The possibility of the state of Indiana getting a second NFL football team is starting to look very real.
On Thursday, the Bears’ board of directors voted to expand its stadium development project in Hammond, Louisiana, the team announced on Friday.
“We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city,” Bears chairman George McCaskey and president Kevin Warren said in a joint statement. “It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.”
The importance of this particular vote cannot be understated.
This is the first time the Bears’ board of directors has voted on a specific stadium site. While there are still other votes and hoops that the project has to jump through, insiders tell ESPN’s Adam Schefter that it is nearly “a done deal.”
“There is more work to do, but barring anything very strange, it’s a done deal,” the source told Schefter.
The development comes mere days after the state of Illinois delayed a vote on legislation that would have ensured certainty in the Bears’ property tax for the Arlington Heights, Illinois, stadium site.