Bears in Indiana
Stadium Watch

Soil Testing Begins Near Wolf Lake

Crews moved drilling equipment onto Wolf Lake Terminals — an industrial and logistics site west of Interstate 90 in Hammond — to test the ground. It's one of a few parcels the team is weighing in the Wolf Lake area.

• What it is: routine geotechnical testing the Bears described as part of normal site evaluation.
• What it isn't: a final site pick — the team says it's still assessing multiple parcels.

Bears Board Votes to Advance Hammond Project

After an incentive package for the Arlington Heights site stalled in the Illinois legislature, the Bears' board voted to move the stadium project forward in Hammond. The team framed it as advancing the project — explicitly noting the exact site was still to be selected and that talks with Illinois would likely continue.

• The mechanism: Indiana's Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority is already in place to help finance public infrastructure.
• The caveat: "advance" is not "commit." No parcel, renderings, or groundbreaking date accompanied the vote.

Indiana Creates a Stadium Authority

Indiana passed Senate Bill 27, creating the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority — the public body empowered to help finance and build a stadium — and named Hammond as the intended site. It's the legal groundwork that made everything after it possible.

Cross-Border Exploration Begins

Amid tax disagreements around the Arlington Heights site, the team began publicly exploring Northwest Indiana. Early maps highlighted I-90 and I-80/94, plus the South Shore Line commuter rail, as the ways to move fans between a Hammond site and Chicago.