Overview
- The Indiana House Ways and Means Committee voted 24-0 to advance an amended SB 27 that centers a stadium site near Wolf Lake in Hammond and now moves to the full House before the session ends this month.
- SB 27 would create a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority empowered to acquire land and issue bonds for a state-owned venue the Bears would lease, with options to purchase under specified terms.
- The Bears called passage of SB 27 “the most meaningful step forward” in their planning and said they will finish site-specific due diligence for the Wolf Lake location.
- Indiana Governor Mike Braun said the state has identified the Hammond site and set a broad framework for negotiating a final deal, pending completion of due diligence.
- An Illinois House Revenue and Finance Committee hearing on a bill to provide tax certainty for an Arlington Heights project was canceled after the team requested a pause, with a Pritzker spokesman saying Illinois was surprised by the Bears’ public praise of Indiana; separate reporting pegs overall project costs near $5 billion with a $2 billion team contribution.