Back to the Chicago Bears Newsfeed

Bear down south? Richton Park mayor invites team to consider building south suburban stadium

Sun-Times file

Richton Park Mayor Rick Reinbold, pictured in 2014, at the Metra station in the south suburb.

A suburban mayor is hoping the Chicago Bears’ quest for a new stadium goes south.

Richton Park Mayor Rick Reinbold invited team president and CEO Kevin Warren last week to consider his “lively and diverse suburban community” as a potential destination instead of Arlington Heights, where the Bears have complained high property taxes could block their drive for a dome at the former Arlington International Racecourse.

A 32-mile drive from Soldier Field by way of Interstate 57, Reinbold pitched the team on his village’s proximity to major highways and the Metra Electric line, as well as its position “in the middle of an affluent, middle- and upper-middle class swath of the south and southwest suburbs.