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Pritzker says he could lose Chicago Bears to Indiana after Illinois House punts late stadium bill

On 2026-06-01 the Illinois House declined to take a last‑minute stadium megaproject/PILOT bill, collapsing a property‑tax incentive the Bears sought; Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he could end up being the governor who loses the team to Indiana and left open revisiting the plan this summer. (Chicago Sun‑Times)

News BriefPublished May 31, 2026 at 8:00 PM EDT
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Illinois’ push for a megaproject property‑tax incentive for a new Bears stadium collapsed just before the legislative calendar expired when House leaders declined to give the late bill a vote, Gov. J.B. Pritzker acknowledged the outcome could mean the Bears leave for Indiana. (Chicago Sun‑Times: https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears-stadium/2026/06/01/pritzker-bears-indiana-illinois-stadium-bill)

The 11th‑hour pitch, sponsored in the Senate by Bill Cunningham and backed by Pritzker’s staff, would have let municipalities form stadium financing authorities to negotiate with franchises in Cook County cities of 70,000+; municipalities would own the land and stadium while the team would build it and be exempt from property taxes. Senate President Don Harmon supported the bill; House Speaker Chris Welch said he didn’t give it a vote to "get it right," and Harmon warned there was "no appetite" to give public dollars to a $10 billion franchise. (Chicago Sun‑Times)

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Linked source published June 1, 2026 at 2:44 PM EDT. A sourced news brief; no independent staff reporting is implied. Prepared with AI assistance from the linked research; material claims remain attributed in the article.

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