Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Adam Hoge: Bears' stadium push is 'fluid' until shovels are in ground

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris were joined by CHGO host Adam Hoge to discuss the latest developments in the Bears’ pursuit of a new stadium.

Adam Hogg says Adam Hogue, Bears Insider. What's up, everyone? My name's Adam Hogue. Host of the Hogan John's podcast. What I like about this coachies staff, it's like the 100 guys in a bar theory. When 100 guys in the bar are all screaming the same thing,

they usually means that they're on to something, even if it's 100 guys in a bar. Like, that's what I think about this with Colson Lovell. And so snap counts go up. John Zee, it is that time for another high draft pick, Luther Bird it. Adam Hogue. Adam Hogi or Hogg, excuse.

but I don't know how to pronounce the last name. With Rahimi Harrison Grody on Chicago Sports Radio, 1043 to score. Adam Hogue, joining us on our hotline on 1043, the score on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. We are happy to talk to him. He is the host of the CHGO Bears coverage and the Hogan John's podcast. And Adam, the hearing in the Illinois State House has been going on right now regarding the Bears' infrastructure bill. What have you observed so far? because it's been happening during our show.

Yeah, it's been super interesting. I didn't really expect to be at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis watching a House committee, Revenue and Finance Committee meeting going on in Springfield, Illinois. But it's been going on for a while. At this point, there has been no vote. I don't know if that will happen while we're talking here. What I would say, though, is there's a lot,

It seems like, from what I've been able to observe, more support than opponents for what was introduced just last night as part of a basically adding a bunch of language to an existing shell bill to try to advance this thing, which is now House Bill 9-10. However, there's a lot of questions. And even from proponents that are in there saying that, you know, their plan on supporting this bill today, there's, And it's like way too nuanced and detail to get into. But it basically all has to do with like who's going to have the power in these local municipalities to give these, you know, to basically vote to give the tax certainty to these private companies. And they're all having these discussions trying to have it very more vaguely in a way that, hey, this is a statewide thing for projects all over the state. When we all know that this is all advancing because of what's going out at the Bears Stadium. I would say the most interesting thing I did not expect to happen in this committee,

and even the committee members seemed a little caught off guard by it, is the new acting CFO of Chicago, Stephen Marr, being one of the opponents that spoke, and all of a sudden basically was pushing for Chicago to still have an opportunity at the table and to try to keep the Bears in Chicago. That kind of derailed things for a little bit. And there were some fair questions, I thought, thrown back at him by Representative Tarver, who's the chairman of the Revenue and Finance Committee, basically being like, well, wait a minute. You guys were in this in 2023.

You guys had that press conference in 2024 with the Bears. There were statements put out. Like, why exactly, like, you had this opportunity. why are you asking for this opportunity now? So that was just one of the more weird things that happened so far in this committee. They kind of got things back on track to more of a statewide issue after that. But I was not expecting all of a sudden the city of Chicago to try to jump back into the conversation today. Not only did they jump back into the conversation, which was as agreed, random as hell.

But also, wasn't he chewing gum while making his pitch? I was trying to figure that out. basically the whole time he was talking. I'm like, does he have a mint in his mouth? Is there gum? It was distracting. I felt the same way. Not to be a get-off my long girl here, but you can pick one or the other,

but you can't do both. Like, you can't just randomly insert yourself into the chat and be chewing gum at the same time. Now, I will say the one thing that I thought was interesting in, and I don't want to start making this like a Chicago thing, because I think it applies to everyone involved in this. we're talking about Arlington Heights, Indiana, or the city of Chicago, one of the things that Stephen Marr did say to kind of defend the city on all this was as they were having discussions

with the bears, one of the problems that they were having was, and he said, quote, truly receiving commitment from the bears on what they want to do. And that is very similar to what Governor Pritzker said last week, right, in some of his public conversations basically be like, like the bears need to be a little bit more clear here on what they want to do. Obviously, they're trying to play all these sides. They try to get the best deal possible. You know, and ideally advance this legislation they need in Illinois to build their big mega project in Arlington Heights. But I do think that that has frustrated all parties.

And to bring this back to Indiana today, where I am currently at, just steps away from the Capitol, where they're expected to vote to advance their bill in the Senate today. you know, it seems like everybody's on board in Indiana, but I do have, that is one of my remaining questions. Like, what type of commitment are they truly getting from the bears on this right now? And is there anything they can do at the last minute to try to get a little bit more of a firm commitment before they actually go through and send this to Governor Braun's desk? Adam, are you familiar with the term breadcrumbing?

Vaguely. So breadcrumbing is when you lead someone on and give them just enough to make them feel like, oh yeah, there's still genuine interest there. I feel like the bears are bread carving right now. And I think the question, the delineation I'm trying to make as I follow this process, just like you're following this process, is whether or not they're trying to be prudent and smart in keeping their options open or they're just flat out clumsy. That's, and I lean towards the clumsy because there's no real reason to give them the benefit of a doubt right now. Yeah, look, I think it's a, I think it's a fair point.

fair question. I've had similar conversations many times this week as I've been, and last week too, following the story. The weird thing is, though, is this might all end up, even if it is clumsy, and I think there's some, you know, plenty of examples that people can point to to

support that notion, it could all work out. You know what I mean? Like, if if it all led and what, you know, I think there was definitely miscommunications and it was a big flunky at least last week and how and we know from the governor that the statement they put out really pushing hard for Indiana and supporting, you know, complimenting Indiana for the significant steps in their stadium developments, really rubbed them

the wrong way. Like there is some of that all going on. But at the same time, you can also argue that, you know, since I talked to you guys last Thursday in the last week, it has really advanced these talks in a productive way with both sides. Now, the Bears and the state of Illinois now saying that they have, you know, made a lot of progress. You know, I heard Representative Kamm Buckner on the score earlier, you know, repeat that phrasing today. So, you know, as clumsy as it may have been at some times, like it could all end up working out the way that everybody had kind of thought it was going to this entire time, the Bears ending up in Ireland tonight. And that's why I think, Adam, that there's also, I was so frustrated last week

because if that's the case, I better hope you're not wasting the time and efforts of everybody in Indiana, too. You know, like, think about how, think about how we all thought this was a lot farther along this time last week than we did once the events of that day started unfolding. You know, I read your tweet earlier about how the mayor of Hammond holds this press conference and then he can't even tell people the exact site it's going to be on. Right, yeah. Look, and I went to that press conference and I walked away from it, honestly,

with some major red flags because, you know, not only wasn't the site, but I asked him specifically, you know, the two billion that the lawmakers in Indiana had said, you know, champion that morning that the bears were going to be putting towards let's just call it a mega project in Indiana because what specifically was that money going to go toward and like there was no answer on that either so we didn't have a site we didn't

we think we know what the site is right but we don't know specifically around that Wolf Lake area then it came out too that like there's some major questions about that area so there was just the tone shifted I thought quite dramatically from that morning to that afternoon by the time that the mayor had, the mayor Hammond had his press conference later in the day.

And so I do, I do think that that's a fair point. And, you know, since I'm back on with you guys, like the thing that, and maybe I wasn't clear enough about this, like that I wanted to make sure was clear today, was, you know, the legislation, the deal with Indiana is what I was referring to and still referring to. I put it in my story last night. You know, they're at the finish line or goal line since everybody wanted to make a big deal of that phrasing, and that's fine. But that doesn't mean the bears have to take the deal.

And I thought that, you know, in the other 18 minutes I was on with you guys, I brought up many examples, including the Patriots, literally signing a deal with Connecticut, and then backing out on that. And I'm going to continue to say this, until shovels are actually in the ground, in the ground, either in Arlington Heights or this unknown site in Indiana, there's going to be movement on all this thing. It is going to be fluid.

But the actual deal in place, and I will still say this right now this morning as they are making progress in Illinois. It's at the finish line. It could literally be going to the governor's desk in Indiana, whereas we're talking right now during a committee meeting in Illinois where there are, when I got off that and answered the phone call here to talk to you guys,

still many, many fair questions coming up on how this is all really going to affect so many people across the state of Illinois. for a bill that really is about the Bears Stadium, but they're trying to expand it to all these municipalities, and it's a very different situation across the state of Illinois, depending if you're by Chicago or the Chicago suburbs or out by Rockford or downstate.

So a lot of people are going to be affected by this. Adam Hogue, the host of CHGO Bears and the Hogan-John's podcast, joining us here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie on 104-3, The Score. Adam, I'm curious, do you get a sense that this thing might not get out of committee today and like how big of a setback would that be? So as I as I jumped off to talk to you guys, I didn't really, I've been told now for a couple days, but especially started to aggressively kind of change yesterday almost about the same time in the day that there was optimism that this would at least pass the committee

with the hope. And this was actually something I was. and totally completely aware of until yesterday, that it would get to the floor, the house floor today, because they're about to adjourn for two weeks, you know, with the primaries coming up, spring break, whatever you want to call it,

till March 18th, and right now, because of what's going on in the pressure of Indiana, which I think we can all agree and acknowledge, is at least enough pressure that it's pushed, it's greatly accelerated the talks in Illinois this week. Can they afford to take a two-week break right now from all of this progress,

that they've made in the last seven days. And truly the last five days, because they weren't talking for a couple of days until that statement from Kevin Warren came out on Saturday. To answer your question, though, I didn't sense enough opposition in what I watched for over an hour

that it wouldn't pass the committee. I was hearing, though, you know, some skepticism that it would actually get to a floor vote today. And if it did, that it would actually pass because there is still questions about how many votes they would actually have from the city of Chicago. I do think it was significant in my reporting last night that of all of the sponsors that could have been on this legislation that was pushed, that's now House Bill 910, it was Cam Buckner's

office that filed it almost just symbolically to me because he has represented the city's interest in all of this for so long. That felt significant. I think we can all kind of agree on that. I think the goal is, guys, even if this doesn't actually go to a House floor vote today, or even if it does and it doesn't pass, that they're hoping that the progress they showed here, especially in the last 24, 48 hours, is enough to at least prevent the bears from taking what is sitting there right now in Indiana. And it's just kind of the latest good faith measure that I think Illinois is trying to do

to essentially create more runway because they still need more runway. All of this is not going to get answered and figured out by the end of today. There's just no chance really about happening. Yeah, I agree. I think unfortunately this is welcome to politics. The city of Chicago, though, entering his competition is a bit of a plot twist I did not see coming. So that's pretty compelling. Thank you so much, Adam.

Thanks, Adam. Yeah. Thanks, guys. Have a great day. You too. That's Adam Hogue from the NFL conference. Combine talking about an Illinois meeting in Illinois

because it's just one of those days. I am I feel like I'm going to be disappointed at the end of this day with where this is, not winners versus losers but just like the lack of progress in general. It's been, we've been doing this for three years. Really three and a half. I thought you were going to say 84 years,

but three years works. No, it's been, it's been three and a half years. No need to get hyperbolic when the three and a half years hits home. I, you know, I have a lot of stuff in my closet. I haven't worn in a couple of years. I feel like it's kind of the same. You know you're supposed to get rid of stuff if you go a whole year without wearing it, right?

Yeah, but in our business, when you, you know, the wardrobe is curated and stuff and it's part of a tool. It's a little different, I think. But either way, there's a metaphor to be had here. I just don't know what it is off the top of my head. Coming up next year, I'm Rahimi Harrison Grady. How about some fun? I love fun. New dating term just dropped.

Oh, no. I think you're going to like it. We just had to explain breadcrumbing to Adam Hogue. You know why? Because Hogue would never. Fair. Hogue would never. He's a diligent man. And happily married.

Hogue would never. That's how he got a wife by not breadcrumbing. That I do know. The reliability of Adam Hogue. So new toxic dating term next.