For anyone buying in Arlington Heights this fall, one date tied to the former Arlington Park racetrack matters more than the rest, and it isn't on the Springfield calendar. It's December 31, 2027. That deadline sits in a December 2024 agreement among the Village, School Districts 15, 211 and 214, and the Bears' development entity, CBFC Development LLC. Through 2027, that agreement sets how the 326-acre site is valued for property taxes, as long as the Bears and the Village are still planning and the agreement stays in force. The Springfield debate is about the stadium's long-term tax deal. The 2024 agreement covers the site's near-term taxes, under conditions that are written into it.
The memorandum of understanding classifies the cleared racetrack as unimproved Class I real estate. It's assessed at a 10% level on a market value of $124,691,296. The same terms apply for assessment years 2025 through 2027, as long as the Bears and the Village are still planning and stadium construction hasn't started.
The dollar effect was large. In March 2026, Mayor Jim Tinaglia told the Daily Herald that the agreement cut the Bears' annual tax bill from $16 million to $3.6 million. The Daily Herald's 2024 coverage said the $3.6 million figure covers 2024 through 2027. A separate $8.9 million bill for the 2023 tax year was then under appeal at the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board.
So through 2027, the largest single parcel in the village has a known tax treatment unless the agreement is formally ended. The conditions for ending it are covered below.
The unsettled part is easy to describe. On August 13, Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren said Hammond, Indiana, was the club's "sole focus." The team had finished due diligence on the Lost Marsh site and was studying Wolf Lake Terminal, possibly as a combined site. Warren didn't give a groundbreaking date. Back on June 5, the day the team announced its Indiana focus, Tinaglia said the Village would "accept that direction." He also said the 326-acre site "remains a highly viable redevelopment site due to its size, transportation access, and prime location in the Northwest Suburbs."
Then on October 1, Gov. JB Pritzker, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Bears minority owner Pat Ryan, House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, Sen. Bill Cunningham and Rep. Kam Buckner met to discuss the stadium. Tinaglia said the Village was encouraged and still sees Arlington Heights as "the best opportunity for the Bears to build a state-of-the-art stadium and entertainment district." On October 2, ABC7 reported that lawmakers were looking at a public stadium authority as one idea among several, with no deal in place.
That follows a spring session in which the House passed the megaprojects bill, Amendment 1 to HB 910, in April. In the session's final hours, the Senate passed a separate stadium-authority approach 37 to 17. The House adjourned without voting on it. At the local level, the Village said on March 3 that it still hadn't received the Bears' traffic study, which is required before any formal proposal review. The research found no 2026 Village Board approval of a stadium plan.
The memorandum spells out what happens next. For assessment years 2028 through 2030, the fixed value continues only if the Bears have formally applied to the Village for stadium land-use entitlements. The agreement's wording:
"...if CBFC has submitted formal application to the Village for the land use entitlements required for the construction and operation of the Stadium on the Property... by a date no later than December 31, 2027, then the Property should be considered unimproved real estate and classified and assessed as Class I real estate with an assessment level of 10%, and a market value of $124,691,296.00. If not, then the final assessed value will be increased from the prior year by a percentage equal to the annual change in the Consumer Price Index..."
That increase follows Chicago-area CPI, with a 2% minimum and a 5% maximum each year. From 2031 on, a second checkpoint applies. That one is tied to applying for construction permits by the later of December 31, 2030, or six months after the Village approves the entitlements.
The agreement can also end entirely. It terminates if the Bears decide not to go ahead and notify the other parties. It doesn't cover a redevelopment without a stadium. The Village and the school districts can also, by mutual agreement, end the tax section if a governor or local chief elected official signs legislation, a budget or an appropriation funding a stadium somewhere other than the Arlington Park site. If the Bears formally give up on Arlington Heights, the fixed-value arrangement stops applying. The research didn't find a published analysis of how the site would be assessed after that.
Here are the dates in order:
A homeowner might reasonably ask why any of this matters on their own street. The answer is how Illinois property taxes work. The Cook County Treasurer's property tax primer explains that each taxing district sets its levy first. If a district's total taxable value falls, its tax rate goes up to collect the same amount. How a large parcel is valued affects how the levy is spread across everyone else. The research found no published calculation of how much the Arlington Park settlement shifted any Arlington Heights homeowner's bill, so that number is unknown.
What is published is how much of the tax base homeowners already carry. In an August 18, 2026 report, the Cook County Assessor's Office found that after Board of Review appeals in the 2025 reassessment, residential property made up 68% of assessed value across 13 north and northwest suburban townships, up from 66% before. That's the highest residential share since the office began tracking it in 2019. The office also noted that shares vary from one municipality to the next.
That's why the long-term stadium terms in Springfield matter to Arlington Heights homeowners. In May 2026, Treasurer Maria Pappas's office looked at the House-passed megaprojects proposal. It estimated that a $10 million payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, would mean about a $39 million annual tax break for the team. A completed stadium was estimated to be worth about $675 million. In a separate scenario, the office estimated that a $20 million PILOT spread across roughly 23,000 village homeowners would come to about $280 each. The same analysis warned that if the payments didn't cover higher service costs, other taxpayers, especially homeowners, could make up the difference. These figures model a bill that didn't pass. They show the range of outcomes, not what homeowners will pay.
There's also a common belief that homes near the site carry a "Bears premium." A Chicago Tribune analysis, as summarized in early 2023, found that median sale prices in the three ZIP codes closest to the site rose 14% in the year after the Bears announced the purchase in October 2021. The Chicago metro area rose 5% over the same period. Then-Mayor Tom Hayes said the stronger trend started before the Bears proposal and reflected the area's quality of life and schools. The research found no 2026 analysis of whether the Indiana focus has changed prices or sales near the site.
The broader market hasn't been waiting on the stadium. In August 2026, Illinois REALTORS reported a Chicago Metro median sale price of $395,000, up 5.3% from a year earlier. Closed sales fell 4.5% to 8,153, and inventory dropped 11.0% to 14,028 homes. Homes took a median 22 days to sell, the same as August 2025. Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS put the suburban Chicagoland detached-home median at $450,000 for August 2026, up from $420,000 a year earlier. These are regional figures, and the research didn't find a public village-level table for the same months. Still, they point to a tight market in which prices are rising whether or not a stadium is coming.
Does the Bears' Indiana focus end the 2024 agreement? Not on its own. The agreement ends if the Bears decide not to go ahead and formally notify the Village and the school districts. The Village and the districts can also end its tax section once an official signs legislation, a budget or an appropriation funding a stadium at another site. The research found no such notice and no such signed funding.
Where can I follow official updates? The Village posts statements and agenda items on its Arlington Park redevelopment page. It says the page is updated whenever the topic goes on a public meeting agenda or permits are approved.
Will a stadium deal lower or raise my taxes? No published analysis answers that for an individual household. Any deal would depend on terms that haven't been written yet. For questions about your own bill, talk to a tax professional or the Cook County Assessor's Office.
If you're weighing Arlington Heights against nearby suburbs and want to know how the Arlington Park timeline fits your purchase or sale, Valorie Schmidt can go through the dates and documents with you. Schedule a consultation, or start with a free home valuation if you're thinking about selling before the 2027 deadline.
Whether you are just down the street or considering a move from another state, Valorie Schmidt is here to guide you through the exciting journey of real estate. Your dream home or a successful sale is just a conversation away.
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