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“If (the Bears) can’t move forward because politics are in the way, they’re going to find another way to make a stadium and a site work for them,” Connors told Patch on Thursday.

She added: “Politicians are failing to see this with a common-sense approach and everybody’s losing, and the Bears are investigating other avenues.”

In announcing the event with Warren, Touchdown Arlington said the meeting will allow Warren to explain what it will take to make Arlington Park the new home of the Bears while bringing local residents and community leaders “into the huddle.” The group called the proposal a “once in a lifetime” chance to boost Arlington Heights region’s economic engine, create jobs and generate millions of dollars in future tax revenues.

However, in announcing that the team met with Naperville and Chicago officials in recent days, the Bears said that concerns with the assessed property value of the 326-acre racecourse property have put completing the project in Arlington Heights “at risk.” Team officials also had difficulties with local school districts, who rejected the team’s original proposal as it relates to what tax rates could look like if the multi-billion stadium and entertainment district eventually lands in Arlington Heights.

Soon after being hired by the Bears, Warren met with local school officials, who were seeking $7.9 million in annual tax payments related to the project. Warren, in response, offered $4.3 million while calling the district’s initial settlement offer a “non-starter.”

In addition to the obstacles opening the doors to conversations taking place with other municipalities, Touchdown Arlington officials believe it has also slowed the momentum and progress that seemed to be moving forward within the village limits. Even before the Bears closed on the $197.2 million purchase agreement for the racecourse property earlier this spring, team officials – including Bears Chairman George McCaskey indicated that the team had not yet decided fully whether they would develop the Arlington Park property.

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Now, with recent developments in play, Connors says that although she believes the Bears should eventually land in Arlington Park, the project has fallen behind. She still feels like the racecourse property is still the “highest and best” option for the Bears and allows them to develop a multi-use entertainment district that is set to include hotels, restaurants, residential properties, and other entities in addition to a new Bears stadium.

“The Bears are the right fit for that entertainment campus,” Connors told Patch. “They’re the right company, they’re the right people, they’re a family-focused company that really wants to bring betterment to our region. The economic development opportunity is really substantial and really provides for such much that our community and region could really benefit from.”

She added: (But) if the Bears can’t build here because of politics, that creates a negative space for the rest of the region …the lost opportunity by politicians getting in the way makes this very complicated and tricky. If other counties will say, ‘We’ll give the Bears whatever they want to come to our county,’ well, shame on us.”

Connors said that the meeting with Warren will be different from the town hall meeting the village hosted with McCaskey and former President and CEO Ted Phillips. Rather than being open to the public, the upcoming meeting with Warren will be held in a smaller venue and requires attendees to obtain free tickets after being invited.

Connors has already met with Warren, whom she characterizes as a “relatable visionary” from a “pretty simple background,” she said Thursday. But getting the former Vikings executive who oversaw the building of the team’s new stadium in front of stakeholders provides residents the chance to hear about what he would like to see in a new Bears home.

She said she believes that Warren’s leadership will get the team and fans on the right path as the Bears look to move on from Soldier Field and toward state-of-the-art building project Arlington Heights officials still want to see take place in their backyard.

Connors hopes that the upcoming event opens up conversations between the Bears and local stakeholders as the process continues to take shape. The Bears have not unveiled design plans for what a stadium would look like other than to say it would be covered, but not a dome. And while much of the attention centers around a new Bears stadium, Connors and others say it is vital for Arlington Heights residents to see the project as much more than just a home for Bears home games.

But for an entertainment district of any sort to get done and move forward as planned, Connors said that there is plenty to do.

“If we can’t get past some of the issues that we have right now, then we can’t get to a place where we’re moving forward,” Connors told Patch. “That’s why this project has taken so long. We’re not in a place yet where we can move forward. That’s why we started Touchdown Arlington is to massage this to help this move forward.”

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