(The Center Square) – A publicly owned stadium for the Chicago Bears could hit taxpayers in a different way than a private facility would.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, both emphasized the importance of protecting taxpayers after revealing that they met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Bears minority owner Pat Ryan last week.
The Center Square asked John Mozena, president of The Center for Economic Accountability, about the Bears previously saying they were moving forward with stadium development plans in Hammond, Indiana.
“That's what happens all the time whenever sports team owners want somebody else to pay for their stadium for them. They start playing leverage games, they start threatening to leave or move, and they try to create this artificial sense of panic,” Mozena said.
Legislation that failed to clear the General Assembly last spring was centered around a stadium the team would build, with infrastructure help from the state.
Pritzker said he was open to the infrastructure spending, which officials said could top $800 million for a Bears project in Arlington Heights.
For the last two years, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has advocated for a publicly owned Bears stadium in his city.
“The city’s proposal remains the only plan centered on public ownership alongside a funding mechanism that does not burden property taxpayers while keeping the Bears in Chicago,” a spokesperson said in a statement to The Center Square last May.
Mozena said private developers pay property taxes, but publicly-owned stadiums do not.
“Not only are you taking the hit up front, you're then not even getting the property taxes to pay for schools or public services of any other kind,” Mozena said.
Mozena said Illinois already has serious debt issues.
“Adding more long-term commitments just to subsidize a football stadium, whether it's privately or publicly owned, it just doesn't make any sense,” Mozena said.
