Overview
- Team president Kevin Warren told reporters Thursday that the Bears’ “sole focus” is building a domed stadium and mixed-use development in Hammond, Indiana.
- The club has completed a viability review of the Lost Marsh site and is conducting environmental and topographical tests at the Wolf Lake Terminal site to see if the two parcels can be combined into one project.
- Indiana approved legislation this year that created a stadium authority able to deliver roughly $1 billion in incentives to support the project, a package officials say made Hammond financially competitive when Illinois offered no written deal.
- Bears ownership has pledged about $2 billion in private capital for construction and warned that build costs could rise roughly $150 million per year if decisions are delayed, and the team can exit its Soldier Field lease early by paying a fee.
- A final decision hinges on the environmental results, a completed capital stack and formal approvals, with Hammond’s mayor indicating September as a possible milestone for concrete progress.