Bears president Kevin Warren makes case for property tax "fairness" in Arlington Heights
The Bears were making progress toward building a new stadium of their own in Arlington Heights. Until they weren't.
A reassessment of the property the team has purchased pushed the property tax bill from $2.8 million to $16.2 million. The Bears are currently trying to negotiate that into a more acceptable price.
Toward that end, team president Kevin Warrren spoke at a community meeting on Monday. He called upon three local school districts to participate in negotiations aimed at working out an agreement as to the property tax bill, and he insisted that the Bears simply want "certainty and fairness."
"We do need a new home for the Chicago Bears ," Warren said, via Christopher Placek of the Chicago Daily Herald. "We have to figure out if Arlington Heights is legitimately a viable option or is it not. This has nothing to do with personal feelings. This is strictly business. And I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page and figure out if this is something that will work."
The Bears have offered $4.3 million. The schools want $7.9 million. (Frankly, that doesn't seem like much for a multi-billion-dollar business that would see its value grow even more in a new stadium.)
Warren last met with the relevant school superintendents on April 18. He has met with the mayors of Chicago and Naperville. Waukegan wants in, too. Lake Forest contacted Warren on Monday, as he was driving to the Arlington Heights event.
Warren insists that it's not a leverage play to talk to other locations.
"We were singularly focused on this development at Arlington Park," Warren said. "Since that time has come and passed and we've had a stalemate and a lack of communication -- and it sounds like it's a little bit more convoluted at this point in time than I thought it would be -- well, then we're in a position to start exploring other places and opportunities. As any good business person would do, that's what you need to do."
Indeed it is. And it underscores the reality that, despite any and all NFL-sanctioned mottos (like "football is family"), football is business. Big business. Dollars and cents. Follow the money. And where the money is the best, that's where the team will go.
Bottom line? Either Arlington Heights wants the Bears, or it doesn't. If it doesn't, other localities in the area seem to be willing to oblige.
