Looking at hopping a state line as the Kansas City Chiefs crossed the turbid waters of the Missouri River from Missouri into Kansas, the Chicago Bears sent trucks to locate underground utilities this weekend at a potential stadium site in Northwest Indiana near Wolf Lake in Hammond's Robertsdale neighborhood.
Robertsdale and Whiting residents have doubts about the viability of a Bears stadium just off the Indiana Toll Road. They question whether there would be enough land without encroaching on protected natural spaces; they say the potential footprint could infringe upon parks and a golf course; and they worry about the proximity of industry, including a chemical plant. They also point to some Illinois residents' negative perception of Northwest Indiana, including how far a drive they think it is from the city.
Residents also question whether the roads could handle all the Sunday game-day traffic, and whether the Bears are seriously considering a relocation or just proposing a Northwest Indiana stadium as a bargaining chip.
The Bears say they are looking at a site that borders Chicago just off the Indiana Toll Road by Wolf Lake, which is half in Indiana and half in Illinois.
There's a big open chunk of land on 129th Street west of Calumet Avenue in north Hammond near the Illinois state line where a stadium and surrounding stadium village could be built, neighborhood resident Al Matulewicz said.
"I think it's just a ploy," he said. "They want to build in Arlington Heights. They just want money from the state and are seeing if they can get a better offer from somewhere. You think Illinois is going to let them go?"
Matulewicz said he thinks it's a smart negotiating maneuver.
"It's like Amazon when they want to build a warehouse. They know where they want to build it, but they'll scout out other sites and see what kinds of deals they can get and come back to the one they originally wanted," he said.
Matulewicz believes a stadium would be possible in the Robertsdale area, with the open land available and proximity to the Indiana Toll Road or Interstate 90.
"I don't think it will happen," he said. "It seems like a bluff, like when they were thinking about building the Lake Calumet airport. They would have encroached on us and put us in the flight path."
Neighborhood resident Mark Dominiak also believes it's a negotiating tactic.
"The main sticking point that I understand is the local governments aren't giving them the infrastructure funding. It's not like they wouldn't run into the same problem if they came out here," he said. "I don't think they want to come out here. I think this is kind of a bargaining ploy."
If the Bears are sincere about moving to Northwest Indiana, Dominiak hopes they will consider moving further east away from the state line. He does not want to see them encroach on the natural and recreational amenities of an area that includes Wolf Lake Memorial Park, George Lake and the Lost Marsh Golf Course. People hike, bike, boat, fish, golf and birdwatch in pockets of nature surrounded by heavy industry, including the nearby BP Whiting Refinery.
"There's not as much open space here," Dominiak said. "If they did do it here, they'd end up having to take away some of the stuff we use, and that's not a good thing. It would be better to do it somewhere like the South Works site, where you have infrastructure and land that's not being used by the public. Or, they could look at more vacant land in East Chicago or Gary that's not being used by the public. Somewhere where businesses have gone away would be the better place to put it, not where we've got something curated, which is what we've got around here."
Dominiak is a regular golfer at Lost Marsh, the golf course that was built on the former steel mill slag heap known as Bairstow Mountain.
"So many more people are out here enjoying this place than 10 years ago. It's taken them so long to cultivate that," he said. "It would be unfortunate if they put something in that put a dent in that. People appreciate the difficulty of the (golf) course and the ease to get here. It's not overpriced. The people are friendly. The facility's gorgeous. Most of the people out here come from Illinois. They heard about it from some of the marketing, and people say they can't believe it's here. They did a ton on the design with the land they had available to make it a challenging course. They didn't make it an easy round of golf."
Whiting resident David Dabertin said he's no more concerned about the Bears building a stadium in the Wolf Lake area than he is with an anvil coming out of the sky and hitting him like Wile E. Coyote.
"I looked at some of the things online, and what they're doing is making fun of Indiana," he said. "They're saying they're going to put it in Gary, where it stinks and where it smells. All they do is point out our problems. No one is saying it's a good idea. They've done this before with the airport. They've even done this before with a Bears stadium."
Dabertin said they couldn't fill in any of the lakes, as they're either protected or would spark significant remonstrance. He said they likely also would have to displace the Dover Chemical Corp. plant on Sheffield Avenue.
"If they tried to fill in Wolf Lake, I would fight that to the end because I know that has to be preserved," Dabertin said. "You could take out Dover Chemical. I don't know how much that would cost. There's no other community in America that would allow Dover to locate there. Look at their record for handling chemicals. Whoever thinks it's a good idea to promote Northwest Indiana should rethink it. I'm just hearing a lot of ridicule."
Much of the land is either protected by conservation easements or near industry like Unilever and Cargill.
"Where would you put it?" he asked. "You could never, ever, ever put something like that by a chemical plant. That would be so dangerous. Remember when it was still Keil Chemical? They gave some guy an award for stopping a bromine leak with a mop handle. He shoved a mop handle into a gauge, or it would have exposed kids playing on Clark Field to bromine."
Given the issue with the area, Dabertin said he doesn't think the stadium site review will survive due diligence.
"I'm not worried," he said. "I just don't see it happening."
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