The NFL Is Talking. Chicago Is Still in the Plan.

The Senate's stadium negotiator says the NFL is interested in a location-neutral proposal that keeps Chicago eligible. He also called Indiana a bluff, then warned the Bears might play that hand.

By Dear Kevin Warren · 2026-10-28

Sen. Bill Cunningham says the stadium negotiations have been with the NFL primarily, and only a little with the Bears.

He said it on the October 27 episode of Sox In The Basement, hosted by Chris Lanuti. A White Sox podcast carried a useful explanation of what Illinois is offering the Bears.

Cunningham described a privately financed, publicly owned stadium. Municipalities would be able to establish stadium authorities under the proposal. He named Arlington Heights and Chicago.

His description of the approach: "location neutral."

That matters for Chicago. A vote for this framework would not have to be a vote to help the Bears leave the city. Chicago would remain eligible to make its case.

It would not select a Chicago site, either. A framework is an opening, not a stadium agreement.

The NFL is in the conversation

Cunningham said that over the summer and into the fall, lawmakers met with "the NFL primarily, a little bit with the Bears, but mostly with the NFL." He said the league is interested in the municipal stadium approach.

That is his account of the negotiations. It is not a new NFL statement, and it is not proof that the Bears have accepted the proposal. But it is hard to square with the idea that Illinois is negotiating with itself.

Cunningham also drew a boundary around construction costs: "We expect the Bears to pay for their stadium." He named the two things Illinois would still do, a tax incentive and infrastructure around the site.

Public ownership does not make a project free to taxpayers. Those two items deserve the same scrutiny they have always deserved.

He called Indiana a bluff. Read the next sentence.

Asked whether the Bears would take the Illinois approach over Indiana, Cunningham answered: "I think so, but I'm not positive."

He said he believed Indiana "was completely started as a bluff." Then he warned that poker players sometimes play their bluff hands, and the Bears might do that too.

His assessment supports skepticism about the threat. It does not certify the outcome. Both halves belong in the same paragraph, and Cunningham put them there himself.

He said there might be a vote as soon as this fall, and that the Senate and House proposals from the spring remain the vehicles under discussion. The House bill was built on the Arlington Heights property tax ask. The Senate bill created the authority structure.

Chicago does not have to disappear from the conversation for an Illinois bill to pass. In the Senate negotiator's own account, Chicago is part of the proposal.

Keep it there.

Source: Sox In The Basement, "Senator Bill Cunningham And The Likely Move Of The White Sox," October 27, 2026. The Bears discussion runs from roughly 34:00 to 37:47. Every quote above was checked against a local transcript of the episode's own audio, not automatic captions.

What this piece does not claim: There is no official proposal to put the Bears at Rate Field. No architectural concept was confirmed by any firm. Cunningham said he was aware of no official proposal for that site, and described it as possible but improbable.