Mayor Lightfoot: 'A lot of cities have two football teams' originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The proposals keep rolling in from the city to keep the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. The city unveiled three avenues they will take the stadium in renovations, depending on who the mainstay of the stadium will be.
Even though she mentioned her and Bears' chairman George McCaskey spoke 'two weeks ago,' the idea of the Bears staying at Soldier Field seems highly unlikely.
The Bears are extremely likely to pass on the plans and move out to the land they bid on and won back in the fall at Arlington Park. The organization is expected to close on the land in early 2023.
That would leave the plan from the city's perspective down to two options. Either, the city will create renovations to the stadium that could receive a dome. Or, the city will reinvent the stadium to be soccer-specific for the Chicago Fire, who already play at Soldier Field.
However, Mayor Lori Lightfoot alluded to another potential option.
"There's plenty of cities that have two NFL teams," Lightfoot said.
The mayor mentioned the plan doesn't have to be tailored to keeping the Bears in Chicago if it doesn't have to be. The city would have open arms if another team fully up-and-moved to Chicago.
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However, this all seems rather distant.
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Technically, New York (Giants, Jets) and Los Angeles (Rams and Chargers) each have two NFL teams. But, the NFL is unlikely to expand at this point in time and have hinted at no such idea. Same goes for any NFL team giving an inkling of moving to another location.
The city's proposal seems rather unlikely. While it's based on cost-efficiency, it would likely still be a more lucrative deal for the Bears to move to Arlington to build their own stadium.
The idea of another NFL team coming to Chicago, while distant, is certainly a possibility. Seeing as Soldier Field will likely be vacant in the near future, any NFL team that wishes to move could have a new home in Chicago.
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