INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana House passed Senate Bill 27 by a 95-4 floor vote Tuesday, establishing a Northwest Indiana stadium authority to issue bonds to finance, build and lease a stadium as the state continues its process to lure the Chicago Bears south to Hammond, Ind.
Last Thursday, the amended bill passed through the House’s Ways and Means Committee by a vote of 24-0.
The Indiana General Assembly will adjourn this legislative session on Friday, so Tuesday’s meeting, which was delayed a couple of hours, was full of action. But the conversation around SB 27 was more like a bipartisan party.
Lawmakers who spoke Tuesday were universally effusive about the possibilities of a stadium in Northwest Indiana, with politicians from both sides of the aisle lavishing praise on each other and on Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) for a strong, unified approach to the legislation.
“This is what Team Indiana is,” Huston said. “I mean, at the end of the day, we get things done.”
Huston reiterated the Bears would contribute $2 billion for the project, which is expected to include a “mixed-use development” on the plot of land near Wolf Lake in Hammond, a suburb near the Indiana-Illinois border.
For Indiana to pay for its share of the multi-billion-dollar project, SB 27 calls for a variety of new and increased taxes in Northwest Indiana counties and in a proposed stadium district, similar to what has been implemented in downtown Indianapolis, where the state helped build homes for the NBA’s Pacers and NFL’s Colts. A portion of the revenue from the state’s toll roads would also be tapped. All of it will be repaid through economic activity, Huston said, though there are still unanswered questions about the specifics of the plan.
“The bottom line is this project will be paid for by those who benefit from this investment, those who visit, those who stay in hotels, eat and shop in the area establishments,” Huston said. “It isn’t just a sports venue. It will bring large-scale global events to Northwest Indiana. This is a transformational opportunity for the region and the state.”
Indiana House Rep. Earl L. Harris Jr. (D-East Chicago) is a major proponent of the Bears moving to Indiana. (Jon Greenberg / The Athletic)
The next step would be for the Indiana Senate to sign off on the amended bill and then for Gov. Mike Braun, who has been publicly supportive of the deal, to sign the measure into law. Then, the Bears would have to forsake the state of Illinois and a plot of land in Arlington Heights they bought for nearly $200 million, to move across state lines.
The former will happen, but the latter is still a question.
According to a story in Crain’s Chicago Business, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was optimistic Tuesday after recent talks with the Bears about getting a deal done for state infrastructure and tax certainty for the Bears’ proposed stadium and mixed-use development in the northwest suburb.
“There has been lots of conversation and agreement on everything really, as far as I can tell, with regard to a bill that provides this kind of what they call tax certainty,” Pritzker said, according to Crain’s.
There’s an expectation that a megaprojects bill will come up in the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield on Thursday. A hearing on a proposed bill was canceled last week at the team’s request.
The Bears didn’t have an immediate response to Tuesday’s vote, and no one from the team was in the audience for the vote, despite many higher-ups from the organization, like team president Kevin Warren and chairman George McCaskey, being in town for the NFL Combine. Last week, the team issued a statement: “The passage of SB 27 would mark the most meaningful step forward in our stadium planning efforts to date. We are committed to finishing the remaining site-specific necessary due diligence to support our vision to build a world-class stadium near the Wolf Lake area in Hammond, Indiana.”
That piqued the ire of Pritzker and created another stadium news cycle in Chicago. Bears GM Ryan Poles was asked Tuesday if he’s had people asking him about the story.
“I have enough to worry about with the football team,” he said with a smile. “Yes, texts, random calls from people I don’t know how they have my number, to being in Grand Cayman and bumping up in the pool and start telling me about where they want the stadium. I got a lot of faith in Kevin and George to get that done and do what’s best for our organization, our fan base. There’s a lot of pieces involved with that. But like I said, I’ve got enough to worry about with the roster.”
At the Indiana Statehouse, located just across the street from the convention center where Poles and head coach Ben Johnson were meeting with reporters at the NFL Combine, local legislators were also dreaming about a bright future with the Bears.
“Members of the House, opportunities like this do not come often,” said Rep. Earl L. Harris Jr. (D-East Chicago). “This is about economic development, regional equity and generational vision.”
Harris is optimistic that Indiana can not only land the Bears but also help grow the fandom, despite widespread complaints from the team’s fans in Illinois.
“The team enthusiasm will not decrease with this move,” he said. “In fact, I’m going to bet you it will actually increase.”
He also gave a little history lesson on the floor.
“George ‘Papa Bear’ Halas played football in the city of Hammond,” he said. “He started his football career there. He eventually moved on to play for the Decatur Staleys. That team became the Chicago Bears. So if you look at this, it’s really about the Chicago Bears coming home.”
The floor applauded and ultimately voted to agree with him.