Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Did Indiana's push to lure Bears really light a fire in Illinois lawmakers?

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris discussed how Illinois and Indiana lawmakers are both gathering Thursday to consider legislation regarding the Bears’ pursuit of a new stadium. Did Indiana's push to lure the Bears really light a fire in Illinois lawmakers?

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Harris and Grody, midday's 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. I don't think the Bear Stadium is going to be painted black. Like, that just seems, it seems like you'd absorb a lot of heat, you know, like in a bad way. You want to paint it orange, don't you? Oh, my gosh. Can you imagine the neon? What if it's painted orange? Like, imagine Allegiant Stadium, which I think is dark tinted glass for appropriate reasons.

Imagine Allegiant Stadium, but just orange. Did I burn your brain? This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 The Score. This is a day for some real progress and direction, both in Illinois and in Indiana, when it comes to the Bears' possible stadium projects. And Cam Buckner was on with our morning show today, David Haw and Clay Harbor, talking about the process and where the state of Illinois is regarding the, really, the meeting also that was canceled by the Bears last week. when we saw the big statement issued regarding working with Indiana and that Senate Bill 27,

which could get approved approved as soon as today. It's crazy that a week ago, we were just like, wait, what's happening? And there was just such a roller coaster effect on that entire time we were on the air, because we did not know what was next. And we were trying to figure out, well, why would they postpone this meeting? Why is Indiana all of a sudden getting basically tweets of support from the bears? And now a week later, it feels like the water is leveled off. You have a better sense of where we are in this process for both states.

And while I am paying attention what's going on in Indiana, I am laser focused on Illinois because I think that is the path. There's a good question here from 630 on our text line. 312-644-67 is our number you can call us as well. And it says if nothing happens on the Illinois side today, would you say Indiana is more likely to get the stadium? I don't know. Because I still fall in line with the, you bought the land here. And for people who say, oh, the Patriots were in a similar spot, no.

The Patriots didn't actually buy any land until they had a deal done. They had an agreement in place. And then the agreement changed. And I understand why. but they didn't actually buy the land. As long as the land is purchased and the bears haven't sold it for whatever price, pretend the bears are ultra billionaires,

like an ultra-ultra, like Jeff Bezos wedding billionaires. Oh. Even then if they sold that land for $2 and they don't need the money or whatever, I'm still thinking the bears are following the money to their own purchase property. But I think the beauty of what both of these do, You want progress to be there on both the bill in Illinois and both the bill in Indiana

because it makes the bears decide. If everybody else, if you're, quote, obstacles, end quote, are not obstacles. And they're like, well, we did what you wanted here. We did what you wanted here. Then it's up to the bears to have to actually do something. And that's why you, that's why I argue you want both bills to pass easily. So that way the onus gets put back on the team who, put you in this mess to begin with.

Well, the leverage play doesn't continue if you can't get both these bills moving forward. Let's be honest. And for the Bears, that's what they have right now, is this understanding that, hey, as long as Indiana is in play, Illinois's in trouble. There's a perceived level of concern that the Bears would actually leave Illinois. I don't think that happens unless there's some type of stalemate. But negotiations can continue to go in the language of the bills and the terms of you know, how much money are the bears negotiating to pay with the local municipality in lieu of the taxes?

I mean, that's the kind of stuff I'm keeping my eye on. I'm still trying to figure out in Indiana, you know, where the $3 billion between friends is coming from. Between friends. You know, the $2 billion the bears would put up for an estimated $5 billion stadium deal. I'm using five because that was what so-fi was. And then, and that doesn't account for inflation. that has obviously hit us all. So I think, you know, the money, it makes more sense on the Indiana side from a where you're

going to get it as far as the people wanting to do that. Like I've said all along, I think everybody should be able to vote on these, no matter what state you're in. That has been my position. But when it comes to the money, it sounds like you get more from the state of Indiana. But at least this way, it puts the bears in yet another position where they have to say what they want to do. And that's why I like it.

You want progress with both states' bills, so that way the bears have to actually make some real decisions here. Well, it would sound like to answer that initial question, if nothing happens on the Illinois side today, would you say Indiana is more likely to get the stadium? I would say, yes, but not much more likely. It depends on how much of a stalemate, how much of a stall are we talking about. Well, and Cam Buckner referenced this, and not the today appearance on the morning show, but when that happened prior when he was on the after. afternoon show. He said when he was working for the Cubs and they were asking for public money to fund the Wrigley Field renovations, that the Cubs also said, well, we'll leave and then they didn't. The threat of leaving usually gets you something, but, you know, for...

It gets you something when you haven't built a stadium yet. And that would reiterate that. The stadium existed for the Cubs, right? But that's the point. Like they had a ballpark that art existed. The Cubs themselves were invested. Yeah. And the Bears are also invested. They're invested, but not as much as the Cubs were. The Cubs had an actual standing historical ballpark that people love and everything else. Soldier Field exists, but here's what we know. And also like the Chiefs, for example, yeah, if you're the Chiefs, you're leaving,

because Kansas is basically paying you to be there. That is a... And the voters of Missouri said no. Like the voters. This wasn't left to one. or two people. Okay, so what I'm trying to tell you is until there's shovels in the ground in Indiana, you cannot convince me they're not building in Arlington Heights.

I don't need them to, quote, unquote, sell the land in Arlington Heights to say we're good with the Indiana. Because they can sell that land later if they have to. But because the way this is framed up, because I believe that George McCaskey does not want to leave the state of Illinois, It's a kind of last resort thing to have to go to Indiana. But this did, whether Cam Buckner wants to admit or not, this did light somewhat of a fire to actually getting things done.

Remember how they entered this year? They said, it's not a priority. Bears getting a new stadium's not a priority. As soon as Indiana steps in the picture, all of a sudden, guess what? There's motion. Well, that's the part I'm still trying to figure out, though. What's that?

If Indiana did motivate the state of Illinois at all, because it was pre-existing before Indiana, got into a legal picture or any sort of real discussion. And Austin Bonta, the mayor of Portage, helped us figure out that timeline. It was already pre-discussed that the state would give the bears roughly a billion dollars for infrastructure. And that was prior to Indiana being in the discussion at all. That was prior to the open letter.

That was prior to all of this. Yeah, they said, we'll help you with the infrastructure. But that's what this is. That's what this bill that we're discussing is now. don't know how that changed at all, if it all. Well, I think it changed in the timeline in terms of expediting the process, though. What I'm saying is Illinois, let us know at the end of last year, hey, that's really kind of on the back burner.

That's not something that we're really that interested in making sure this is pushed through at a certain time. With the Indiana stuff starting up and actually going through the process and Mike Braun and all the legislators, excuse me, in Indiana pushing forward, that put the state of Illinois on a timeline that they weren't on before that happened. Well, if you... On Aspire with Em Agreed, we talk about mindset, ambition, and the work that actually moves the needle. Listen to Aspire with Emigreed available where you get your podcasts.

Listen to somebody who's in the Illinois legislature, Cam Buckner. He disagrees with the idea that Indiana prompted the state of Illinois to do anything differently. You know, I'll say this. A couple of things. one, you know, when we're down here in Springfield, there are a lot of things we're working on all at once. I think that we should be able to walk and chew bubble gum and be able to handle public safety and infrastructure and the environment, but also to be able to help and have conversations about businesses here in the state. But the truth for the matter also is that, you know, the bear switch course a few times in this conversation. You know, we had two or three public pivots about Chicago or Arlington Heights.

and then Indiana. And so while the Indiana announced me, I think, did change the complexion of the conversation to a certain extent. We had to be able to see what the later land was and figure out to move forward. Once again, I know for for bear's fans and for folks who care about this, this feels like it's taken forever. But honestly, it is really the speed that these deals usually take when you go through them with a prime two come. I'm not disagreeing with his notion that this is how. goes as far as the speeded, which this is gone, I'm just saying it would have gone faster,

two things. One, if the Bears hadn't had done this out of order, buying the land first, and also the Indiana component, it just put you on a schedule. There was no schedule for Illinois. According to people who spoke from the government standpoint, it was on the back burner. That's something that was documented. And now, guess what? It's not on the back burner anymore. And progress is being made. I don't see that as coincidence. I refuse to. to. But when you have a source saying it wasn't? Wasn't what? Coincidence. When you have a source saying it was coincidence, when it wasn't one versus the other?

I'm not saying it's necessarily one versus the other. I'm just, here's my thing. I refuse to believe it was not a factor at all. It is a factor. Look where we are today. We have the same day, two things being pushed forward. I will say this. We are talking about it more because they did this stuff. And that's what annoys me is respect either the people of Indiana or respect the people of Illinois and knowing that they're the ones who have to think about this. And for those people who use the tolls every day, for example, in Indiana. And for the people who are in Lake of Porter counties, can they afford the 1% tax extra?

You know, respect the Illinois lawmakers who had a meeting and then you decided to postpone it. Respect the people who are trying to work with you. Isn't it to those lawmakers to respect their constituents, though? When you talk about what's being proposed. That's, but they're saying that. They're saying like, we're not getting, that's what the Illinois camp is saying. And in Indiana, you know, the state lawmakers and the governor are pushing this through.

So you'd assume that those people they elected are trying to get this done. But I'm saying we're talking more about it because of these movies. that have been made because the bears decided on their own to postpone that meeting. The bears decided to say the statement about Indiana, but we still don't have a set location. You know, the Hammond Mayor decided to speak. And I hope all of that isn't for nothing out of everybody's efforts. They are moving clumsily about with this. They have been, and I'm just hoping, the clumsiness stops today. That is the hope. 312-644-67.

I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing with the idea that the clumsiness stops today because there's been a lot of evidence to the contrary. Call it hoping and wishing. Indeed. 312-644-67-67 is our number. We continue to discuss this until the top of the hour. That's when Jordan Schultz, the decorated NFL insider, will join us

with the latest on a lot of Bears roster discussion that seems to be happening at the Combine. But in the meantime, we would like you to join our conversation, and we invite you to do so. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3 The Score. Hey, this is Richard Deich, the host of the sports media podcast. If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the sports media podcast has you covered.

I've been turning down interviews all week. Hoda Koppi, reached out, Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said, no, I was booked on the Deich podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.