Illinoisans are calling conflicting plays on a potential Chicago Bears move to Arlington Heights, split among those who favor spiking Soldier Field for a new suburban stadium, others who want the team to hold the line on the lakefront — and a large chunk who are punting on the issue.
, split among those who favor spiking Soldier Field for a new suburban stadium, others who want the team to hold the line on the lakefront — and a large chunk who are punting on the issue.
The survey last week of 770 likely general election voters across the state underscores the difficulty the team faces in lining up support for its sprawling proposal to transform the shuttered Arlington International Racecourse into a stadium campus accompanied by scores of new restaurants, businesses and residential buildings.
"Why should the taxpayers fund anything? It’s a private organization making tons of money," said Evanghelos Karasmanakis, a poll respondent who said he’d enjoy having the team closer to his Morton Grove home — as long as it’s not on the taxpayers’ dime.Twenty-eight percent of respondents were open to public financing for the infrastructure alone, while 12% said they’d even be OK with giving the team money for the stadium itself — something the team has vowed not to ask for.
During his first direct pitch to Arlington Heights residents last month, Bears chairman George McCaskey said the team wouldn’t ask for public assistance for any of the stadium construction — with the caveat that "we will need help" with associated costs. "If you need to build out access roads, expand transit and a bunch of other things that wouldn’t have been necessary otherwise, then that’s part of the project," said Goodale, a casual Bears fan from Lincoln Park who’d rather see the team stay on the lakefront. "It’s just a way for them to make it more palatable for voters and the politicians who have to sign off on it."
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