Bears Stadium in Bridgeport? Rate Field Concept Surfaces, but the Team Says No

Photo: Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, in Bridgeport (file photo; the site where the Bears concept would go). Zakarie Faibis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

A new Chicago Bears stadium concept would put the team in Bridgeport, on and around the White Sox’s Rate Field, but the Bears say they have declined to pursue it. Renderings from Chicago architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) surfaced Wednesday, Oct. 28, adding a fourth location to a stadium search that already includes Hammond, Indiana, and Arlington Heights.

What the Bridgeport Bears stadium concept shows

SOM posted renderings on Instagram showing a stadium as the centerpiece of a mixed-use district with housing, entertainment, hospitality, parks and public recreation, FOX 32 Chicago reported. The firm said its goal was “to create a new home for the Bears that is also a catalyst for lasting neighborhood investment,” and that it had identified a significant amount of publicly owned land around the site.

The Architect’s Newspaper, which received the renderings from SOM, described an oval bowl wrapped in a lattice facade, with new brick housing and commercial buildings across the Dan Ryan Expressway on public land. The concept would widen existing bridges and add a new one over the expressway to Bronzeville. SOM said the site’s parking and its connections to the CTA, Metra and the Dan Ryan make it suited to an NFL stadium. An SOM spokesperson called the proposal “exploratory.”

Who pitched it, and the Bears’ answer

The Chicago Tribune reported that Sterling Bay CEO Andy Gloor made a surprise informal pitch of the plan to Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren, alongside real estate developer Carl Williams, the father of Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, according to a Sports Business Journal summary of the Tribune’s report. The plan called for building the stadium on land just south of Rate Field while the White Sox kept playing there, until the Sox leave for a proposed South Loop ballpark.

The Tribune reported that the plan was “drawn up without participation from the team” and that the Bears declined to pursue it. The team has previously said the Rate Field site was unsuitable. SOM managing partner Adam Semel said the concept is not a formal project, that SOM had not pitched it to local officials and that the firm had not taken part in specific financing talks.

Bisnow reported that renderings shared with stakeholders described the stadium and campus as “presented by Sterling Bay,” while Gloor told the Chicago Sun-Times the company is “not driving this deal.” A Sterling Bay spokesperson told Bisnow: “We think this is a real viable solution to keeping the Bears in Chicago.”

By the numbers: how the options compare

The Tribune put the Bridgeport plan at $5.8 billion for an initial stadium and campus spread over about 200 acres, at least 100 of which would have to be acquired. By comparison, the Bears have said they are focused on a roughly $2 billion stadium in Hammond or in Arlington Heights, the Tribune reported. On those reported figures, the Bridgeport campus would cost about 2.9 times the Hammond stadium (TBR calculation), though the Bridgeport figure covers a whole district rather than only a stadium.

The Bears have played at Soldier Field on the lakefront since 1971. A Bridgeport stadium would move the team away from the lakefront but keep it inside city limits, FOX 32 noted.

The White Sox piece of the puzzle

None of this works unless the White Sox leave Rate Field, their home since 1991. White Sox minority owner Justin Ishbia released renderings last month for a ballpark at the South Loop development known as The 78 and is seeking Amtrak land there, Bisnow reported. Amtrak, meanwhile, has secured land in Bridgeport for a proposed 24/7 maintenance facility that has drawn public pushback; the federal government agreed this week to an environmental review of it.

Ald. Nicole Lee, whose 11th Ward includes the ballpark, told Bisnow she intends to keep the White Sox in Bridgeport. ABC7 Chicago reported that community advocates want neighbors to have a say in any plan for the site.

What’s next for the Bears stadium search

The Bears continue to pursue Hammond while talking with Illinois lawmakers, including several meetings this summer, FOX 32 reported. No public body has taken any action on the Bridgeport concept. For more NFL coverage, read our Patriots-Bears recap and our report on the Super Bowl LXI halftime show. More Chicago stories are on our Chicago news page.

Sources

• Sports Business Journal: Bears rebuffed stadium pitch at Rate Field site in Bridgeport (Oct. 30, 2026), summarizing the Chicago Tribune
• FOX 32 Chicago: Could the Chicago Bears move to Bridgeport? (Oct. 28, 2026)
• Bisnow: New Bears stadium proposal floated for Bridgeport (Oct. 29, 2026)

Additional sources

• The Architect’s Newspaper: SOM designs exploratory Bears stadium proposal
• ABC7 Chicago: Architecture firm proposes renderings of new Bears stadium near White Sox location (Oct. 29, 2026)