Soldier Field and the Chicago skyline on April 26, 2023 (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS)
The Chicago Bears CEO Kevin Warren has made a statement stating the Bears will not be going to Arlington Heights and are staying in Chicago at Soldier Field. The Bears are planning on building a $2 billion dollar stadium that will improve upon their current facilities.
Being a Bears fan myself, this is incredible news. Most longtime fans of the Bears were none too happy upon hearing about the move to Arlington Heights. There is something special about Soldier Field being right in the middle of our beautiful city.
Even though the teams we have had recently have been unbearable, the city of Chicago has one of the greatest fan bases in the country. Whether your favorite team is the Blackhawks, Cubs, or the Bears, you love that team with all your heart.
Soldier Field is the smallest stadium in the NFL with a capacity of 61,500 and gets almost 100% of their stadium filled for each game. We have not been over .500 over the last five seasons. This shows how much horrible football the fans are willing to endure because of the love they have for this team.
There are several other teams in the NFL who have their stadiums outside of the city in their name. The most notable one out of them all is MetLife Stadium, which is home to the New York Jets and New York Giants. MetLife stadium is not even in New York, it’s actually in New Jersey.
The Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, and many more teams have their stadiums not in their actual city; we do not want to be like these teams.
Arlington Heights is about 26.5 miles away from Chicago, if we were to relocate there we may as well change our name to the Arlington Heights Bears.
Traveling to a random suburb of Chicago would not have the same feel as going to the heart of Chicago for a game. Especially because of the incredible transportation system we have in Chicago. There’s something special about taking the red line down to Soldier Field with friends.
It’s the same thing with going to a Cubs or a Sox game. Taking the red line to Soldier Field or Wrigley Field is an experience that you won’t get when making the trip down to Arlington Heights. Although the train can get crowded with all the fans, it makes you feel like you are a part of this special fanbase.
I can vividly remember getting off at Roosevelt with all the other Bear’s fans for a preseason game. We all moved together as one towards the stadium and everybody left together after the game to get back on the train. Even though the Bears suck, that feeling of being connected with the fanbase made the experience that much better.
Plus, for once the future for the Bears is starting to look slightly promising. With us trading Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers, this basically confirms we will be drafting Caleb Williams. Williams is being called a generational talent, and is one of the best quarterbacks in the draft since Joe Burrow.
The greatest quarterback that Chicago has ever had was Jay Cutler, so if Williams pans out we could have our first great quarterback ever. We have also made a lot of trades this off season and our team looks great on paper for next season. Our roster seems to finally be trending up.
From 2015 to 2021 we were plagued with a horrible General Manager, Ryan Pace. Pace is responsible for taking Mitchell Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson, which is unforgivable. As of 2022, we finally got a competent General Manager named Ryan Poles.
Poles has already made a few great trades, the most notable one being the trade with the Carolina Panthers to land our first round pick this year and DJ Moore. We also have a great new president in Kevin Warren who made the decision to keep the stadium in Chicago. Safe to say that our front office finally looks decent.
For the first time in what seems like forever there is finally some hope for the Bears’ franchise. We have never seen much success at Soldier Field, so building this new stadium could be the start of a new era.