The Chicago Bears envision a ‘multi-faceted entertainment destination’ in Arlington Heights. But the team cautions that it is still in the early stages of discovering a potential new stadium.

President George McCaskey was careful on Monday to note that the Chicago Bears are still in the discovery phase potential purchase of former Arlington International Racecourse.

But he also called the possible new stadium site in Arlington Heights an “excellent, long-term proposition with high potential for the Bears.”

During a video press conference to discuss looking for a new general manager and coachMcCaskey and President and CEO Ted Phillips made their first public comments on the project since the Bears. signed a purchase agreement for $197.2 million for the property in September, signaling a potential move away from their longtime home at Soldier School.

Phillips calls the 326-acre Arlington site an “extremely unique property” and says the Bears’ vision is “an entertainment destination with many aspects that I think can really help bring Arlington Heights to life.” map as a destination.”

“There’s nothing like it in Chicagoland,” he said. “So the opportunities – we haven’t even started to envision what it could be. But we hope that if we close, we will move forward with making it a great destination. ”

He then added a note of caution.

“If we don’t close the door on land, all those visions won’t come true,” he said.

After the Bears completed their search for GM and their coach, Phillips, who has held his role for 23 years, is shifting his responsibilities to shift more attention to running the Arlington project. The next GM will report to McCaskey instead of Phillips, to whom former GM Ryan Pace reported.

Bears is also adding staff and hiring outside vendors to help explore the property.

McCaskey compared it to buying a house.

“For a property of this size, the length of time between contract signing and closing is vast,” he said. “So there’s a lot of thorough evaluation that needs to be done before we can close.”

The Bears is expected to close through 2022 and potentially into the first quarter of 2023, Phillips said.

“At that point, we will decide if it is financially viable to try to develop it further,” Phillips said. “And I think it is important now that our long-term development focus is exclusively on that property in Arlington Park.”

McCaskey said the Bears’ participation in the Arlington bid began when they were contacted by the seller’s representative, Churchill Downs, Inc., which announced last winter that it would be putting the property up for sale to refinance. develop.

The Bears have played at Soldier Field, owned by the Chicago Park District, since moving from Wrigley Field in 1971. Their lease runs until 2033.

At the time the sale was announced, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she would work to keep the team in the city.

McCaskey said the Bears last spoke with city representatives “a few weeks ago,” and indicated that the Bears would not be closing down on those conversations.

“In the meantime, we are excited to engage with the city of Chicago and the Park District on current operations at Soldier Battlefield,” McCaskey said.