TWO YEARS AGO, the march of the Bears to Arlington Park seemed lucky, determined and inevitable.
A new futuristic stadium on a dream tract of 326 acres appeared to be a chip shot. The project would also trigger other revenue streams that would have left even the tight-fisted Papa Bear himself — George Halas — happily juggling manhole covers from The Great NFL Beyond.
The organization went so far as to hold a “community meeting” / pep rally on Sept. 8, 2022, at John Hersey High School. Although the event didn’t play to a full house, snap and sizzle was in the air.
Then Ted Phillips suddenly retired as team president. From an odd set of goal posts, Kevin Warren was the replacement. The Arlington initiative doinked into a strange netherland, where it remains.
Or does it?
LAST WEEK, A PERSON WITH crisp knowledge of the Warren-era ways and means of Halas Hall snapped: “Why are (media members) wasting so much time on nonsense? The Bears will wind up at Arlington Park.”
Follow-up questions failed to dent the individual’s credible insistence. Chicago, Aurora, Naperville, according to that source, are all mere burnt-orange points of leverage.
By Warren’s own professed metrics, time is money for the Bears. He has stated that every year of delay on the new play palace will cost the franchise $150 million in increased costs.
By that measure — even allowing his tenure a six-month familiarization period that would have ended last August — the Warren presidency has already cost the Bears close to the first $150 million and counting.
That figure would leave The Papa Bear kicking and roughing the president from the grave.
WHEN THE FIRST SHOVEL is finally turned at AP, a man who deserves high praise is Tom Hayes, the current village president of Arlington Heights.
He will retire next spring after 12 years in his mayoral post. But from the outset of Bears-to-Arlington chatter and through its subsequent roller-coastering, Hayes has maintained tones of restraint, optimism and downright forgiveness toward Warren and his stadium-site wandering.
He doesn’t have to be playing Journey’s “Open Arms” in the background when the Bears announce reconsideration and a freshened aim at Arlington.
HAYES HAS PROVIDED the NFL team 360 degrees of elasticity for reevaluation with dignity. That in itself is a nuanced point of civic managerial art.
Are the McCaskey and Ryan families prepared to come to their fiscal senses?
Or is it going to be just six months of hide-behind-Caleb Williams for a stalled NFL front office that has yet to prove it can get out of the way of its newest strain of ego-rooted crustiness?
STREET-BEATIN’:
Jarrett Payton of WGN-Channel 9 Sports has upped his game to a marvelous level in advancing the induction of Steve McMichael into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday (11 a.m., ESPN, NFL Network). Payton, via video, will be McMichael’s presenter. Misty McMichael — a heroine in her husband’s journey — is scheduled to fly to Canton Wednesday along with Jim McMahon, Jimbo Covert, Richard Dent and daughter Macie McMichael. …
News that Tyson Bagent will start at QB for the Bears vs. Houston in the HOF game Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN / ABC) hasn’t prompted a herd to scramble to make the 285-mile trek from his native Martinsburg, W.Va., to Tom Benson Stadium. Chicago opened at minus-1 ½ and then the line flipped to Texans minus-1 ½. (Betting that game qualifies anyone for an Art Schlichter / Pete Rose Suite at a Motel 6.) …
If J.B. Pritzker wants to assure himself of endless reelection as governor of Illinois, he’ll figure a double play in which Jerry Reinsdorf‘s baseball gassed bags leave town and the South Side gets a fresh American League franchise. First Blight Sox announcer — Steve Stone, Darrin Jackson, soft-shoeing Chuck Garfien, whomever — wins the public by saying, “This all begins and ends with Jerry.” …
Early numbers suggest that about 8% of America is enraptured with the Paris Olympics and another 23% is at least sampling the games. Two teams that are not capturing major domestic attention are those of men’s and women’s basketball. While Kevin Durant is having a grand time, the decision to leave Caitlin Clark in Des Moines worked against the WNBA’s best intent to globalize. …
And Ozzie Guillen, on those now-laughable reports of the ’24 White Sox having “a good clubhouse”: “I hope they hate each other and win some games.”
Jim O’Donnell’s Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.