Chicago sports champion says city officials are ‘in denial’ about Bears leaving for Indiana

Former Chicago Cubs star Anthony Rizzo is reveling in the Windy City after retirement, but pretty soon, the city will be without a primary sport.

The Chicago Bears of the National Football League are set to leave Chicago for Hammond, Indiana, roughly 20 miles south of their current home.

The Bears have called Soldier Field home since 1971, and before that, they played their home games at Rizzo’s old stomping grounds, Wrigley Field, for 50 seasons.

While the Bears have been pretty insistent on leaving, city officials have been trying desperately to keep them, and Rizzo says they are “in denial that they’re going.”

“I think they’re trying to deny it as long as they can until it’s official,” Rizzo told Fox News Digital.

“Soldier Field was, is, awesome, in my opinion. It’s hard to get in and out of, and it definitely needed some renovations, but the city of Chicago and the fan base, it’s absolutely wild that they’re leaving for Indiana. I know it’s not too far away; it’s not even 20 miles south, but the fact that it’s in Indiana is different,” he continued.

CHICAGO BEARS TAKE MAJOR STEP TOWARD LEAVING CITY AFTER MORE THAN A CENTURY AS FRANCHISE MAKES INDIANA PLANS

“Then again, the New York Giants and the New York Jets play in New Jersey, so. The renderings of what they’re doing look amazing. If you build it, they will come, right?”

The Bears’ board of directors met last week into the evening and voted to advance the stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana — with an exact stadium site to be selected. The announcement was made the next day.

“We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana and the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across the neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city,” Bears Chairman George H. McCaskey and CEO Kevin Warren said in a statement.

“It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.”

This is the first time the team’s board has voted on a stadium site. This development is notable and significant, but an NFL source told Fox News there is a chance Illinois might still be able to convince the team to stay in the state. Those chances were characterized as requiring “a Hail Mary” political effort.

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However, that Hail Mary, even if it were to work, will still move the club out of Chicago, with the only site in Illinois as a likely landing spot being Arlington Heights.

Outkick’s Armando Salguero contributed to this report.

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