One of Thursday’s great sports stories is that Indiana lawmakers unanimously approved an Indiana Senate bill, by a vote of 24-0, for a planned proposal that paves the way for the Chicago Bears to build a brand new domed stadium near Wolf Lake in Hammond, Indiana.
Wolf Lake is about 22 miles from downtown Chicago, but again, Windy City traffic must be taken into account.
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While this one hasn’t been definitively decided yet, as Illinois lawmakers will likely offer at least one rebuttal, it appears to be more advanced than just posturing and leverage of Bears ownership.
If you ask Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Illinois lawmakers, Bears owners ‘mostly agree on deal’ yesterday before the franchise suddenly went on hiatus and released a shocking team statement regarding the progress of the stadium construction plan for Northwest Indiana.
However, Pritzker also said Bears officials told him the team’s recent statement did not confirm the Bears were necessarily headed Hoosier. However, the added pressure is there.
However, this actually has a real chance of happening, and barring significant action from Illinois lawmakers (i.e. regarding providing more tax money for new stadium construction), it is no longer outside the realm of realistic possibility:
According to Joel Erickson of IndyStarthe Colts’ stance regarding the Bears joining them at Indiana State remains unchanged thus far, simply wishing them the best for the future.
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According to NFL rule, Hammond is within a 75-mile radius of downtown Chicago, which means the Bears already own the marketing rights because it falls under their exclusive jurisdiction:
“The Colts do not buy advertising in the area, hold events there, or send team marketing representatives there,” Erickson wrote.
While it seems unlikely that they will be called the Indiana Bears or Hammond Bears anytime soon for fear of a revolt from the still-passionate Chicago Bears faithful, this does mean that there could potentially be a second NFL team with both its domed stadium and headquarters based in the state of Indiana.
The two teams that faced each other in Super Bowl XLI could soon find themselves neighbors in the state.
