Roger Goodell joins Bears leaders in a meeting with Illinois lawmakers, the team says it is still finalizing two Hammond sites, and Pritzker targets a December stadium vote

Commissioner Roger Goodell has stepped back into the Chicago Bears’ stadium fight. Goodell went with Bears chairman George McCaskey and president and CEO Kevin Warren to a meeting with Illinois legislative leaders in Chicago earlier this week, and the two sides promised to keep talking about a stadium in Arlington Heights or the city itself. On Friday, the Bears put out a statement that left both Illinois and Indiana in the game, and Gov. JB Pritzker said a bill could be voted on before the end of the year.

Earlier this week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell accompanied #Bears officials Kevin Warren and George McCaskey to a meeting with Illinois legislative leaders in Chicago. They promised to have continued conversations about a path forward for a stadium in Arlington Heights or Chicago.

Statement:

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 6, 2026

The Bears’ statement

The team said it remains “committed to building a world-class stadium and mixed-use district for our fans, the Chicagoland community and the team.” It said it continues to work with local and state leaders in Indiana “to advance our stadium development plans in Hammond, where we are finalizing due diligence details across two sites in the Wolf Lake area.”

Then came the line Illinois wanted to hear. “At the same time, we appreciate the recent engagement from Illinois leadership to explore legislation which has allowed us to share our feedback,” the Bears said. “We expect productive dialogue with both leadership teams in the coming weeks. We have a responsibility and obligation to explore every option available to the club.”

Pritzker’s timeline

Pritzker called the meetings “part of a continuing endeavor” to get ready for the Illinois General Assembly’s fall veto session, which runs Nov. 17-19 and Dec. 1-3 in Springfield. He said the bill would give the team “the opportunity to choose where they want to build a stadium,” in Arlington Heights or Chicago. “We want to make sure the legislation is ready for people to look at and maybe have some hearings during that first week,” he said, “and then hopefully get voted on during the second week of veto.”

No deal can be done before those dates. A spring proposal that would have let the Bears negotiate payments in place of property taxes on the 326-acre Arlington Park site, which the team bought for $197 million in 2023, stalled in the Illinois Senate. Lawmakers then started looking at a publicly owned stadium authority instead.

Why the commissioner keeps showing up

This is not Goodell’s first trip. He met Illinois officials in August and again this fall with Pritzker, minority owner Pat Ryan and legislative leaders, a session we covered in October when the league said “timely action is essential.” A commissioner does not sit in on state-level stadium talks unless the league sees a real chance for a deal, and moving one of the league’s founding franchises across a state line would be a league-level decision.

Indiana has a head start on paper. Lawmakers there passed a plan in March that creates a stadium authority in Hammond to build and run a publicly owned stadium, paid for with higher county restaurant, hotel and admission taxes, and with as much as $1 billion in public bonding. The Bears have pledged $2 billion toward the Hammond project, and the team’s board voted in June to move forward with it. The Bears’ stadium search has now run for more than five years. The next checkpoint is Nov. 17, when Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield.