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Hope they save some money to help Indy land a MLS team and stadium. Seems like a better bet and investment. Methinks Indiana is just being used by the Bears.
Yeah I wish state leaders would channel this energy towards getting an MLS stadium built in Indy instead.
Contrary opinion: what’s best for Indianapolis is not the same as what’s best for the state. A shot in the arm for Da Region may very well do more for Indiana than an MLS stadium/team.
That said, I don’t think it’s necessarily a choice between the two. The CIB in Indy can handle the MLS stadium, while the state helps NWI with the Bears. Everybody wins.
The state legislature rarely prioritizes anything Indianapolis related. I mean, why would they, our area only contributes the most tax revenue to the state. We have the worst roads, while always having them be under construction. Strange indeed.
Regional politics are always intersting considering both are democratic strongholds, however the Bears moving to Indiana gives Illinois and Chicago land a black eye and a blow. Good idea for there to be a committment from the Bears before moving forward, this will end any “games” being played to force Illinois’ hand in supporting and keeping the Bears the ownership may be using.
A “commitment” for these types of deals at this stage have little mechanisms to force a deal to take place.
Putting a stadium in NW Indiana would be great for Indiana. Lots of new businesses and tax revenues to hundreds of acres of land sitting empty. Many other businesses that want to relocate to NW Indiana from Chicago are waiting for something like this before moving. Don’t get ahead of this one. Ask the speculators in Arlington heights Illinois who bought up that land by where the potential stadium would be.
What tax revenues? They’re moving here for a state owned stadium that will exempt them from paying ANY property taxes, while they keep all the revenue from all the events held. People will drive in, tailgate, and head home. The only jobs are going to be event jobs.
Yes, there’s the idea of maybe NWI can replicate what downtown Indianapolis has. But that’s going to be far harder to pull off when you’re 30+ miles from the major metropolitan area that everyone would be traveling in for.
I’m all for helping NWI but … transferring that much in tax dollars to a football team and pretending trickle down economics works, I think you’re wrong.
Corporate welfare
Joe, putting Da Bears next to Hard Rock Casino and a new Gary Convention Center would undoubtedly drive some hotel development in the area. As well as restaurants/bars. Think of it as a trial run for a downtown Indy casino.
Well, I still don’t think a downtown casino in Indy is a very good idea, so not a persuasive argument for me. ;). I mean, if Freeman thinks it’s a good idea, what are the odds it actually is?
I am assuming that all the tax revenues nearby will be diverted to the team, so all we will get are perhaps some food and beverages taxes and taxes off low salary jobs. I just see this going about as well as the Pontiac Silverdome or the stadium in downtown St Louis. If we “win”, we either commit to a continual cycle of throwing more money at the team to keep them or they move back to Illinois and we are left paying for decades for a stadium that would have minimal use without a football team. It’s not like the state football finals or USA swimming trials or NCAA tournaments are going to be held in the thing. Domed would be a good idea, but the first politician to suggest a roof that can open and close should be immediately impeached.
I’m all for developing NWI. Convention Center is worth a try though they already have one with an 8,000 seat arena attached that they couldn’t keep open. Just don’t think the stadium is the way to go and we could invest the money in smarter ways.
Adding to a previous comment: Help the Bears build a stadium in Indiana? I would think over the Colts dead body! Again, I think a more realistic priority would be MLS in Indy. You build a stadium for the Bears, and you KNOW somewhere down the road it will eat into the Colts fan base and, eventually, the Colts will start making stadium improvement demands of their own. That WILL happen. Helping the Region has never even been close to a priority at the Indiana Statehouse, even though it’s a powerful economic engine with 800,000+ people. A bigger and better idea would be to help Gary, Hammond, East Chicago clean up this once-beautiful natural asset from years of industrial pollution and waste-dumping. Imagine a restored lakeshore and wetlands. It could be a tourist AND residential magnet. Heavy industry as we know it is done. It helped build communities — now its remnants are holding them back. Yes, invest in the Region with money, ideas, and fresh priorities. A new stadium could help, but the area needs bigger, better, and more original ideas.
I don’t think the Bears moving 12 miles in the same market registers at all with the Colts.
Agree. Few Colts fans come from northern Indiana.
Anecdotally…one of the guys who sit next to me at Colts games drives down from Da Region. But he says all his neighbors are Bears fans.
That area is ALL Bears fans anyway!!!! It doesn’t even get Colts coverage!!!
40-year bonds to pay for a stadium? These days stadiums have life spans of two, maybe three, decades. Oops!
The Bears will have moved back to Illinois before we are done paying for this thing.
Joe B… +1
How will the stadium be paid for? The bill doesn’t provide details. I would think the Speaker would want that answered.
Also, for all the stadium cheerleaders, take a look at some of the unbiased research on this topic. The consensus is that stadiums don’t drive other business especially an NFL stadium in a remote location that will be used only 8 or 9 times per year. Even Lucas Oil, which is multi-purpose and more integrated into downtown than most NFL stadiums, has arguably not created a lot of other investment. Granted, there are three newer budget hotels to the west of LOS and an event center.
Indiana pays for the stadium, the Bears get all the profit. I don’t even see increased food/beverage taxes in NWI being suggested as ways to help pay for it.
Just remember how the same legislators who campaigned on how awful LEAP was … will pretend that this stadium project is totally different and a worthy use of all our tax dollars.
Outside of the discussion as to whether the Bears should be in Lake Country rather than in Illinois, the House leadership wanting a commitment from the Bears without knowing whether legislation will or will not pass is putting the cart before the horse. How can you make a full commitment without knowing the full financial and other conditions. From a business standpoint, the only thing that the Bears could do is provide a conditional commitment.
Indiana House leadership does not seem to know how business works.
Instead of demanding a Bears commitment before moving the legislation to a vote (obviously so the Speaker can feel in control of Da Bears), why not write a deadline for commitment into the law, so that the people who are working behind the scenes on this can get it done with fewer politicians in the kitchen stirring the pot.
I think we need to discuss the larger issue. Why are taxpayers subsidizing billionaires for hobby professional teams? Jim Irsay’s net worth was $300m until we were all taxed and now it is worth $6.5mm. All subsidized by food and beverage taxes in 8 counties…Thanks to Mitch Daniels…