Sean Connolly, CEO of ConAgra Foods with Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren (Photo Credit: Tacuma Roeback).
Hundreds gathered at the Sheraton Ballroom, many wearing their dark navy and orange Chicago Bears jerseys, eager to hear the man who many feel has their favorite team on the precipice of enduring success.
The Economic Club of Chicago invited Chicago Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren to participate in a wide-ranging discussion about his upbringing, career, and the approaches and philosophies he’s employed to lead one of the NFL’s most storied franchises.
Invariably, moderator and interviewer Sean Connolly, CEO of ConAgra Foods, asked Warren the question that loomed the largest that evening: where things stood with the team and its negotiations for a new lakefront stadium.
“To have an ownership group commit to over $2 billion in private money. And I’m not being funny or joking when I say this: I have searched tall and wide to find out the last time that a private entity, a family-owned business, committed $2 billion on a project that would be collectively owned from a public-private partnership. It hasn’t happened.” said Warren, referring to the Bears’ proposal to build a state-of-the-art fixed-roof stadium along Chicago’s lakefront while contributing $2 billion, which they announced would cover over 70% of the total cost.
While Mayor Brandon Johnson enthusiastically supported a new lakefront stadium, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s press secretary issued a statement on behalf of his office, calling the idea of constructing a new stadium a “non-starter for the state.”
“In order to subsidize a brand-new stadium for a privately owned sports team, the Governor would need to see a demonstrable and tangible benefit to the taxpayers of Illinois.”
On Thursday night (Sept. 5), Warren shared his thoughts about what a new lakefront stadium would mean to the city in terms of job creation, increasing the tax base, boosting local businesses and hosting signature events.
“We’ve never hosted a Super Bowl. We’ve never hosted a Final Four. I watched the game this weekend between USC and LSU that [Ryan Poles] was there scouting. They had more fans at that game than they did at the Super Bowl,” said Warren.
He added that Chicago is “missing out on concerts, multiple mega events, Super Bowls, Final Fours.”
Warren also said that the Bears would be open to working with the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Fire and Chicago Red Stars soccer teams, saying, “We’re wide open to be able to work with the multiplicity of the different sports organizations.”
The White Sox forwarded its stadium proposal at “The 78” site in the South Loop.
“What we need to do is stop looking at what we don’t have in Chicago. Let’s put our assets on the table and figure out what we do have and how we can come together. Make this city even stronger than it already is, make it a better place, to create an incredible revenue stream for Chicago and allow us to be the greatest city on the planet,” he said.
Warren also said that talks regarding a Bears stadium in the Northwest suburb of Arlington Heights are ongoing.
Ultimately, he focused on what the Bears city proposal would look like, not just for the team but also for the community.
“I live downtown, and the only time I go to Soldier Field is for a Bears game, a Fire game, a concert, but that should be a place that we should be able to go eat and enjoy a beautiful kind of lakefront, enjoy downtown,” Warren said.
“So we wanted to make sure it’s an environment that everyone, all the way from youth sports to seniors, can enjoy this beautiful lakefront.”
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