The Chicago Bears are in negotiation to close a deal in a new stadium to purchase land in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The Bears moves to play in the suburbs sound very familiar to what Inglewood California did when Rams owner Stan Kroenke purchase land to build SoFi Stadium which led to his franchise to move his team to move out of St. Louis in 2016 and the Chargers to leave San Diego in 2017. The Bears have been playing at Soldier Field since 1971 which currently pay nearly $6.5 million a year under their current lease but stadium will turn 100 years old in 2024 and have seen there its best years. So, what if the team can’t find a place to build an NFL stadium around the Chicago area since some politicians aren’t thrilled about the team building a new stadium in Arlington Heights, according the Chicago Sun Teams. So that means that the Bears will move to St. Louis, right? Wrong and it’s shouldn’t happen.
Despite what Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Todd Maisch told the Chicago Sun Times, “I think it needs to happen by the end of this session. If not, you’re going to start to have other states make their cases on why the Bears should be the St. Louis Bears.” St. Louis shouldn’t except another NFL transplant team from another city, we went through that when the Cardinals played in St. Louis from 1960-1987 after the team relocated from Chicago and the Rams played from 1995-2016 only to move back to Los Angeles. The XFL is returning to St. Louis in 2023 and I can hardly wait for the first game to be played on March 12th at The Dome. Sure, it would be great to have another NFL team but I rather for the city of St. Louis be awarded an expansion team, something that it’s originally from St. Louis, not from another city. So, thanks for the idea the Bears moving to St. Louis but NO THANK YOU stay in Chicago.