JOLIET, IL – The Chicago Bears have made it clear that they are considering leaving Soldier Field and moving to Arlington Heights as their future home ground. But if talks between the Bears and Arlington Heights stall, Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk wants the NFL franchise to consider moving to Joliet, home of Will County.
Plus, Joliet already has a huge property ready to entertain tens of thousands of Chicago Bears fans. Over the past few weeks, O’Dekirk has reached out to Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey and suggested that the Bears consider Joliet as their future home.
“Joliet is excited to announce its interest in becoming the new home of the Chicago Bears by repurposing the Chicagoland Speedway,” wrote O’Dekirk McCaskey.
On Tuesday, Joliet Patch received a copy of the McCaskey letter from the office of Joliet City Manager Jim Capparelli, mentioned in the mayor’s letter.
O’Dekirk’s letter informed McCaskey that “Chicagoland Speedway is a 1.5 mile tri-oval speedway that occupies approximately 600 acres in the southwest corner of Joliet in 2019. At the height of the sport, Joliet has during peak season events successfully managed more than 150,000 visitors. “
The shuttered Chicagoland Speedway near Route 53 in Joliet has been proposed as the future Chicago Bears stadium. File / John Ferak / Patch
The Mayor’s letter to McCaskey informed him that Joliet was at the intersection of Interstate 55 and Interstate 80 and that “3 miles north of Speedway, Metra and Amtrak, the rail lines stop frequently and regularly at the new Gateway Center, which is already home to many commuters drive the convenient connection to downtown Chicago and its suburbs.
“Joliet also has a strong relationship with PACE Bus as they are developing their new bus depot just south of the existing Gateway Center and creating a transportation depot at the foot of historic downtown Joliet,” wrote O’Dekirk.
O’Dekirk’s letter to the Chicago Bears ended with urging McCaskey to “call Jim Capparelli, the manager of Joliet City, with questions or to pursue the promotion of this exciting new opportunity.”
“City officials would appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the organization’s needs and help them envision a prosperous future in Joliet,” said O’Dekirk.
On Tuesday, O’Dekirk told Joliet Patch that Ted Phillips, President and CEO of Bears, responded to Joliet’s offer regarding the Chicagoland Speedway by thanking Joliet for contacting him.
According to the mayor, Phillips has not indicated that the Chicago Bears are now ready to meet with Joliet officials.
The mayor said he believed it was the Chicago Bears’ primary focus in ongoing talks with Arlington Heights officials.
“It was a polite response,” O’Dekirk said of Phillips’ letter responding to Joliet’s offer to consider Chicagoland Speedway as another alternative.
In June, Patch reported that the Chicago Bears NFL franchise had made an offer to purchase Arlington International Racecourse. While the Bears currently have a lease to play at Soldier Field until 2033, Phillips said of a potential move to Arlington Heights, “It is our obligation to look at all possible options to ensure we are best for our organization and Chosen to do their future, this step enables us to further evaluate the property and its potential. “
“I’m not sure they’ll take a long look at Joliet,” said O’Dekirk on Tuesday. “If they’re going to get out of Chicago, we want the bears to know that Joliet is another option.”
O’Dekirk said the Joliet police always did an excellent job controlling traffic and crowd control when NASCAR weekend came to Joliet. For several years, Joliet’s NASCAR Stadium drew 120,000 to 150,000 visitors from across the country to the city’s Chicagoland Speedway grounds along Route 53 and Laraway Road.
Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk sent a letter to Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey asking the Bears to consider moving to Joliet. File / John Ferak / Patch
“It could be a long way,” said O’Dekirk of the Chicago Bears recruitment, “but (expanding the supply) was the politically responsible thing. We have the Joliet Police (expertise) that we know we can handle an NFL. ” Soccer game. We looked after 120,000 to 150,000 people. “
O’Dekirk said that Joliet-born Tom Thayer, a Chicago Bears radio announcer and offensive lineman on the 1985 Super Bowl team, also reached out to the Bears to make Joliet and Chicagoland Speedway a future destination for the stadium of the Teams to consider.
The Thayer family runs the Thayer Bros. Deli Restaurant on Joliet’s Ruby Street.
“Tom Thayer also spoke to us, me and city manager Jim Capparelli, and he also spoke to Mr. McCaskey,” said O’Dekirk.
Still, O’Dekirk said the likelihood the bears would give up their ongoing talks with Arlington Heights to get Joliet to the top: “I think it’s a long way to go.”
However, Joliet has a long history of making long shots successful. After all, the Catholic Joliet graduate Daniel “Rudy” Rüttiger, born in 1966, became a Hollywood star thanks to the 1993 film “Rudy”.
As recently as May, no one would have predicted that Joliet would be unveiled as the future home of North America’s largest plant producing electric vehicles for buses and trucks.
The future Lion Electric plant, currently under construction on Youngs Road, is expected to create at least 1,400 new manufacturing jobs for Joliet over the next few years after it goes live.
O’Dekirk told Joliet Patch that when he ran for mayor seven years ago, he let voters know that he was thinking “out of the box” about the town hall office.
O’Dekirk said he wants to make sure the NFL team realizes that the now-closed Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet could be an ideal spot for the Bears if the team decides to leave Chicago’s Soldier Field and discover that Arlington Heights may be the goal is not the best.
Recently elected Joliet councilor Joe Clement, a retired Joliet police officer with close ties to Brian Urlacher, the linebacker of the Bears Hall of Fame, told Joliet Patch that it was an excellent idea for the city to have Chicagoland Speedway as its future home pursue for the Chicago Bears.
In March, Bears Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher came to Joliet and called on people to vote for city council candidate Joe Clement. Image via John Ferak / Patch
On Tuesday evening, Clement told Joliet Patch that he hoped the bears would consider visiting Joliet for a firsthand tour of the Chicagoland Speedway site.
“I would like to have further discussions with Ted Phillips,” said Clement. “We’d never want to miss the opportunity to consider the option if they were going to Joliet. (Chicagoland Speedway) could definitely use a Chicago Bears game.”
To the doubters and skeptics who suggest that Joliet has no snowball chance to land the Chicago Bears, Clement said, “You never get what you don’t ask for. That is in life and in everything.”
The shuttered Chicagoland Speedway near Route 53 in Joliet has been proposed as the future Chicago Bears stadium. File / John Ferak / Patch
Comments are closed.