Residents divided on keeping Bears in IL, prefer privately-funded stadium: poll

Will the state senate sign off on Mega Projects bill? | The Chicago Report

Mayor Brandon Johnson is back from Springfield after a two-day push for more tax revenue to boost city budgets.  But while his goal was shoring up the bottom line, it was his comments on the bears’ new stadium that stole the show. State Sen. Willie Preston is here to react to all of this.

CHICAGO - Illinois residents are divided on whether it’s important to keep the Bears in the state, but they largely agree that any new stadium should be built with limited use of taxpayer funds, according to a new poll.

The poll, conducted by the University of Illinois Springfield’s Center for State Policy and Leadership and originally published by NPR Illinois, surveyed 1,000 Illinois residents back in March, according to a news release.

The survey results come as Illinois state lawmakers consider a bill that would allow the Bears to essentially get a break on their property taxes while building a new stadium in suburban Arlington Heights. Meanwhile, Indiana lawmakers have already passed legislation to approve new taxes to fund the construction of a stadium in Hammond.

Bears leadership has said they will decide on whether to build a new stadium in Arlington Heights or in Hammond later this spring or summer.

"These findings show that while Illinois residents have mixed views on whether the Bears should remain in the state, there is broad agreement that taxpayer funding for new stadiums should be limited," said Nicholas Waterbury, assistant research director for the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership, in a statement.

Residents divided on keeping Bears

What they're saying:

The results found that about half, 49%, of residents said it is important to them that the team remain in Illinois, but 50.3% said it was either of little importance or not important to them.

"The results suggest the issue is meaningful to many residents but not universally prioritized," the pollsters said in the news release.

• Very important: 28.9%
• Important: 20.1%
• A little important: 20%
• Not important: 30.3%

The poll also found opinions on the issue vary significantly by region. Chicago residents were much more likely to say keeping the Bears in the state was important to them, while residents from the central part of the state were neutral and southern Illinois residents were the least concerned.

Using taxpayer money

By the numbers:

The respondents were solidly in favor of using only limited taxpayer funding to build a new stadium for the Bears in Illinois.

Nearly 70% said they preferred to have any new Bears stadium built with either entirely private funds or at least more private funds than taxpayer money.

• Entirely private funding: 37.5%
• More private than public funding: 32.1%
• A 50/50 split of public and private funds: 16%
• More public than private funding: 7.8%
• Entirely public funding: 6.3%

If the Bears decided to build their new stadium in Arlington Heights, the team has said it would entirely fund the construction of the stadium. But the team has also said it would request more than $800 million in taxpayer funding for infrastructure improvements needed around the stadium property.

Gov. JB Pritzker has said that the state has provided similar funding for infrastructure improvements with other large projects, but he and other lawmakers have consistently voiced opposition to using public money to build a stadium.

The pollsters found that opinions were consistent across political parties.