Update on Bears' Illinois Stadium Vote and Timeline After They 'Exhausted' Chicago Options

The Illinois House of Representatives adjourned Monday without formally deliberating over a bill intended to help the Chicago Bears build a new stadium in Chicago or Arlington Heights, Illinois.

The Chicago Tribune's Rick Pearson, Jeremy Gorner and Jack O'Connor reported the Illinois Senate passed a bill that would permit large municipalities to create an independent stadium authority.

"The move would essentially have established a public-private partnership in which a sports team like the Bears could have built a stadium on land that would be, or would become, publicly owned to avoid property taxes on the facility," the Tribune noted.

The Bears, who are also evaluating a site in Hammond, Indiana, provided a statement after the House adjourned.

"We will finalize our evaluation of both Arlington Heights and Hammond, and remain on the late spring/early summer timeline that we have previously communicated," the team said. "We will provide an update when we have a decision to share."

Maintaining that timeline will require extra steps from Illinois legislators. As things stand, the House won't return until the fall.

This comes after the Bears said in May they "have exhausted every opportunity to stay in Chicago," necessitating a relocation to Arlington Heights or even another state altogether.

While lawmakers are working against a ticking clock, Illinois Rep. Lindsey LaPointe said the Senate's passage of the bill came too late for the House to fully evaluate the proposal:

"The bill came over from the Senate after many of us had been up for 20 hours and it is not enough time to vet a really important bill, and many of us are very, what's the word, many of us are going to scrutinize anything that is potentially a tax giveaway to the super wealthy or big corporations, especially in this moment where the bulk of us are dealing with affordability issues and dealing with the destruction that's coming out of Washington."

The Bears' current lease at Soldier Field runs through 2033. However, they can pay a fee to break the lease as early as this year.

Regardless of what the next steps are in terms of a stadium, any new venue will require multiple years to construct. Still, the team is clearly seeking a resolution sooner rather than later.