Naperville Bears fans may want to start mapping a new route to game day.
Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren declared Thursday, Aug. 13, that Hammond, Indiana is the franchise's "sole focus" for a new stadium and mixed-use development, confirming the McCaskey family has committed $2 billion in private money toward the project. Warren spoke at the team's annual preseason press conference at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, according to Patch.
Hammond sits about 25 miles southeast of downtown Chicago. For fans driving from Naperville, that's roughly 45 miles east on I-80/94, compared with the 30-mile trip north to Soldier Field. If the stadium opens on the projected 2031 timeline reported by the Chicago Tribune, it would end more than a century of Bears football played in Illinois.
Warren identified two Hammond properties under consideration: the Lost Marsh Golf Course, where due diligence is complete and the land is confirmed viable, and the Wolf Lake Terminal site, where environmental studies continue. He said the team may merge both into a single larger development.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has personally visited the Lost Marsh property, Warren said.
Illinois talks have stalled
Bears Chairman George McCaskey called discussions with Illinois lawmakers since the board's June 5 vote to focus on Hammond "minimal." The Bears have no written proposal before the state, he said.
Gov. JB Pritzker, speaking at the Illinois State Fair the same morning, confirmed the Bears have not presented bill language to his administration.
Warren said the team's requirements for an Illinois project have never changed: property tax certainty and infrastructure certainty. Neither has materialized.
Indiana, meanwhile, has authorized up to $1 billion in public funding through a combination of food-and-beverage, hotel and admissions taxes in Lake and Porter counties, according to the Chicago Tribune. Under that structure, the Bears would keep all stadium revenue and have the option to buy back the facility in 40 years once Indiana taxpayers have paid off the bonds.
"We don't have any legislation in Illinois. We don't have a deal with Illinois," Warren said. "Our focus, again, at this point in time, is in Hammond, Indiana."
Warren said stadium development costs are rising by nearly $150 million per year, adding urgency. He declined to set a final timeline.
What Naperville residents should know
The franchise will remain the "Chicago Bears" regardless of where the stadium lands, McCaskey said. He acknowledged fan anxiety about crossing state lines but argued Hammond's proximity makes the adjustment manageable, pointing to the Kansas City Chiefs' own state-line stadium discussions as precedent.
The Bears' current lease at Soldier Field runs through 2033. The Illinois General Assembly's fall veto session, scheduled Nov. 17–19 and Dec. 1–3, represents the next window for any Illinois stadium legislation. No Naperville-area state legislators, including Sen. Laura Ellman or Rep. Anne Stava-Murray, have issued public statements on the Hammond announcement.
The Bears still own the 326-acre former Arlington Park property in Arlington Heights, purchased for $197.2 million in 2023. McCaskey said the team's focus is so squarely on Hammond that "what to do with the Arlington Park property, that'll take care of itself in time."
The Bears host the Cleveland Browns at noon Saturday, Aug. 15, at Soldier Field in their preseason opener. Quarterback Caleb Williams will sit; backup Tyson Bagent starts.
