Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Gov. JB Pritzker: Fate of Bears' stadium deal is in hands of Illinois House, Senate

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote listened and reacted to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s latest comments about the Bears’ pursuit of a new stadium in Arlington Heights.

Amy Harrison Grody. Can you imagine Lovey Smith doing the whole good, better, best thing? And saying bleep the Packers. Come on, guys, good better best. Never let it rest. I'll see you on Tuesday. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, The Score. Welcome to Hollis Harbor.

You know what that music means. Raging Bull. It's time for mom and dad to talk about uncomfortable stuff. Oh. So it's the reference to Kyle Tucker having to talk about. his injury and then the report about him somewhat covering it up or not wanting to acknowledge it, however you want to

say that. And then he had to talk during the Vanga Bus in the background. And then the Cubs went on some nice run so they were like undefeated for a minute in the Vanga Bus era. It was a thing. What a weird part of Cubs injury history that was. I remember seeing Kyle Tucker

at Gallagher Way. Remember I was using the facilities and there he was walking in and it was the first time I saw him gathering people and signing autographs and that was the first moment where I was like, oh, he's not coming back next year because he's soaking it up here. It was in the playoffs and it was like, yeah, that's it. He's done. He's out of here.

Gone. That he was. But we're in a new day. We're in a new post-PCA reported extension time. And we'll talk more about that coming up at noon. We have five on it. Russ Dorsey is in at 1225. But in the meantime, we had a laypersonation.

breaking development here to the score. This was sent to us via email. Apparently, Governor J.B. Pritzker was at an event in Springfield this morning. And before we get to what he had to say, a friendly reminder that Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tenalia indicated that the state of Illinois needed to get something done before the end of the month regarding the megaprojects bill, which has not moved forward since the latest updates that we had. We know the House re-adjured. on I think the 17th last week. So they're back. They took a brief break after trying to get that bill to the house and then move it from

the committee, which happened. But not much has happened since. We know one of the sticking points at the time was reported. Cam Buckner, who is in the district that represents Soldier Field, said that he wanted the bears to pay back some of the money that the county spent on the renovations to Soldier Field back in 2003. So all of that said, things are moving. slowly. Are you surprised by this? No. No, I mean, I'm the one who predicted that they won't break ground

until 2027. As did I, no, I didn't. Back to you. I did not. I said July 27th. Think about moving a barge rather than pivoting a kayak. And just to give you the information again, here's the quote. I can promise you that no one at Hallis Hall wants to wait until the end of May for this to be solved, Tenalia said. The pressure is on to try to wrap it up with the capital ASAP. Well, depends on who you ask what ASAP really is. So that said, let's hear what J.B. Prisker had to say about all of that. I think we all feel like this needs to happen sooner rather than later. And it is in the hands of the legislature. As you know, we've done a lot of work in our administration to try to put something together that will work for both the state, the legislature, and their concerns,

and the team itself. It is a pretty good deal that's been put on the table that I think seems to have support broadly by the bear's ownership. And so it really now is in the hands of the House of Representatives and then the Senate to get something done in a timely fashion. You know what that was? The old passing the buck. Yeah. It's not coming to him yet. It has to go to other places first.

It's like I'm just a bill song from Capitol or from a schoolhouse rock. He was sitting on Capitol Hill. Sorry about that. Yeah. Sooner rather than later, pretty good deal on the table. And as I told you from what I had been hearing a month ago after I went to the big meeting in Arlington Heights, which now feels like a year of. ago is that J.D. Pritzker has always wanted to get this done. And like he just did right there,

putting pressure on the House of Representatives. And you said it you were right to bring up Cam Buckner because it is about the city legislators who are what is holding it up and what they are trying to finalize is what does the city of Chicago get out of this when the bears inevitably move to either Arlington Heights or Indiana or that great new renders. of Soldier Field that we got to see last week. Oh, yes, glass football spaceship. It's beautiful, man. But it ain't happening.

Not going to happen. I think they may be a little late on that one. Just a little. And we still don't know who paid for those renderings, right? They just appeared. Yeah, and like I said, that's the ex-girlfriend or boyfriend saying, look how hot I could be. Look how hot I am.

Look, this is what you could have had if you want to go to your little suburbs or to Indiana. Go ahead. But look how hot I look. look here in a beautiful part of the city with my beautiful lake behind me. You know that that's going to get taken by some Chris Tana Hill or somebody like that. You're saying, look how hot I look here and used out of context in a promo. If that's the worst thing that gets taken out of context that I've ever said,

look how hot I am, I'll take it. All right. Put it in heavy rotation. You know, it's really funny, though, is this is not the first time a red ring about the new soldier field has occurred. they did this after they bought Arlington Heights too. The Bill Curtis video? I was there. Oh, the Bill Curtis video.

Yes. You know what I'm talking about? Lori Lightfoot and Bill Curtis. Oh, yeah. Bill Curtis was not with Lori Lightfoot to be like, hey. Bill Curtis. He just lent his wonderful voice to the project. He still does that.

He's doing something. He's narrating some commercial that's in heavy rotation. Calderose. Is that what it is? I'm Bill Curtis. I do everything. That's how much I watch Bulls game. That's what it was.

Should I admit this out loud? Hey, we all as a program from our separate abodes were watching every... I watched every second of the Bulls game last night, and I feel like I was paid off for it. It was wonderful. Wonderful entertainment. I like this quote from our Twitch mom. This is from Ben Johnson Disciple. Chicago is Stone Cold Fox, Grody.

And somebody has redeemed the quote on Twitch. Look how hot I am. There you go. Look how... I mean, look at me. Look at me. I feel like this was J.B. Pritzker reminding everybody of parliamentary procedure. Well, before it goes to me, guys, the House has to vote on it, and then the Senate.

And then I'm like, hey, maybe I'll see this now. He wants this done. He knows he can't be the governor that loses the Chicago. Even if it's not that big a deal. They're not his to lose. They make their own decision. I know they make their own. They're not being held captive.

I understand that. but his opponents will use that and attack him, even though we know that this has happened in a dozen other NFL cities, that they move out of their city proper into the suburbs, and it's been just fine, but it's a game within a game here for J.D. Pritzker. Let me apply some out-of-town stupid here. Okay.

Because I assume you're talking about not necessarily the gubernatorial race here, but if he were to run for a larger office, such as El Presidency. Both. Absolutely. Governor and re-election and presidential. I don't know how much it's going to matter to Pennsylvania, for example, a state where the vote is in question. It's just something that can be. It's just a bullet that can be used against him in any way, shape, or form. I get what you're saying.

Of course. They're not going to care in Pennsylvania. But it is some, it is just, it is ammunition. Maybe they will. You know, I don't know. Yeah. Pittsburgh, PA. But if you're, so if you're in Texas, for example, when you saw the Cowboys go from Dallas to Arlington.

Didn't care. Right. It's a non-issue. Right. But his candidacy would likely be a non-issue there anyway. Right. Just because of how they go. Yeah.

Yeah. And the big picture. But you know how the news works. He would get crushed for it here and that would spread to the rest of the country. And maybe the rest of the country would just be, oh, okay. Interesting. But it is ammunition. That's all.

I think he doesn't seem too concerned. Like that's what I heard when I heard him speak. No, I hear him. Well, it's got to go to the house and Senate. I don't know that he's not concerned. I think he, I hear it as, don't look at me. Right? Like, it's got to go.

Like, they have to haggle over this. I'm good with it. That's what I'm inferring anyway. So I do think he's comfortable with it. And you know what that is? Politics. Exactly. Ammunition.

Yes. No, I think you're completely right about that. But I don't, Jim Tenalia, putting a timeline on this is, frankly, the most of a timeline we've gotten in the state of Illinois. Incredible. Because, for example, in Indiana, they said, oh, yeah, here's the session. here's when it's ending. We would like to get it heard by this time. We have these people. We have this city. We have these proposals, et cetera.

So I feel like that's they at least applied the proper timelines to it. Let's get back to halftime coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie and a perplexing crime story to say the very least. In the meantime, as you know, baseball is back. Opening night is live on Netflix tomorrow night. Aaron Judge in the New York Yankees clash with Raphael Devers and the San Francisco Giants. It still feels weird to say Raphael Devers in the San Francisco Giants. It does. He's a Red Sox, man. I know. When you say Yankees and you say Raphael Devers.

Wild. It's a left turn. MLB opening night. Yankees and Giants live on Netflix tomorrow night at 7 p.m. A true crime story that has mystified us all. Next. Look how hot I look here.