2026 NFL off season thread

[Texsox]

3 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

The Bears are a for profit business.  Why in the hell wouldn't they shop for the best deal?

No, owning a sports franchise should be a money losing venture solely for the benefit of fans in the area. (I wish we still had green)

It's not just sports team that receive breaks like this. The state of Texas gave billions to have Tesla and Toyota relocate here. On a smaller scale most towns have economic development agencies whose job it is to lure business with a favorable deal. Indiana can be the New Jersey of the Midwest. 

[greg775]

Is Wolf Lake nice? I see it's only 20-30 miles from downtown Chicago? No big deal to drive there. That said ... do u guys think this is really a possibility? Or are the Bears just using their neighbors for leverage only to stay in Illinois? Pritzger made it sound like they are close to a deal with the Bears. Weird that the Bears would put out some news singing Indy's praises a day after a positive meeting with Pritzger's team. He said it was 3 hour meeting and they are close to a deal.

So what's gonna happen? I say 80-20 Bears build a new stadium in Illinois.

[bmags]

12 hours ago, Texsox said:

No, owning a sports franchise should be a money losing venture solely for the benefit of fans in the area. (I wish we still had green)

It's not just sports team that receive breaks like this. The state of Texas gave billions to have Tesla and Toyota relocate here. On a smaller scale most towns have economic development agencies whose job it is to lure business with a favorable deal. Indiana can be the New Jersey of the Midwest. 

I get why you guys say this, but I will always roll my eyes at the analogy. Not saying the bears don’t have a national presence, but their market is local and it’s the very people they are trying to extort out of money.

you know where the bears could have probably gotten way more money? Saudi Arabia. Coulda had a dome there! Money is important and the only thing to judge acts by, so seems like the perfect opportunity.

Definitely not sleazy to prey on the social and communal bonds this particular business creates to enrich a bunch of billionaire failsons over, I unno, more deserving uses of money.

[Snopek]

I still think they’ll end up in AH, they’re just taking an obnoxious route to get there.

[Harry Chappas]

18 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

I'm all for blaming the Bears - but in my mind, at least based upon what is out there, the Bears ownership is taking a pretty fair and balanced approach with IL...so this is more on the state and local areas in my mind.  Asking for tax certainty and infastructure seems like a fair play knowing what the Bears plan on putting into the stadium.  

This is 100% on Illinois.  Indiana was brought in when IL continued to play politics.

The McCaskey's don't have the appetite to take on billions in debt.  The cost to build in IN is 20% less than Cook County so the project will be a billion less if not more.  If Indiana goes 50/50 there is more savings. The Bers budget on this project is $2B which if I were to guess is a loan through the NFL.

The McCaskey's make enough revenue on the Bears to not need the entertainment district of AH.  Now AH can develop that land without the Bears as the anchor tenant.  Bears may make money in that development as well.

 

[bmags]

8 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

This is 100% on Illinois.  Indiana was brought in when IL continued to play politics.

The McCaskey's don't have the appetite to take on billions in debt.  The cost to build in IN is 20% less than Cook County so the project will be a billion less if not more.  If Indiana goes 50/50 there is more savings. The Bers budget on this project is $2B which if I were to guess is a loan through the NFL.

The McCaskey's make enough revenue on the Bears to not need the entertainment district of AH.  Now AH can develop that land without the Bears as the anchor tenant.  Bears may make money in that development as well.

 

I disagree.

This article is helpful on part of why it shouldn't be surprising the bears screwed up a lot:
https://www.windycitygridiron.com/chicago-bears-rumors/110905/chicago-bears-rumors-stadium-chatter-from-super-bowl-week

The original sin that set things back was the bears purchasing Arlington Race Track without securing tax certainty before hand. They just bought it, when any others would have arranged for the gradual changes through build phase.

That meant their first fight wasn't 'get illinois on board for infrastructure', it was 'pit chicago and AH against each other' to get the certainty back. Except IL is also the one that would be providing the funding, and yeah, 'hey we want even more funding to move a chicago thing to different chicago place' isn't the best IL state politics.

They work that out and then want the state to go when the bears snap, and it didn't happen.

Let's also talk about why there are a lot better incentives for IN to be aggressive vs IL.

There is no credible case that this would actually bring numerous IL jobs outside of the short construction burst. It's moving sales tax and other spend from what municipality to another, but still in the same county. MAYBE it brings more bears fans from milwaukee down.

But for Indiana, it would bring a bunch of spending that would normally occur across the border into IN.

Now, IL does have to face losing the game day revenue and 'entertainment district' of AH, and that is worth the spur of activity. But it's still a place that largely will fill in with some other activity. Wolf Lake isn't going to fill in with anything like it.

So yeah, it would be great if the Ted and George weren't idiots, and then IL politicians jumped when the bears asked.

But it's also just extremely sleazy to me, the family that the city had to constantly create playing spaces for because they were idiots and talentless, threatening to leave a lease 10 years early for a different state if their fans didn't lace their pockets even more.

[ptatc]

2 hours ago, bmags said:

I get why you guys say this, but I will always roll my eyes at the analogy. Not saying the bears don’t have a national presence, but their market is local and it’s the very people they are trying to extort out of money.

you know where the bears could have probably gotten way more money? Saudi Arabia. Coulda had a dome there! Money is important and the only thing to judge acts by, so seems like the perfect opportunity.

Definitely not sleazy to prey on the social and communal bonds this particular business creates to enrich a bunch of billionaire failsons over, I unno, more deserving uses of money.

How are they trying to extort money?

From what I've read its chicago trying to extort the money from the Bears to pay down the city's debt on the stadium.

Edited February 20 by ptatc

[whitesoxfan99]

15 minutes ago, bmags said:

There is no credible case that this would actually bring numerous IL jobs outside of the short construction burst. It's moving sales tax and other spend from what municipality to another, but still in the same county. MAYBE it brings more bears fans from milwaukee down.

 

Yep, there is mountains of evidence that sports stadiums just do not bring in jobs and the jobs they do bring in are often seasonal low paying jobs.  And in the case of Arlington Heights, I wouldn't be surprised if they do build an entertainment district if it actually shifts some revenue away from downtown Arlington Heights (in addition to other towns as well).

[bmags]

43 minutes ago, ptatc said:

How are they trying to extort money?

From what I've read its chicago trying to extort the money from the Bears to pay down the city's debt on the stadium.

Extorting money from the bears in a transaction where the state pays money to the bears for their other stadium? And the extortion is to payoff what the city built for them just 23 years ago that is still usable and available?

[southsider2k5]

8 minutes ago, bmags said:

Extorting money from the bears in a transaction where the state pays money to the bears for their other stadium? And the extortion is to payoff what the city built for them just 23 years ago that is still usable and available?

To be fair, the state COULD have made a lease extension through the termination of the payments a part of the deal.  They did not.  They also could have chosen a payment schedule that paid more up front, instead of the back.  They also did not.  That is really poor financial due dilligence.

[bmags]

28 minutes ago, whitesoxfan99 said:

Yep, there is mountains of evidence that sports stadiums just do not bring in jobs and the jobs they do bring in are often seasonal low paying jobs.  And in the case of Arlington Heights, I wouldn't be surprised if they do build an entertainment district if it actually shifts some revenue away from downtown Arlington Heights (in addition to other towns as well).

And I'm actually someone that broadly supports investing in entertainment districts and sports stadiums. That was lonely just 2 years ago, now apparently it's popular.

I think are many civic benefits to sports teams. I just think it's also crazy that the very profitable 'league' doesn't participate much in the securing and funding of the stadiums their league plays in, and instead just threatens and cajoles for tax payer money.

This is working well on a group of fans that grew up where sports were accessible and owned the discourse, I do wonder at what point the leagues will regret treating their main markets like pawns.

[southsider2k5]

2 minutes ago, bmags said:

And I'm actually someone that broadly supports investing in entertainment districts and sports stadiums. That was lonely just 2 years ago, now apparently it's popular.

I think are many civic benefits to sports teams. I just think it's also crazy that the very profitable 'league' doesn't participate much in the securing and funding of the stadiums their league plays in, and instead just threatens and cajoles for tax payer money.

This is working well on a group of fans that grew up where sports were accessible and owned the discourse, I do wonder at what point the leagues will regret treating their main markets like pawns.

Pretty sure the NFL puts up loan money to teams for stadiums.

[bmags]

2 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

To be fair, the state COULD have made a lease extension through the termination of the payments a part of the deal.  They did not.  They also could have chosen a payment schedule that paid more up front, instead of the back.  They also did not.  That is really poor financial due dilligence.

This is true! Not saying Illinois is well managed. But I really truly hate how these leagues treat their markets as if their is no consideration aside from their individual owner.

Is the NBA a better league in OKC over Seattle? NFL is better in LA than STL, but is the way they treated Oakland/SD/STL necessary? They spit out these markets like trash and it works until it doesn't and you have to rebuild your brand.

[bmags]

25 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Pretty sure the NFL puts up loan money to teams for stadiums.

They do, it's not a ton, but I think it's silly the NFL doesn't own the stadiums and lease to the teams, among other things to have more control over the markets - rather than serving the individual owners.

[southsider2k5]

4 minutes ago, bmags said:

This is true! Not saying Illinois is well managed. But I really truly hate how these leagues treat their markets as if their is no consideration aside from their individual owner.

Is the NBA a better league in OKC over Seattle? NFL is better in LA than STL, but is the way they treated Oakland/SD/STL necessary? They spit out these markets like trash and it works until it doesn't and you have to rebuild your brand.

I mean I get all of this too.  I do think that each of these entities is acting in their own financial best interests, even if they narrow the focus to short of a time period instead of looking longer term.

[ptatc]

1 hour ago, bmags said:

I disagree.

This article is helpful on part of why it shouldn't be surprising the bears screwed up a lot:
https://www.windycitygridiron.com/chicago-bears-rumors/110905/chicago-bears-rumors-stadium-chatter-from-super-bowl-week

The original sin that set things back was the bears purchasing Arlington Race Track without securing tax certainty before hand. They just bought it, when any others would have arranged for the gradual changes through build phase.

That meant their first fight wasn't 'get illinois on board for infrastructure', it was 'pit chicago and AH against each other' to get the certainty back. Except IL is also the one that would be providing the funding, and yeah, 'hey we want even more funding to move a chicago thing to different chicago place' isn't the best IL state politics.

They work that out and then want the state to go when the bears snap, and it didn't happen.

Let's also talk about why there are a lot better incentives for IN to be aggressive vs IL.

There is no credible case that this would actually bring numerous IL jobs outside of the short construction burst. It's moving sales tax and other spend from what municipality to another, but still in the same county. MAYBE it brings more bears fans from milwaukee down.

But for Indiana, it would bring a bunch of spending that would normally occur across the border into IN.

Now, IL does have to face losing the game day revenue and 'entertainment district' of AH, and that is worth the spur of activity. But it's still a place that largely will fill in with some other activity. Wolf Lake isn't going to fill in with anything like it.

So yeah, it would be great if the Ted and George weren't idiots, and then IL politicians jumped when the bears asked.

But it's also just extremely sleazy to me, the family that the city had to constantly create playing spaces for because they were idiots and talentless, threatening to leave a lease 10 years early for a different state if their fans didn't lace their pockets even more.

So the big problem the bears caused was not to trust the politicians to be fair with the certainty of property tax? That sounds like the politicians are the issue not the bears.

When the tax bill went from 3 million for an operational race track to 16 million for an empty lot, im going with the politicians are the issue.

 

[Dick Allen]

10 minutes ago, ptatc said:

So the big problem the bears caused was not to trust the politicians to be fair with the certainty of property tax? That sounds like the politicians are the issue not the bears.

When the tax bill went from 3 million for an operational race track to 16 million for an empty lot, im going with the politicians are the issue.

 

If the public owes the Bears something, don't the Bears owe the public something? There are literally hundreds of companies in Chicago alone that generate more state tax than they do. I get it's a bit of a different business, but they still use the same rules. That said, I don't buy for a second the Bears will ever play a home game in Indiana.

[ptatc]

16 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

If the public owes the Bears something, don't the Bears owe the public something? There are literally hundreds of companies in Chicago alone that generate more state tax than they do. I get it's a bit of a different business, but they still use the same rules. That said, I don't buy for a second the Bears will ever play a home game in Indiana.

I agree they won't play in indiana.

Not sure what the bears owe as the big difference is the bears are a tennant of the city. Most private businesses either own or rent from other private businesses. The bears dont generate as much tax as they dont own the stadium and the city takes the tax from the revenue the bears generate from being a Tennant. If the bears owned the stadium the city/state would get that revenue as well.

[Texsox]

7 hours ago, bmags said:

I get why you guys say this, but I will always roll my eyes at the analogy. Not saying the bears don’t have a national presence, but their market is local and it’s the very people they are trying to extort out of money.

you know where the bears could have probably gotten way more money? Saudi Arabia. Coulda had a dome there! Money is important and the only thing to judge acts by, so seems like the perfect opportunity.

Definitely not sleazy to prey on the social and communal bonds this particular business creates to enrich a bunch of billionaire failsons over, I unno, more deserving uses of money.

And the league definitely wants to expand globally so I imagine eventually there will be teams there. Imagine playoffs of the European, North American, Asian, and Middle East champions. 

It would be nice if every business just wanted to improve the communities, paid livable wages, and were loyal. But that's too much like socialism or communism. Instead it's all about profits. 

Eventually leagues will run out of communities willing to give them benefits for their economic contributions, but I doubt that will be in my life time and probably not yours. 

[Kyyle23]

Did Warren go rogue?

[The Beast]

2 hours ago, Kyyle23 said:

Did Warren go rogue?

I heard something similar from Bernstein on his podcast yesterday.

[WestEddy]

62 years old, and I'm today years old when I found out there's lyrics to the Brian's Song melody. Cry your eyes out.

 

[Snopek]

I acknowledge that the Bears stadium issue is really complicated and nuanced and that no one has all the relevant facts and figures to have a fully informed opinion, so I’ll keep this at a high level. I’m a little surprised at how many people are so willing to completely side with the Bears here.

Are politicians greedy and corrupt? Lol obviously. But however cynical you want to be about politics, you have to acknowledge that at least a small sliver of their job, by nature, is to represent the best interests of the people. They might suck at it, but it’s still a slice in the pie chart of what they do.

The Bears? They’re a private for-profit business. Their primary objective is to make as much money as possible. You know, like a private for-profit business tends to do. I know it’s hard to believe, but they give even less fucks about you than politicians do.

[Harry Chappas]

If the difference is a few million bucks even a couple hundred million I think the Bears stay.  If it is a billion they would be fools not to move.  The cash flow generation from a wholly owned entertainment district is a way off to top a billion and there are risks on that with the amount of debt they are taking on.

Building something in Cook County has a good amount of risk and cost uncertainty that Indiana can better control.   

I'll leave it at that without getting political.  

[ptatc]

On 2/22/2026 at 10:46 AM, Snopek said:

I acknowledge that the Bears stadium issue is really complicated and nuanced and that no one has all the relevant facts and figures to have a fully informed opinion, so I’ll keep this at a high level. I’m a little surprised at how many people are so willing to completely side with the Bears here.

Are politicians greedy and corrupt? Lol obviously. But however cynical you want to be about politics, you have to acknowledge that at least a small sliver of their job, by nature, is to represent the best interests of the people. They might suck at it, but it’s still a slice in the pie chart of what they do.

The Bears? They’re a private for-profit business. Their primary objective is to make as much money as possible. You know, like a private for-profit business tends to do. I know it’s hard to believe, but they give even less fucks about you than politicians do.

Sure. But the Bears are a sports team for entertainment and really don't have an impact on your life unless you are a season ticket holder and they keep raising my prices.

The politicians decisions have an impact on everyone in the state and they keep raising everything for everyone.

The Illinois politicians could have made their decisions 2 years ago. They continued to say any negotiations with the Bears were not a priority again this year. Until the Bears brought in Indiana.

Edited Monday at 06:00 PM by ptatc