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Bears unveil their lakefront stadium plans as Gov. J.B. Pritzker says 'I remain skeptical'

Robert McCoppin, Jeremy Gorner and Dan Petrella, Chicago Tribune on

Published in Football

The team showed a video with an artist’s conception of the new stadium with what appears to be an open wall on one side with a translucent roof.

It also promised an enhanced lakefront pathway for bikes and pedestrians, with increased usable open space, and an open field for the public between the remaining colonnades from the old Soldier Field.

The stadium, by Manica architects, would have a translucent roof made of ETFE, similar to other newer NFL stadiums, and it would have a clear glass window on one wall with a view of downtown.

“You’ll get all the benefits of being indoors but you’ll feel like you’re outdoors,” Warren said.

The team rejected a moveble roof because it would cost a couple of hundred million dollars more, and they’re trying to be fiscally responsible, Warren said.

A diversity, equity and inclusion program would allow women- and minority-owned businesses and people of color an opportunity to work on and with the project.

 

There will be a project labor agreement and a stadium oversight committee to keep the project accountable, Warren said.

While no new taxes would be introduced or expanded, the project is heavily reliant on public funding. And the Bears will need to overcome serious skepticism from several directions. Warren said he expected questions from the community.

Pritzker said Wednesday morning at an unrelated news conference that taxpayer assistance for stadium projects is “not particularly popular around the country.”

He noted that voters in Jackson County, Missouri, recently rejected a tax proposal to help fund stadium projects for the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs on the heels of the NFL team’s latest Super Bowl victory.

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