Candidates to be the next mayor of Arlington Heights all want to bring the Chicago Bears to the village, under the right circumstances — but they differ slightly on the details of how to make that happen.
The three candidates spoke to a packed auditorium at the Village Hall Thursday, vying to succeed Mayor Tom Hayes, who is retiring at the end of his term this spring.
The hopefuls include Trustee Jim Tinaglia, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jon Ridler and Trustee Thomas Schwingbeck Jr. In interviews with the Tribune, each candidate pledged to continue Hayes’ efforts to attract the football team, but raised concerns about how that could best be done.
The Bears paid $197 million for the former Arlington International Racecourse in 2023, and proposed building an enclosed stadium there as part of a $5 billion development with an entertainment district, hotels, offices, parks and residential areas.
Since then, new team President Kevin Warren switched focus to Chicago’s lakefront, where he proposed a new stadium to replace the team’s home at Soldier Field. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson supports the plan, but Gov. JB Pritzker and legislative leaders expressed no interest in spending roughly $2.5 billion in public money requested to do the deal.
After a disagreement with local schools over property taxes blocked any deal in Arlington Heights, the Bears reached a tax agreement with the schools last fall. As a further sign of progress, the team recently resumed traffic and financial impact studies that officials plan to submit to the village soon, and put $125,000 into escrow to cover village planning expenses.
Tinaglia, an architect, wants and expects to see the Bears come, but opposed the team’s initial proposal because it included housing and in effect would create another downtown.
“We need a destination entertainment complex,” he said. “I want people to go there, enjoy it, spend lots of money… then leave.”
What’s missing, he said, is another major anchor tenant, such as the Bears’ Halas Hall headquarters and practice field, or a new baseball stadium for the Chicago White Sox. Sox officials have looked into building a new stadium near the South Loop, but have not proposed moving to the northwest suburbs. “That, to me, would be a home run,” he said.
But first, he said, the village has to address four core concerns involving safety, economics, traffic and infrastructure.
“I want it to be wonderful,” Tinaglia said. “I want them to make a boatload of money. But I want it to be good for Arlington Heights too.”
Ridler called for the next mayor to be “more pro-active.” On Day One of becoming mayor, he said, he would create a public-private development council to study what other uses to put on the 326-acre site.
He also called for a regional approach that would bring in neighboring Palatine and Rolling Meadows, where he manages the chambers of commerce. “Too few people are at the table right now,” he said. “I would expand that.”
If the village establishes a tax increment financing district, or TIF, on the site, residents need to know any new property taxes collected there would be reinvested in the site. He favored a standard 23-year tax agreement, rather than a 40-year plan that could arise from a state-sponsored Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, program.
“The big money they’re looking at needs to come from the state,” Ridler said.
Schwingbeck Jr., called the Bears proposal “premature” because the team hasn’t laid out their specific plans. Details as granular as short-term rentals and parking need to be worked out.
Though Churchill Downs Inc. stipulated there be no horse racing or casino on the property when the Bears bought it, he said, that could be changed.
Schwingbeck, who’s retired from a career in metallurgical sales and consulting, noted that he grew up in part in India, where his father was working, which he said makes him very respectful of other people and cultures.
“I would love for them to come,” he said. “But it’s got to be a revenue-generator. I want this to be a win-win situation, not only financially, but for our residents as well.”
The current mayor has endorsed Tinaglia, saying his experience as a trustee and lifelong resident are big advantages. “I think he’s the most qualified and prepared to hit the ground running as the next mayor,” Hayes said.
The forum came as a developer of the former Michael Reese Hospital site in Chicago, Farpoint Development, released conceptual drawings of the project that include a Bears stadium. Despite the public release of the renderings, the Bears have said they are keeping their options open and previously rejected the plans as too small and problematic.
