Bears Meet Hammond Mayor at Proposed Indiana Stadium Site

Bears chairman George McCaskey and team president Kevin Warren sat down Friday with Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. at the spot where Indiana wants to put a new NFL stadium. The meeting happened at Lost Marsh Golf Club near Wolf Lake in Hammond. It’s the most direct signal yet that a cross-state move isn’t off the table.

Other Bears officials and Hammond representatives joined McCaskey and Warren at the site. A team spokesperson said the organization will “continue to work together with Indiana leaders on our commitment to finish the necessary due diligence work for the Hammond site.” That’s not a commitment. It’s not a rejection either.

McCaskey was clear-eyed about where things stood at the NFL’s annual meeting. The Bears don’t yet “have a deal to consider” in Indiana, he told reporters. Due diligence is ongoing. Friday’s visit keeps the pressure on Illinois without tipping the hand.

The timing wasn’t random. Illinois lawmakers are staring down a closing window.

The Illinois House of Representatives could vote as early as next week on PILOT legislation, a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes bill that would let the Bears renegotiate what they owe on property in Arlington Heights. The Illinois General Assembly is in session Tuesday through Thursday before breaking until May 5. If the bill moves through the House, it still needs Senate approval before the session wraps on May 31. After that, the Bears would need to negotiate an actual tax rate with Arlington Heights and lock down infrastructure funding. That’s a long chain of steps, and any one of them can break.

The Bears own 326 acres in Arlington Heights. They’ve been weighing a domed stadium on that land against the Hammond option for years now, and Indiana made its pitch harder to ignore in February. That’s when the state created the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority, a new public body authorized to issue bonds and finance a stadium if the Bears commit to relocating.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wasn’t subtle at the annual meeting. “This is an important time to get this resolved, sooner rather than later,” he said. Warren and McCaskey echoed that tone. The league wants a decision. The Bears want a decision. Springfield is the variable.

The NFL’s stadium development process puts the onus on teams to identify financing before league owners vote on a relocation or new facility. That process is moving whether Illinois acts or not.

What’s at stake for Chicago isn’t abstract. The Bears have played in Illinois since 1921, starting at Wrigley Field before eventually landing at what’s now Soldier Field on the lakefront. Watching that franchise cross into Indiana would be a civic wound that’s hard to quantify and harder to explain to the next generation of fans. It’s not just ticket revenue and stadium jobs. It’s identity.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Friday’s site gathering and noted the Bears expect to reach a decision by late spring or early summer of 2026. That window is short. May 31 is less than 25 days from the House session resuming on May 5, which doesn’t leave room for delay or a prolonged back-and-forth in Springfield.

Hammond wins if Illinois blinks. It’s that simple.

McDermott has been aggressive in courting the Bears, and Indiana’s February move to create the stadium authority gave him institutional muscle to back the pitch. The Lost Marsh Golf Club site sits near Wolf Lake and represents the specific land the Bears would build on if they go north across the state line. Friday’s visit meant McCaskey and Warren walked that ground. They stood there. That’s not nothing.

What comes next is largely up to 17 words in a House bill and the lawmakers who have to vote on them before May 31 closes the door.