Last year, the Chicago Bears placed a bid to buy the Arlington International Racecourse. Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips said, “it’s our obligation to explore every option to ensure we’re doing what’s best for our organization.” Almost a year from the day last week, Robert McCoppin of the Chicago Tribune said the Bears are “making progress toward completing their purchase of Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights.”
What’s best for the organization is progressing to move forward. The Chicago Bears are adapting to the times. With a lot of teams having indoor stadiums, the Bears will be one of the next teams to go indoors. It’s the right move for multiple reasons. The obvious reason is the weather. Chicago weather can start to turn rough as early as Halloween. Even though many people have lived in the Chicagoland area most of their life, it’s still uncomfortable. It is tough when you are in your seat, not moving most of the game. It’s hard to enjoy the game, or any game when you’re freezing your arse off watching it. You can layer up and buy so many hand warmers till the cows come home, but that isn’t good enough.
It only holds 61,500 people, making it the third smallest stadium in the NFL. One of the main things about going to any game or event is the atmosphere. The Bears don’t have that. Yes, you can hang out downtown before the game, but it’s not like Wrigley Field. Wrigley Field has blocks of bars, restaurants, and shopping around the ballpark. Going to those places around Wrigley Field makes the game, and the day a fun atmosphere. The Bears would have space for a Wrigley Field type atmosphere on a land with over 300 acres.
One of the most important aspects of moving is the changing of the awful grass field to turf. When I think “Turf Monster,” I think of Soldier Field. It eats up players’ legs and bodies. It got Giants running back Saquan Barkley, who tore his ACL on the Bears turf in 2020. A new turf allows the Bears to not have the Chicago Park District take care of the field. That’s right, the Chicago Park District takes care of the field. Joe and Bob might be doing work on a park over by there (A true Chicago saying) in Beverly, and then going to Soldier Field to work on it.
Having an indoor stadium would lead to the NFL to let the Bears host a Super Bowl, which does its part for exposure and revenue.
Of course, there are hoops to jump through to get this done. Lori Lightfoot, the Mayor of Chicago, said the Bears should be concerned with “putting a winning team on the field, and being relevant past October.” She believes the Bears were bluffing and were using this as a negotiation tactic.
If this gets done and the Bears get the land, it will take a long time to get the stadium and everything around it up. The racetrack itself still needs to be torn down. Also, if you’re reading this and are from Illinois, you know it takes a long time for anything in this state to get done.
Division rivals Detroit and Minnesota made the right choice of going indoors, now the Bears are inching closer to joining them.
For More Great Football Content
Follow us on Twitter at @GridironHeroics for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Football news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE
2 Comments
Pingback: Miami Dolphins Biggest Games Outside AFC East - Gridiron Heroics
Pingback: Justin Fields will shine in his second season - Gridiron Heroics