Misdirection

The timing was perfect. In the midst of yet another (self-inflicted) quarterback controversy, the Bears announced yesterday that they’ve signed $197.2 million purchase agreement to acquire 326 acres in northwest suburban Arlington Heights. In the not-too-distant future, fans may be able to enjoy watching their Munsters in a state-of-the-art facility. Whoopee! As ever, the McCaskey family is depending on the ignorance of others to keep getting by. The casual fan—and, more importantly, the mass of Illinois taxpayers who could be asked to kick in tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements—will assume that a bigger, better stadium will translate into more money to spend on players. It won’t, because the NFL operates under a hard salary cap. In other words, the Packers and Bears have the same payroll (in the neighborhood of $182.5 million this season), only Green Bay has decided to use it for the likes of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers as opposed to Jay Cutler and whomever coach Matt Nagy taps for Sunday. Oh, a new stadium promises plenty of new revenue, which the heirs of Halas will spend however they see fit. But we can’t spend more on an offensive line because of the cap. So sorry. Soldier Field is the devil you know. Arlington Heights could very well turn into the monster you wish you’d never set eyes on.