Not in the Least

Channel 5 did a story yesterday on whether the Bears’ win Sunday will affect their push for a new stadium. If that means public funding from Springfield, it shouldn’t in the least. The win demonstrated that need a new stadium isn’t needed to compete. No, what matters is competence—drafting, hiring, signing the right people, that’s how you win in the NFL. New stadiums don’t affect team budgets in a hard salary-cap sport. New stadiums affect ownership bank accounts and family trust funds, nothing more. There’s one talking head in particular who drives me up a wall, a self-styled sports-business guru who’s all in for spending my last dime on somebody’s stadium plan; he lives to give a quote. Yesterday, he said the “Chicago contingent,” whoever that is, had to realize the Bears weren’t staying in Chicago. Last month, he was on the radio charging it was “irresponsible” for leaders in the General Assembly to say a new Bears’ stadium wouldn’t be a priority in 2026. “Are they out of their minds?” (Marc Ganis on 670 The Score, 12-18-2025) To use this guy and throw in a quote from an Indiana politician that the Hoosier State is ready to help the McCaskeys relocate isn’t so much reporting the news as it is nudging it in a certain direction.