PHOENIX — Count former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, among those who don’t want the Bears to build an indoor stadium in Arlington Heights.
“The dome thing, you’re not going to sell me on a dome ever for the Bears,” Urlacher told the Sun-Times on Thursday at Super Bowl radio row. “We’re an outside team. Our fans like it. The teams that come play us don’t like it.”
The Bears are in escrow on the 326-acre former Arlington Racetrack site, for which they’ve agreed to pay $197.2 million. As part of the agreement, the Bears cannot publicly entertain other options, including renovating Soldier Field on the lakefront, while in escrow. The Bears can re-engage after escrow closes, but have said their focus in building an indoor stadium — alongside restaurants, bars, hotels and shops — in the northwest suburb.
Urlacher would rather they stay downtown.
“I like Soldier Field — because it’s Soldier Field,” he said. “That’s where the Bears play.”
