas cost $5 billion-$6 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively. The others in the last seven years are for the Falcons ($1.6 billion), Vikings ($1.1 billion) and 49ers ($1.3 billion).

In terms of price and aesthetics, the Bears are likely to give U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis a long look as they imagine their new home. It has a 73,000-person capacity, a glass roof and glass on much of the stadium walls in order to allow as much daylight as possible.