Mayor Irvin thinks Aurora would be the perfect home for the NFL team’s ownership.
Things have not gone well for the National Football League’s Chicago Bears’ franchise owners, the McCaskey family, in the quest for a new stadium. Illinois politicians are unimpressed with the McCaskey family wanting hundreds of millions of public dollars to help finance a stadium. Local Chicago groups do not want the proposed stadium in the south parking lot of Soldier Field. The Bears’ ownership did buy the Arlington Park racetrack property in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights. Bears’ ownership was set to build a stadium-village in town but then the property tax bill came. Bears’ ownership was alarmed with the tab and decided Chicago is a better option. Bears’ ownership is looking for a friendly politician ready to give them public money.
The McCaskeys may have a suitor in Aurora, Illinois. Aurora mayor Richard C. Irvin is ready to give the McCaskey family a chance at building a stadium-village. Aurora is about 40 miles west of Chicago. Aurora is the second largest city in Illinois with a population of 200,456. Aurora is known as the “City of Lights” because it was one of the first cities in the nation to have electric lights on its streets. Irvin’s selling point is simple. “We have so many opportunities here. We have a multi-cultural mix of people. Not only are we the second-largest city, but if you include our surrounding suburbs, we get up to probably close to half-a-million people. We’ve got a high-class city. We’ve got an A-plus bond rating. We’re in a perfect position to be the new home of the Chicago Bears.” Financing is a problem. There is no Aurora plan to finance a Bears’ stadium, just a notion to create a special tax district which would redirect some tax money to the McCaskey family to build a new facility.
Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin
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