Bears intended to move to Arlington Heights in 1971 originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Chicago Bears are expected to close on the land used as the Arlington race horse track in the suburbs in either late 2022 or early 2023. But, they had the same vision a little over 50 years ago for the stadium.
According to an article written roughly six years ago by Andrew Schneider from Curbed Chicago, the Bears were ready to pack things up to Arlington.
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"In 1971, the Chicago Bears could be found playing games at Wrigley Field (home of the Cubs) but when the AFL and the NFL merged, new rules required fields that seat over 50,000. They'd originally intended to build a stadium in northwest suburban Arlington Heights but settled on moving into Solider Field instead," the article writes.
The reason behind the organization's decision in 1971 is not noted, but I would assume they were attracted to Soldier Field's prime location on the lake.
Now, some 50 odd years later, the Bears will resort to building a shiny, new stadium out in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.
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The city of Chicago has made attempts at keeping the team in its downtown area, but they likely won't succeed, since the organization won the bid to buy the land in Arlington and are probable to move forward with the new stadium.
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