If the Bears Move, Is the Southland Ready?
A new stadium may be built in Hammond. The bigger question is what surrounding communities do next.
While much of the public discussion has focused on whether the Chicago Bears should stay in Illinois or relocate to Indiana, another conversation is beginning to emerge: how can Southland communities position themselves to benefit from one of the region’s largest potential development opportunities?
That question was recently explored in a front-page Daily Southtown story examining the economic implications of a potential Bears stadium just across the Illinois border.
Southland Development Authority (SDA) CEO Bo Kemp believes communities should begin thinking beyond the stadium itself.
Thousands of visitors traveling to football games, concerts, and major events will need places to do things Eating, shopping - the usual. The communities that benefit most may be the ones that intentionally create reasons for visitors to stop and look around.
“Figuring out how to make the experience of getting to the stadium, spending time at the stadium, feeling that the stadium is part of your home is key,” Kemp told the Daily Southtown. “For better or for worse, this is a chance to showcase your community.”
The opportunity is expansive. A major regional destination can create demand for new restaurants, hotels, retail, entertainment, housing, and infrastructure improvements. But those benefits are not automatic.
As architect Edward Peck noted in the article, communities that fail to plan could become little more than drive-through destinations, watching economic activity pass them by on the way to and from the stadium.
From streetscapes and signage to transportation connections and business attraction strategies, the decisions communities make today could shape how millions of future visitors experience the Southland.
“All those things matter, and this is a chance for a lot of people who go to these games, who have almost never spent any time in the south suburbs, to get a different impression,” Kemp said. “So spending some time and effort to be strategic about what that journey looks like for people actually is job number one.”
