It’s summertime, and the Chicago Bears have put their players through sweltering offseason practices. Inside the team’s front office, a few people might be feeling the heat, too.
It’s got nothing to do with how draft picks play or whether the team shakes the losing habit this season. It’s about the upcoming financial decision that looms as the biggest in the franchise’s history and ultimately might affect control of the team.
Heading into the second half of the year, the Bears will have to compile serious development plans, and weigh counterproposals, over a new stadium.
Will the team stay in Soldier Field, winning an agreement for a retrofitted stadium that it rents, or go to Arlington Heights, where it has a deal to buy the 326-acre former Arlington International Racecourse for $197.