Chicago Bears stadium deal could get vote in Illinois General Assembly next month, report says – CBS News

Chicago Bears stadium deal could get vote in Illinois General Assembly next month, report says  CBS News

A deal to keep the Chicago Bears from moving to Indiana reportedly is closer than ever, with sources telling Crain's Chicago Business that lawmakers in Springfield could vote as soon as next month on legislation to help the team build a stadium in Illinois.Crain's cites momentum from an Oct. 1 meeting in Chicago, featuring NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois legislative leaders, and Bears minority owner Pat Ryan."My understanding is that [Ryan] was in this meeting representing the business community, not representing the Bears. Roger Goodell and the NFL were there representing the Bears," said sports business expert Marc Ganis.According to Ganis, Ryan's relationships with stakeholders might have helped move discussions forward to focus on legislation that would allow a municipality, including Arlington Heights or Chicago, to create a stadium financing authority to help build a publicly owned stadium.

"Which is effectively a stadium authority that would own the stadium, but would not, unlike other stadiums around the country, require government money to go into the stadium itself," Ganis said.The Bears would finance construction of the stadium, while public funds would be used for new roads and other infrastructure the state usually finances for such large-scale projects. Because the stadium would be owned by the public, it would not pay any property taxes, like the Bears' current stadium,