Angry Indiana residents slam double standards of new $5bn Bears stadium as taxpayer costs laid bare
Indiana lawmakers have moved quickly to lure the Chicago Bears across state lines.
The NFL franchise has long made clear their ambition to leave Soldier Field, the iconic stadium on the banks of Lake Michigan they have called home for 55 years.
A $5 billion project initially settled on Arlington Heights, Illinois, as the site for a new football venue, but has run into some road blocks around funding.
Those issues allowed Indiana to swoop in, with a rather generous offer to pull the Bears east.
Governor Mike Braun has signed a bill that offers financing, tax breaks and infrastructure for a dome stadium the state hopes can be the jewel of a new entertainment district in Hammond — some 20 miles south of Chicago.
Lawmakers across Indiana have gushed over the proposal, and are ready to welcome the Bears with open arms.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said in February.
“Indiana is open for business, and our pro-growth environment continues to attract major opportunities like this partnership with the Chicago Bears,” Gov. Braun added.
“The State of Indiana moves at the speed of business, and we’ve demonstrated that through our quick coordination between state agencies, local government, and the legislature to set the stage for a huge win for all Hoosiers.”
Lawmakers are excited. Local residents, though, will require more convincing.
Writing in the Chicago Tribune, Robert McCoppin noted that Hammond natives are not supportive of the prospect of the public funding for the Bears’ stadium project — especially at a time when utility bills in the area are spinning out of control.
Bears stadium project slammed by Indiana locals
The franchise has said they are willing to pay $2bn to build a stadium, be it in Illinois or Indiana, but that they need state help to pay for infrastructure around it.
A proposed stadium package for the latter would be funded through a 1 percent food and beverage tax in two Indiana counties, a 5 percent tax increase on hotel rooms in one county, and a 12 percent admissions tax.
The plan also includes toll roads and a new special taxing district.
Chuck Pullen, a WJOB radio host in Hammond, has recently questioned why lawmakers acted immediately to form a plan for the Bears, but have done little to attack rising utility bills for residents.
“A lot of blue-collar people in the area are struggling to get by,” he said, according to McCoppin’s article.
“They’re asking, where’s our local and state government to help us? And why do the Bears get this special treatment?”
Meanwhile, Americans for Prosperity in Indiana — a grassroots organization focused on advancing economic freedom, reducing taxes, and limiting government spending in the state — is opposed to using taxpayer money for the billion-dollar project.
The libertarian group sent a letter to state senators urging them to defeat the measure.
“It exposes taxpayers to massive financial risk while delivering little public benefit,” the group wrote, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“Decades of economic research show stadium subsidies fail to generate net growth, and this proposal repeats the same mistakes — granting broad powers, open-ended liabilities, and special treatment for a private sports franchise at taxpayer expense.
“We welcome the Bears and private investment coming to Indiana, but it should not be on the back of state and local taxpayers.”
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Beyond the money, some Hammond residents are said to be worried over whether or not their houses are going to ‘become a parking lot for the stadium’.
“They’re not getting any answers,” Pullen noted of the issue.
Others, meanwhile, have questioned how infrastructure will handle a future stadium filled with more than 60,000 visitors every other week, after severe flooding back in August.
The fight over a future stadium is causing headaches on both sides of the Illinois-Indiana border.
Locals in Hammond, of course, might ultimately get their wish.
The Bears are yet to finalise any stadium deal, and Illinois will not surrender their football team without a fight.
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