Why Bears new stadium project will have enclosed roof

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The Bears officially own Arlington Park. The team announced in an open letter published on Wednesday that they closed on the property, nearly five months after they had signed a purchase agreement for the former racetrack.

That said, the Bears still have work to do before they break ground, and maintain they still don’t know whether or not they’re going to develop the property. It seems highly, highly unlikely that the Bears would go through the due diligence required to close on the 326-acre lot and not develop it, so let’s move forward assuming they do. What can Bears fans expect? A whole lot.

The Bears envision turning Arlington Park into a multi-use entertainment destination. There will likely be restaurants, bars, retail, public spaces like parks and even residential areas. Of course there will be a state of the art stadium for the Bears to call home, too. The Bears released renderings of what the entire space could look like during a Town Hall in Arlington Height, but there was no vision for that stadium yet. Just kind of a bread box lookin’ thing sitting as a placeholder. However the Bears did share one key detail about the stadium: it will likely feature a permanent roof, not a retractable roof that can open and close.

During the Q & A session at the end of the meeting, Bears president/CEO Ted Phillips cited the costs and maintenance of a retractable roof when saying that the team is planning to have a permanent structure in place.

“We’re not anticipating a retractable dome,” Phillips said. “The costs are prohibitive. The return (on investment) isn’t there.”

Previously, the team had announced that their intention was to build an “enclosed” stadium on the property as a way to attract massive events like the Super Bowl, Final Four and College Football National Championship game.

Currently, four NFL stadiums have retractable roofs, including the homes of the Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts and Atlanta Falcons.

If the Bears were to build a stadium with a permanent roof, they would join the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings in that group, and Phillips cited the Vikings’ home at U.S. Bank Stadium as an example the team could potentially emulate. That last point was driven home in January when the team hired Kevin Warren to be their next president/CEO, since Warren oversaw the construction of U.S. Bank Stadium as the Vikings COO at the time.

The entire project could take an estimated 10 years to complete, including the stadium and surrounding entertainment district.

Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot released a statement following the news that the Bears had closed on Arlington Park expressing hope that the city could still convince the team to stay at Soldier Field. However the Bears have made it clear they are not engaged in any other discussions for stadiums, including renovations to Soldier Field. They are solely focused on building a new complex in Arlington Heights.

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