SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A turf war over a football team is developing between two Midwestern states with a sometimes-discordant history.
The storied Chicago Bears want to leave historic Soldier Field, where they've played for half a century. Indiana lawmakers are attempting to lure them from the Windy City with a plan to finance and build a domed stadium in Hammond, Indiana, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from their current home on Lake Michigan's shore.
The Illinois General Assembly has responded with legislation that would give tax breaks to so-called megaprojects of at least $100 million, a plan that would encompass the Bears' proposal to build a complex in the northwest Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, about the same distance from Soldier Field as Hammond.
Critics complain it's a bad deal for Illinois, where property taxes are already among the highest in the nation — especially when taxpayers still owe hundreds of millions of dollars on a Soldier Field renovation from two decades ago.
Here's a look at what's shaping up to be a showdown.
The Bears, one of only two remaining NFL founding members, are legend. Their nine championships, including a Super Bowl win, are second only to the rival Green Bay Packers — though recent decades have brought mostly heartbreak. The franchise carries an $8.9 billion price tag, among the most valuable of the NFL’s 32 teams, according to Forbes.
Born in the central Illinois city of Decatur in 1920, the Bears have called Chicago home for 105 years. Losing them to the Hoosier State would be a major thumb in the eye.
With 61,500 seats, it's the NFL's smallest. The Bears have always rented their facilities — the Cubs' Wrigley Field from 1921 to 1970, and Soldier Field, maintained by the Chicago Park District, since. Like most teams, they want to own a stadium, giving them control over operations, scheduling and revenue streams from ticket sales, concessions, parking, naming rights and more.
And Soldier Field is open air. An enclosed facility would allow for other marquee sporting events: Super Bowls, NCAA Final Fours or WrestleMania, for instance.
Along with the states' established cultural and economic differences and an intense college basketball rivalry, the political fissure between Democrat-dominated Chicago and conservative Indiana has widened. It amped up last year when Indiana adopted a commission to study changing the state's boundaries to include some central Illinois counties whose voters have approved ballot measures calling for secession from Chicagoland.
The Bears have threatened to leave Chicago previously. When they broached moving in 1975, then-Mayor Richard J. Daley replied, “Like hell they will.”
But the City of Big Shoulders heaved an anxious sigh in 2023 when the Bears paid about $200 million for a 326-acre (132-hectare) former horse-racing track in Arlington Heights. They have envisioned a $5 billion, taxpayer-assisted development for a domed stadium and campus of housing, hotels, entertainment and retail space.
In 2024, the Bears offered a $5 billion plan, partially taxpayer-funded, for an enclosed stadium next to Soldier Field, which garnered little interest in the capital of Springfield. Late last fall, the team turned to Indiana.
Indiana's lure creates the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance, construct and lease a domed stadium near Wolf Lake in Hammond. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed it into law on Feb. 26. The Bears would agree to a 35-year lease. Borrowed state money would cover the as-yet-unknown cost of construction, repaid by increased local hospitality taxes.
In Illinois, majority Democrats have advanced legislation in the House that would provide incentives for any so-called megaproject of at least $500 million — or less, down to $100 million, depending on the number of jobs created. Developers would pay property taxes frozen at the parcel's pre-construction value for as long as 45 years. During that time, they would make annual payments in lieu of taxes negotiated with local governments. There would also be a sales tax exemption on building materials for up to 15 years.
Opponents say the Illinois legislation, with its decades-long property tax freeze, would simply mean increased taxes for homeowners and other businesses — the payment in lieu of taxes would be a bonus.
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who supports the plan, last week countered that the proposal would encourage development on land that isn’t producing property taxes while ensuring increased revenue for local governments.
Meanwhile, a substantial debt remains on the last accommodation. Taxpayers in 2001 put up $399 million to finance a $587 million renovation of Soldier Field. With interest, the remaining tab is $467 million, according to the state's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.
The Bears' $7 million annual lease runs through 2033. Breaking it would cost the Bears a $10.5 million penalty for each year left on the agreement.
FILE - Soldier Field is seen for an MLS soccer match between the Chicago Fire and the CF Montréal, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Matt Marton, File)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mitch Marner isn't about to start bragging, to express any kind of feelings of vindication in proving wrong those who questioned and even doubted whether he could deliver at this time of year.
There has indeed been magic in Marner's play as he leads the Vegas Golden Knights into their Western Conference final series that opens Wednesday night at Colorado.
His 18 points led all NHL skaters through Sunday and includes possibly the goal of the year in Thursday's 5-1 close-out victory at Anaheim.
This production is what his hometown Maple Leafs expected when Toronto drafted him fourth overall in 2015. While Marner became one of the NHL’s top play-making forwards, he took the brunt of criticism for the Leafs failing to advance beyond the second round.
“I don't care what anyone says,” Marner said. “I've been in the league a long time now, so I'll focus on what I can control.”
That includes leading the Golden Knights to the NHL's final four.
“I think the media in Toronto is pretty big and they put a lot of pressure on the players,” Golden Knights wing Ivan Barbashev said. “He's showing completely different things over here. He's been scoring and making a lot of plays, so hopefully he stays the same way.”
Vegas has never been afraid to chase big names and it has a locker room full of such players. Acquiring Marner in a sign-and-trade was the splash deal of last year's offseason, reaching an agreement on an eight-year, $96 million contract.
This postseason is why the Golden Knights pursued him. They followed their 2023 Stanley Cup title team by getting bounced in the first round the following year and the second round last season.
Marner produced two goals and an assist in Game 6 of the opening series to eliminate Utah 5-1. He had a hat trick and an assist to take back home-ice advantage in Game 3 of Round 2 at Anaheim, and ended that series by setting the tone with a goal 1:02 into the Game 6 clincher that few players on the planet could execute.
William Karlsson began by hitting Marner in stride with a perfect stretch pass to spring the breakaway. But with Jackson LaCombe staying with Marner, he fought off the Ducks defenseman, turned his back to the goal and shot the puck between his legs to put Vegas ahead 1-0.
“His IQ is on a different level,” Barbashev said. “He plays defensively and is a 200(-foot) player. He does it all.”
John Tortorella, who became the Golden Knights coach with eight games left in the regular season, sees the same thing about Marner.
“When you're with him every day, you can see his habits," Tortorella said. "You can see the little things he does in the game. Other people see his goals and assists, maybe like the goal he scored the other night. I look at the small things. A lot of people don't realize how the small things turn to bigger things.”
Tortorella, like Bruce Cassidy before him, hasn't been afraid to use Marner in a number of ways, be it at center or wing, the first line or the second.
When the Golden Knights ran a five-forward power play, Marner was the quarterback at the top. Now with defenseman Shea Theodore in that spot with the top unit, the Golden Knights have deployed Marner down lower to better use his ability to score or help someone else find the back of the net.
“There’s even games where the other team carries the game, and they come out on top because of their patience and play-making ability, and Marner has a lot to do with that,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Power play, short-handed, five-on-five, he plays all situations and is dangerous in all of them.”
It's not that Marner didn't play at a high level in Toronto. He scored a career-high 102 points in the 2024-25 season, one of four times he topped 90.
He also produced 13 points in 13 playoff games last year and 14 points in 11 postseason games two years earlier.
But the Maple Leafs as a team didn't play up to expectations, and thus the deal to send Marner to Vegas. Now the Golden Knights are a series away from potentially competing in their third Stanley Cup Final in their nine years in the league, and the Maple Leafs failed to reach the playoffs but won the draft lottery.
Maybe there's another Marner in their future.
“I've always believed I'm a good player," Marner said. “I'm not thinking of anything, just go out there and try to play hockey.”
AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Centennial, Colorado, contributed to this report.
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Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mitch Marner, second from left, celebrates his goal with goaltender Carter Hart during the first period in Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mitch Marner, second from right, celebrates after scoring on Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal, left, during the first period in Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart, left, and right wing Mitch Marner congratulate each other after the Golden Knights defeated the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Friday, May 8, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
