{"id":176816,"date":"2021-06-18T01:26:52","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T08:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=176816"},"modified":"2021-06-18T09:22:12","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T16:22:12","slug":"chicago-bears-announce-bid-for-arlington-international-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-bears-announce-bid-for-arlington-international-property\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Bears Announce Bid for Arlington International Property"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Monsters of the Midway might have to come up with a new nickname. On Thursday, the Chicago Bears revealed that they submitted a proposal to buy the Arlington International Racecourse property currently owned by Churchill Downs Inc.<\/p>\n

\"Chicago
Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields works out during an offseason minicamp at Halas Hall last month. The highly touted QB could potentially play in his prime at a new stadium where Arlington International Racecourse now stands. The Bears president and CEO said Thursday the team put in a bid to buy the property in Arlington Heights, Ill. (Image: Kamil Krzaczynski\/USA TODAY Sports<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Louisville-based gaming company announced in February<\/a> its plans to sell the 326-acre development in the tony Chicago suburb, saying that the land had \u2013 to the chagrin of thoroughbred horsemen \u2013 more suitable purposes. Since then, rumors circulated about the city’s beloved NFL team\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n

Those rumors turned to truth via Twitter.<\/p>\n

“We recently submitted a bid to purchase the Arlington International Racecourse property,\u201d team President and CEO Ted Phillips said in a statement. \u201cIt is our obligation to explore every possible option to ensure we\u2019re doing what\u2019s best for our organization and its future. If selected, this step allows us to further evaluate the property and its potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears are the second entity to publicly announce their interest in the property. A group led by Roy Arnold, a former Arlington Park track president<\/a>, issued a statement on Tuesday, the deadline to submit a bid. Arnold\u2019s group seeks to save the historic track for racing and develop other parcels around it.<\/p>\n

Property Could Still Host Gaming<\/h2>\n

Should Churchill Downs pick the Bears bid, it would not necessarily end the property\u2019s potential as a gaming site. While football would replace horse racing on the property, the Bears could pursue a sports betting license.<\/p>\n

The expanded gaming law Illinois lawmakers passed two years ago not only legalized sports betting, but it also allowed the state\u2019s major league pro teams with venues seating at least 17,000 to pursue a license and host a sportsbook on-site or near their stadium.<\/p>\n

The cost for the license is $10 million.<\/p>\n

Last year, DraftKings announced a partnership with the Chicago Cubs to eventually establish a sportsbook at or near Wrigley Field, the club\u2019s longtime home.<\/p>\n

In Washington, DC, William Hill has opened a sportsbook at Capital One Arena. Across town, BetMGM recently went live with its mobile sports betting app in the nation\u2019s capital. BetMGM plans to open a brick-and-mortar book there later this year.<\/p>\n

Arlington Heights Mayor Welcomes Bears Interest<\/h2>\n

For the past couple of years, Churchill Downs officials and representatives from the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen\u2019s Association maintained a frosty relationship. That stemmed from CDI\u2019s decision not to pursue a racino license.<\/a> But there were lingering concerns about the track\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

Officials in the village of Arlington Heights, which has embraced the track as a town symbol, also grew worried about a possible closure.<\/p>\n

However, if horse racing\u2019s no longer in the cards for Arlington, then, per a statement from the village\u2019s mayor Thursday, the Bears making it their home seems an intriguing option.<\/p>\n

\n

We welcome the Chicago Bears interest in the Arlington Park site,\u201d<\/strong> Mayor Tom Hayes said. \u201cIt is a one-of-a-kind location, and we are glad that the Bears ownership sees its tremendous potential.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hayes added that village officials will work with Churchill Downs and CBRE, its broker, \u201cto closely review\u201d the bids.<\/p>\n

Aside from the Bears and Arnold submissions, Hayed told Casino.org<\/em> in an email that local officials did not know how many bids the property received. Further, he added, Arlington Heights\u2019 main priority is seeing to it that the Arlington Park land is put \u201cto its highest and best use.\u201d<\/p>\n

One public official who was not thrilled to hear about the bid was Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. A self-avowed Bears fan and season ticket holder, she issued a statement reiterating the Bears signed a lease to play at Soldier Field for another 12 years.<\/p>\n

She decried the Arlington bid as a \u201cnegotiation tactic\u201d as talks have transpired between the two sides about renovations to the current stadium, and that she will do everything she can to keep the team in Windy City and out of the burbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd like most Bears fans, we want the organization to focus on putting a winning team on the field, beating the Packers finally, and being relevant past October,\u201d she quipped. \u201cEverything else is noise.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Monsters of the Midway might have to come up with a new nickname. On Thursday, the Chicago Bears revealed that they submitted a proposal to buy the Arlington International Racecourse property currently owned by Churchill Downs Inc. The Louisville-based gaming company announced in February its plans to sell the 326-acre development in the tony […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":176817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14577,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChicago Bears Announce Bid for Arlington International Property<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Chicago Bears have expressed an interest in buying Arlington International Racecourse, a Chicago-area track owned by Churchill Downs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-bears-announce-bid-for-arlington-international-property\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago Bears Announce Bid for Arlington International Property\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chicago Bears have expressed an interest in buying Arlington International Racecourse, a Chicago-area track owned by Churchill Downs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-bears-announce-bid-for-arlington-international-property\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-18T08:26:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-18T16:22:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/justin-fields-chicago-bears-USATSI-16090824-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-bears-announce-bid-for-arlington-international-property\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-bears-announce-bid-for-arlington-international-property\/\",\"name\":\"Chicago Bears Announce Bid for Arlington International Property\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-bears-announce-bid-for-arlington-international-property\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-bears-announce-bid-for-arlington-international-property\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/justin-fields-chicago-bears-USATSI-16090824-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-18T08:26:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-18T16:22:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"The Chicago Bears have expressed an interest in buying Arlington International Racecourse, a Chicago-area track owned by Churchill Downs\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-bears-announce-bid-for-arlington-international-property\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-bears-announce-bid-for-arlington-international-property\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-bears-announce-bid-for-arlington-international-property\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/justin-fields-chicago-bears-USATSI-16090824-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/justin-fields-chicago-bears-USATSI-16090824-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440,\"caption\":\"Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields works out during an offseason minicamp at Halas Hall last month. 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