Kevin Warren downplays Gov. J.B. Pritzker's absence from Bears' presentation for a new lakefront stadium, believes opposition from Springfield can be overcome

(670 The Score) Bears president Kevin Warren on Thursday downplayed Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s absence from the organization’s presentation Wednesday in which it unveiled a vision to build a new stadium along the lakefront, a proposal that has asked taxpayers to foot about half of the $4.7 billion cost.

“Any event that the Chicago Bears have, any event that I host or that I’m involved with, he’s always invited,” Warren said on the Mully & Haugh Show. “I know we did send an invitation to his staff. I know his schedule is probably the busiest of any person in the state of Illinois. I know for me the number of invitations I get and receive. He’s always welcome and will always be welcome. I have incredible admiration for him. I wish he could’ve come.
I know his schedule is busy. I hope people wouldn’t read too much into to him not being there together.”

At an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Pritzker expressed concern about the Bears asking for public financing.

“I remain skeptical about this proposal and I wonder whether it’s a good deal for the taxpayers,” Pritzker told reporters. “I’m not sure this is among the highest priorities for taxpayers.”

Pritzker wasn’t the only key Illinois state leader to express skepticism, as Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch did as well.

“If we were to put this issue on the board for a vote right now, it would fail and it would fail miserably,” Welch told reporters. “There is no environment for something like this today.”

Despite that opposition, Warren remains undeterred and believes the Bears can push forward to get state support and funding.

“I would say a word that I rarely use is ‘surprised,’” Warren said. “I’m never surprised. That’s the world that we live in. This is the seat that I sit in. I know one thing – you will never, ever make progress as a person, as a city, as people, as a community, as a franchise if you don’t develop plans, robust plans that do dream big and proceed forward. That’s just the nature of the world that we live in.

“I’m very mindful of the fact that I feel we have a very strong plan, we’ve thought through it. We tried to address all the financial issues and structure and construction. We live in a city where a lot of elements are in place. It’s not like we’re in the middle of rural America that we can just go and make all this happen. But I think if people really take the time to understand that we want this to be a collaborative relationship and make this city stronger than it already is, and so what we’ll do is what we’ve continually done to get this point, is to stay strong, to be collaborative, to communicate, to listen and hopefully work with our elected officials to make this come to fruition.”

Click here for the full story on the Bears' plan for a new lakefront stadium.