WHAT HAPPENS TO CHICAGO — AND A SKYLINE — WHEN BEARS ARE IN DISTANT SUBURBS?
Finally, the NFL franchise is ready to leave Soldier Field and trek 31 or 37 miles away — to Arlington Heights, depending on one’s expressway — and remove a breathtaking lakefront view
When the 49ers play home games, 42.3 miles from San Francisco, we see an amusement park near Levi’s Stadium but nothing resembling a skyline. When the Dolphins play in Miami Gardens, we see no beach or bikinis. When the Rams and Chargers play in Inglewood, the ocean and Hollywood sign are miles away. East Rutherford has no Manhattan. Arlington has no Dallas. Glendale has no Phoenix. Foxborough has no Boston. Landover has no White House.
Cities have been defined by skyscrapers in the heavens, sometimes only observed during NFL games. Chicago’s outline has been stirring, photogenic, sublime, a visual masterpiece. "Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world,” said architect Frank Lloyd Wright, joining Al Michaels and Jim Nantz in singing love songs.
You will need a postcard of Soldier Field in the future. Apparently, the lakefront setting that has symbolized life in a town of hearty fans and bad football will close, making way for a new Bears stadium in Arlington Heights. The destination is either 31 miles or 37 miles away, depending on which expressway’s migraines you choose. The first McDonald’s was opened by Ray Kroc in nearby Des Plaines, though flooding issues prompted closings. The Woodfield Mall has storefronts in Schaumburg, but there is no skyline, unless Palatine or Lake Zurich has one. The location is closer to Green Bay, for what it’s worth.
Say goodbye, America, to a collection of steel and concrete that led actor Michael Douglas to say, “Hollywood is hype. New York is talk. Chicago is work.” The baseball teams rarely reach the postseason. The Bulls used to bring cool shots, but they died 27 years ago. One look at the magnificence reminded you of why you had to visit.
Now, head northwest from O’Hare and stay at the Holiday Inn Express. The Bears will run the 326-acre facility and want to host a Super Bowl, though they’ll never play in one. They grew tired of politics and will host at their own site, having paid $197.2 million for it in 2021. Remember, the football team plays no more than nine regular-season home games a year. The front-office bosses should visit The Battery, where the Atlanta Braves play, and install the same concert halls, bars and restauarants. Heading to Arlington Heights to party reminds no one of River North. The Bears should give it a try. Do not name any shop after a McCaskey.
They will survive in a meadow where horses once raced at a course. Chicago might not survive. The city has issues far beneath the skyline, with crime and bullets and homelessness and real estate woes, all beneath the loathing of Donald Trump. Kevin Warren was hired as president and CEO and did not succeed, unlike a process in Minneapolis when he was on the team staff when the perfect new field, U.S. Bank Stadium, was created for the Vikings.
“Over the last few months, we have made significant progress with the leaders in Arlington Heights, and look forward to continuing to work with state and local leaders on making a transformative economic development project for the region a reality,” the team said Friday.
The lakefront will have a crater. The Soldier Field remake resembled a Disney cruise ship running into the Parthenon. It has lasted 23 years. Suddenly, a city that included four stadiums and arenas for five teams might be down to two, if the White Sox are relying on a Pope in Rome when Nashville makes more sense.
“Yes, my goal still remains, to be able to move dirt around in 2025,” Warren said.
Not that the Bears have thrilled locals with years of stadium b.s. Just as the team performs poorly, so do the people in charge. “The Bears’ entire approach to this stadium project has been deeply flawed,” State Rep. Kam Buckner said. “Frankly, people are tired of the back and forth. This kind of inconsistency doesn’t build trust or momentum — it creates confusion. I hope the Bears can, at some point, finally be honest about what it is they really want.”
They’d prefer to be in Chicago but they must be in Arlington Heights. America’s third-largest market will not have a football team. The skyline will be noticed by window-washers and anyone leaving The Wiener’s Circle at 3 a.m., where no one cares about the Bears and where they play.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.