Should sports arenas be left to the private sector?

[kenobi_65]

@PastTense

And now:

Reposting the below from my comment in the NFL Off-Season thread in The Game Room. Today is not a good look for the Bears.

@kenobi_65

A little more on the Bears’ stadium news: they had been in the midst of negotiations with Illinois over taxes and infrastructure, and had, in fact, had a long meeting with state officials just yesterday. It sounds like Indiana threw a bigger deal at the team, and the Bears then lied to Illinois legislators about why they wanted to delay further discussion on a piece of legislation, as well as telling Illinois, later today, that their announced “agreement” with Indiana was not as final as their statement this morning indicated.

Really really classy.

From an update to the above WGN link I had shared earlier:

Meanwhile, in Illinois, the state’s Revenue and Finance Committee had been scheduled to look at a bill Thursday that would freeze the Bears’ property tax assessment in Arlington Heights for up to 40 years and provide more than $850 million in infrastructure support.

But that meeting was cancelled.

At an unrelated event later Thursday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker addressed the latest developments coming out of Indiana, saying the news “was a surprise to us.”

Pritzker said the committee meeting among Illinois lawmakers that was scheduled for Thursday came after “more than three hours of discussions with the Bears” on Wednesday, which the governor called “very positive.” But then he said the Bears cancelled the meeting.

“(We) mostly agreed on a bill that would move forward (Thursday) morning,” Pritzker said. “But they asked us not to move forward with it this morning, because they said they wanted to tweak a couple of items in the bill, which were things we were working with them on.

“… Now they’re saying to us that that statement (about Hammond) is not some confirmation that they’re moving to Indiana, but rather that Indiana had asked them to say that they’re going to move forward with the negotiations. But I have to say, it’s very disappointing to hear that they would put that statement out but not say anything about the advancement that’s been made in the State of Illinois. We’re waiting to hear from the Bears what they’d like to do next.”