Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - State Rep. Kam Buckner broke down what has changed in Bears' stadium talks

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed how the Bears have made progress with Illinois lawmakers in their quest to build a new stadium in Arlington Heights.

This is Rahimi Harrison Rodi on 104-3, The Score. And for the second day in a row, we have more follow-up when it comes to discussion surrounding the Bears Stadium. If you missed us yesterday, and I know there were a lot of people who called, we will take your calls again in this hour. 312, 644, 67, 67 is our number. You do have a vote. You do have a say with us. Even if you don't get to vote on it yourselves in an actual ballot, we at least will listen to you. So just know that.

And in the meantime, we got some answers on our afternoon show yesterday, Spiegel and Holmes, who had Cam Buckner on, who is part of the state legislature. He's one of our representatives. And Cam is important in this because he provides answers. And that's what you want from your public servants. And Cam is sports savvy as we know. And he understands the discussion, I think, a little bit better from people like us who, you know, know about the bears but don't necessarily know what the other money would

go to in a budget. So Cam, I think, provided some valuable answers. You know, before we get to what he said, what were you two's opinions of just Cam kind of clarifying Marshall Harris and Mark Rody? I loved Cam's appearance because it kind of took us behind the curtain as much as he could because obviously it's an active negotiation. There's only so much that he can say. But when you bring up the reference to having been through something similar, when you talk about the Cubs, deciding they were going to remake their ballpark and do all the things that they were doing. And in comparison to this,

not an apples to apples comparison, but just laying it out, hey, this is where we are with the NFL and their process compared to what happened with the Cubs. I thought that illustrated more clearly what this whole process is going to look like and the fact that, hey, we're making progress in this process. That's probably the most important thing.

Yeah, I mean, that was the first thing that I jotted down in this that again the evidence is mounting from all the different sides of this that the meetings are positive specifically using words like the most regularity and clarity there has ever been in the meetings with with the bears so I think it's important to point that out I thought it was interesting to hear the optimism yet yet cam buchner sharing with everybody and we'll hear some of it coming up on what the concerns are still that are left, which include obviously what the state is stuck with and the windfall and the backfill of the coffers. That's really important to the state

of Illinois. And the other part too was that I thought was interesting is, hey, if they moved to the suburbs, if they moved to Arlington Heights, what's left for Chicago in all of this? Where are the benefits then? What are they stuck with or left with or not have the benefit of? Yeah, I like to say it was some that we were taught, like in journalism school. And I was made to minor in political science as part of a journalism major at North Texas. And I don't normally tout that, but you do end up learning a lot. Like when I had to take two semesters of urban politics and what that meant in sports arenas and their effects on local governments was one of the parts of the study and a term paper

for me. So one of the questions that I always ask in these things, and it's valuable to you is who pays, who loses, who benefits. And so that's what we're trying to figure out. You know who benefits because we're a sports station and you're listening to us. The Bears benefits. So that is clear. Everything else is where it gets a little more not blurry, but just you can't always see.

So Cam Buckner talked to Spiegel and Holmes and discussed what that phrase even means. Property tax certainty and how it plays out. When you look at a mega project that size, what the bears are asking for is to be able to know up front what they're going to pay every year in property tax. What I've said from the beginning is that while that is not, you know, immediate money or a check from the government to the bears, there has to be conversations about what that looks like. How much is the property tax break?

What are they going to negotiate? And the reason that the state has some skin in the game on that is because if for some reason the property tax relief is so big that the village of Arlington Heights ends up coming back to the state of Illinois to help them back fill the coffers for things like schools and police and fire, then we missed an opportunity to have a robust conversation. So for me, I understand property tax certainty. I understand why you would desire that in a stadium conversation. And I respect why the bears are asking for that.

And I think they also at this point, I respect that we have to be prudent when it comes to all of these things to work out for the, the broader economic picture. You know what? I bet you would like property tax certainty, the listener. I bet anybody who's in our studio right now would like property tax certainty. And you know what else? You probably use your house

more than a guarantee of eight or nine games a year. You know, that's the part of this that makes this hard. It's, yeah, okay, it might create jobs in X, Y, and Z. But, you know, what's the payoff for the state here? And then how does that happen where, yeah, guess what? If the local doesn't have enough money, then the state, as we've seen in prior instances, will have to backfill the gaps. I think the cost certainty from the taxes is something that both sides should be concerned with, just as Cam laid it out, because you need to know

what you're able to do with that tax money. And the only way you can know that is how much tax money are you bringing in. So that's where the negotiation to me lies, like that's the stake right there. Where is that needle moving? Is it moving to somewhere where both the state, aka us, because the citizens are who's left with those kind of, if not a debt, as we saw at Soldier Field, just the understanding that it's got to make sense for both sides. And so for the Bears, we know their playbook. Listen, the Kansas City Chief thing is still like fresh on my mind when I look at all of this. It's pretty amazing.

Yeah. And we'll get to that. So it's got to make sense, though, for both sides. And I think the Indiana introduction, the multiple spots in Indiana that would like to have a Bears stadium, it's causing everyone to focus a little more, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? Clearly, they've been for weeks now planning what they are going to try to do. Right.

And you kind of asked me off the air, I think it was yesterday, Marshall, like where I stand with all of this. Of course, I'd prefer the Bears to stay in Illinois. But I would like to hopefully, if the Bears do get the opportunity to, if to negotiate, the rate with the local municipalities. That's what I want to know more. I want to know more because we joked around about it yesterday about the steak dinner and that just avoid one steak dinner a month and you'll be covered. I really want to know what is going to be charged of Illinois citizens, people in

Chicago, people who don't, are not interested. So I am very curious to see what that is. I also saw something that really made sense that Cam Buckner said yesterday that is good for all of this, that he kind of understands. what the bears have been doing because it's what the NFL requires, but he shot back saying they need to understand what we are trying to do representing this citizens of the state of Illinois. Well, that's it. And it's not just one steak dinner.

You said a month. Tony and Juliet said a year, it's more than that. And we talked about it. There's a lot of published articles about how the money does change up. And we'll get into a little bit more of that in our next segment, because Cam Buckner did talk about that part of it. You know, it's the concept of that money goes in other places then. You know, money that was designated for your CTA, money that was designated for your roads, money that was designated for other things. Police. Yeah, exactly.

Fire, school. And let's be honest, the budget has been a mess in this state for a minute. Yeah, and by minutes we mean years. Decades. So because of that, you know, this is where that comes into play. Now, Marshall, it's your station, ABC7, that had this report saying, Illinois. leaders say they're working hard to keep the bears from crossing the state line. Sources close to the negotiations told ABC 7 that a group of legislative leaders and bears

representatives have met several times a week since early December and that was before the bears released the possibility of moving to Indiana. That is important context in all of this. You know, we call that, we call that a ramp up in negotiations and discussions. Well, also it could be, okay, did the bears decide to bring in Indiana after? some of the results of these meetings that had reportedly happened before that took place. Yeah, again, I just think when you talk about expediting factors, the Indiana thing can only be seen as that when they come to the table, whether it's Indiana, whether it's Iowa, whether any other states want to get involved in this with their ideas of what they could do

to draw the bears to across state line. I mean, you know what I said. If you're really serious about leaving, you play the nuclear option, as we like to say. No, but that's... Wisconsin. You threaten Wisconsin. Kenosha's right there. Suddenly the bears can be in... You know, then everybody's saying, take them out of there.

The forest will have awakened if that occurs. Well, the 75-mile radius comes into play, right? Is Kenosha... Is Kenosha south of 75 miles of Green Bay? Like, that's what I would have to measure. Yeah, I don't know. I think it is. I think it is.

I think it is. Not Milwaukee, obviously, by Green Bay. I think so. But, no, I think all those options mean that the bears are exhausting. Remember, the bears are behind schedule. Let's not forget. get that. Are they? I don't know about you, but I love buying land and having to stay vacant for three years. I think it's tremendous. Shovel on the ground is the phrase that will live forever. I love paying taxes on

things that I don't use. Listen, they're not just behind schedule like, hey, we thought this would be going somewhere by now. They're behind schedule in that they made a declarative statement of shovels in the ground, 2025. I don't know if y'all know. It's not only 2026. We're in the second month of 2026. Did I tell you? We're to the three-year anniversary of them buying Arlington Heights. I think I told either of you guys. We changed the name of the podcast from Take the North to Shovels in the Ground.

Since they took the North, it's now the Shovels in the Ground podcast with Mark Grody and Dan Wheater or later until the shovels are in the ground. And then you got to change the name again. So, yes. I still like it when everybody just starts naming sites that they want to put the stadium on. That's still

my favorite. My ex-s house. You know, I'm like, oh, what about this abandoned mall? I feel like my ex's house most people can relate to because they've got that one X that they're like, yeah, they made my life absolutely. My ex does not deserve to have the Bears Stadium built on her site. Yeah. I don't know why you guys think this is a place. You don't even deserve the Bears. In theory, their house is now gone.

Their place of residence does no longer exist. They had to move. Never forget that. Imminent domain for the whole organization. Bingo. Never forget that our meatball of the year. And I'm aware it's February of 2020. The winner is early.

Leader in the clubhouse. But our meatball of the year is the guy who wanted to eminent domain the team. You, sir, you are the winner right now. You're the winner of meatball of the year. He didn't say eminent domain for a site for the stadium. He said eminent domain the entire organization. We always say like we laugh with Rome because, you know, he said for the career. I'm like, the team.

For the team? Eminent domain. Eminent domain, the team. That's going to be my answer for everything from now on. Eminent domain. That's how we're going to do it. But say it like in an intellectual. Do you ever think about eminent domain?

That's something you've got to think about. Do you know what it reminds me of is Dwight from the office trying to citizens arrest everybody? This is a citizen's arrest. I'm eminent domating anything. With what authority? My own. You thought that that was your intellectual property? Have you ever heard of eminent domain?

It's right now. The table is cleared. All you have to say is eminent domain and you win your argument, kids. And then you just back it up with the necessary and proper clause. Okay. Let's get back to the real stuff here. and people who will actually be in a room for a decision. Kemp Buckner also explained what has changed for the Bears in finding a new stadium location.

This is a process, right? And each part of the process has a different cadence. I think early on they were trying to see what they could get. I think it was very difficult to figure out where they were going. As you guys remember, they were initially said they were leaving Chicago. Then they came out with a big announcement that they were going to stay in Chicago. Then they came out with another announcement that they were going to leave Chicago. Then they came out with another announcement that they were going to go to pop.

possibly look at Indiana, right? And so it was kind of hard to keep tabs on where they were. But I think where we are now is a real honest, transparent conversation in order to maintain the integrity of those conversations. I'll just, you know, I'll say kind of some surface level things about it. But we have spoken to them, I think, with the most regularity and the most clarity that we've been able to get within the last three years. The last three weeks has been clearer than any point of the last three years. I still maintain that everything we're seeing, whether it's this conversation Cam Buckner is having on the afternoon show yesterday, Spiegel and Holmes, or it's us having the entire conversation,

or it's Portage Park, for example, having a press conference, or it's somebody in Iowa trying to pitch for the Bears. All of these things are normal. They just were supposed to have happened before you buy the land. Like, we're reverse engineering all of this. And it's going to work out eventually somehow some way. Don't know exactly the details of what it's going to look like. But the reality is should be setting in for everyone.

The Bears are getting a new stadium. And it's just a matter of how much is that stadium going to cost? And more importantly, at least from my vantage point, how much is it going to cost you? Yeah. And we took some really good calls on it yesterday. The plot changes on the daily. So let's invite our listeners here to give their opinions as well, 312 644-67-67.

What did you think about what you heard from Cam Buckner, the representative that was not with Spiegel and Holmes yesterday? And where would you like the bears to land? What is your logical answer to that? 3-1-2-644-67-667. That's right. That's Mark Grotie. Marshall Harris is here too.

I'm Lailahaheimie. And yes, we are both on 670 and 104-3, the score. We broadcast live from our scores Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. Our producers are Ray Diaz, Tyler Buterbaugh and Brandon Friar. You can join us on Twitch. Don't do what I did. I went to the old Twitch address. It's the score Chicago on Twitch. That's where you can find us. Our Twitch mob is chatting on the Twitch chat over there. You can also find us at YouTube, YouTube.TV and 670, the score Chicago is our address there as well. So coming up next, more from Cam Buckner because he's going to be in the room. when this happens, so to speak. You know, he's part of these discussions that the state is having and that the bears are asking money from the state. He's part of the one in the group who knows what that actually entails.

So as far as who pays, who loses, who benefits, more on that. And then also what he thought of the most recent stadium discussion that happened close-ish to us when it comes to the NFL. So all that is next. And yes, you can call us 312, 64-64, 67-67. you've got Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score.