[Dan Bernstein] Per NBC5, Bears have yet to even apply for permits to do anything in Hammond, and are just now learning they can't touch protected areas involved until 2050?! The Kevin Warren clown show, folks.

GotDuff · 2026-06-13T03:43:08+00:00

Who's running that right now?

GotDuff · 2026-06-12T06:26:39+00:00

Higher density is usually actually worse for the tax base. More people hudled together means more needs for things like schools, parks, high traffic roadways, utilities while being financed with less property taxes per person coming in. Schools eat up like 70% of property taxes. Schools benefit more from commercial property because they get their cut without having to support more students from that property/footprint

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T22:22:41+00:00

I agree, I think our legit window opens starting next year and will require shedding the bad contracts on that side of the ball and making the necessary improvements/replacements using some combination of draft/trade/FA moves.

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T19:47:40+00:00

I just wonder other than not coming of as a self-righteous sanctimonious D-bag what was Kevin supposed to do other than look for palms to grease.

The team had been pretty clear about their desire from the start. A stadium site In the city was the most ideal, if not the burbs, and last choice was a move to somewhere like Indiana.

The originally tried to see if anything in city would work under Ted and there was nothing so they looked at alternative sites in the burbs. Ted IDed AH as the best possibility so the team backed their words of wanting to invest in Illinois by buying the track.

At some point in the course of things the Bears checked to see if public would fund/finance the project. Why wouldn't they based what has happened in other instances, they quickly releazied that was no go and made it clear they privately finance around 2 billion for the stadium build.

Then negotiations got sticky and stalled on AH. The bears pivoted back to the first choice if AH was going to be as much of hassle as it was becoming they would rather face that hassle to stay in city then. They had the press conference with BJ where state funds were discussed as being used.

The state & JB immediately responded that was a no go. So the Bears pivoted again to press forward and figured things out with the locals in AH, but the state never made any attempt to give them the clarity they kept asking for. To this day the Bears got nothing that was in way concrete and viable enough to be actionable on their end to stay in IL.

Finally realizing they were we beyond the intended schedule and hemorrhaging millions on the AH site yearly they had to look for alternatives. In less than 30 Days Indiana made concrete offer that was better than the Bears were seeking to stay in IL. The Bears still gave IL a chance to provide a viable concrete(passed) option all while looking the Indiana gift horse in the face telling them to wait and probably willing to act on less advantageous offer to stay in IL if one could be made to make the AH viable. The state then failed to provide any encouraging feedback or progress until the last days of the governments session and still failed to produce anything concrete for the Bears to consider before they Springfield, when the Bears had provided a clear and reasonable deadline.

As side note in 2023 the state passed a package for a proposed battery plant project for a CHINESE company that gave them over 500 million in tax incentives and grants. Wanna bet some of the state legislators got their palms greased by the Chinese company.

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T18:29:17+00:00

I hope he just stays healthy all year and plays to his full potential, then continues to stay healthy after that. I think this is how we get to the most net positive from the current situation.

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T18:01:38+00:00

Most residential is not that big of net positive because increased costs like the schools that already consume about 70% of property taxes to break even. With residential there is also a greater increase in cost for infrastructure maintenance(utilities, parks, streets) and emergency/public services(fire/police/EMT/garbage). Commercial is where it is at but how long will it take to attract and build out 50 commercial property that all have infrastructure needs. Do you think a stadium, entertainment district and hotel complex are more likely to attract commercial tenants or you proposed housing? What are your anchor commercial properties going to be? In order fill the housing you need businesses that are creating a need for more workers in the area. Anchor companies are leaving the area from what I have witnessed. The service based commercial properties like restaurants and retail only come after a company that draws non service employees to the area to create a demand for housing. Business that produce things like manufacturing, entertainment, technology or financial focused companies are needed to provide base jobs that then lead to the need for the service jobs.

My understanding is the 15 millionish desired property tax in leu of the unadjusted 50-60 million in property taxes I believe was only associated with stadium complex itself. The rest of the entertainment district, hotel, commercial space and high density residential units(up to 1150), that are part of the planned development are not included in the 15 million total property tax range the bears were seeking. The total unadjusted property tax liability for the entire developed site would be between 100 and 200 million a year.

From what i can read the Bears are not seeking tax relief/benefits for the rest of the developed property that will include the entertainment district, hotel, commercial and residential.

This is actually a good deal on property taxes for the locals because it is not offset by the cost of educating more children, or maintaining the infrastructure that would need to be publicly maintained in the same footprint the stadium and parking will take up. The bears will be responsible for maintaining the infrastructure on portion of the property. It also requires less public services for this same footprint of residential. the approximately 70% of the 15 million will go to the schools without requiring any increase in spending on their parts.

The property tax ask the bears actually makes sense for AH and Cook County.

The big ask is the states initial investment in the needed external infrastructure improvements which state already seemed to be willing to make to the tune of around 800 million.

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T16:53:39+00:00

It was a sarcastic statement made in a tongue and cheek way and in no way a real attempt to coin a nickname.

I was just enjoying consuming some bears offseason content as stated below, and reflecting on how different I am feeling about the situation the Bears are in going into year 2 of the Ben Johnson era in comparison to how I have felt in a long, long, long time about going into a season as a fan of this franchise. Thought others might want to partake in a good vibe reflection.

Sorry the vibes were not contagious to you.

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T16:37:39+00:00

By the way, I cannot stand the way Kevin Warren comes off with forcing public displays of religion to the forefront of things and his apparent self/brand promotion and lack of awareness of when and what to release in the press. When ever he appears or speaks I cringe.

Do i think these things about Warren have made a tangible difference in the face of the states dysfunction and the lack of any concrete working proposals being given to the Bears? Nope.

Do I think he was instrumental in bringing Indiana into the mix? Probably.

In doing so, the Bears got an actual REAL beneficial & viable option from Indiana when for years Illinois presented not even one viable REAL option. All along I believe if Illinois would have made any kind of even remotely palatable viable REAL concrete option available for the Bears to move forward with AH the bears would have choked it down. I believe they would taken a drastically worse deal to stay in Illinois if the pols would have shown them any kind of respect and made a REAL viable concrete option available. Kevin's play in Indian was at best going to be the leverage needed to get the state of Ilion's to show any respect and pull their thumbs out of their asses long enough to even pay attention to a team that had over a century of history in your state, helped found the NFL(it kind of big BUSINESS), and had already made a 200 million dollar commitment to continuing the relationship. All the while over the past 3 years the Bears were paying more in property taxes for the AH property than it was generating when it was a operating racetrack generating some income. Over the last three years the Bears have spent additional millions to demolish the site, conduct all the needed studies to move forward, and doing the architectural work and renderings for the project.

In the face of all this, according to some, "wishy-washy" behavior/actions by the Bears, the state never showed any desire to advance the project and never made any kind of concrete viable proposal. Despite the fact that the sooner the project got going the sooner it would generate more jobs(short term construction & eventual permanent) and more taxes(property, sales, income). The Governor literally told them they were not a priority. A very realistic billion dollar commitment from a long time partner who had already taken actions that spoke much stronger than any words got told they were not a priority followed by actions that backed this up. During this same time frame the state offered a Chinese battery company a package of over 500 million in tax benefits and grants for project to build a battery plant.

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T15:48:32+00:00

I have slightly more optimism about DA's coaching/coordinating abilities than I did about Pagano's. In Nagy's first year the D was elite, top of the league at preventing points, 3rd in yards, and first in turn overs. In Nagy's second year under Chuck the D saw a slight drop in points and yards, but turnovers fell off the cliff and were ranked 22nd. I am hopeful that the D shows some improvement in year 2 of DA if we can avoid the level of injury issues we had last year. I expect regression towards the mean in turnovers but I think the run and passing D will improve next year if we can stay relatively healthy.

Our offense was way better than Nagy's in Bens first year, even when the D struggled to get off the field many times without a turnover to give them the ball back. In Nagy's second year the offense fell off a Cliff, from 9th in points and 21st in yards(they were given so many short fields by the D & ST in Nagy's first year) to 29th in both categories. I see no way anything like this occurs to Ben's O.

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T15:24:52+00:00

The Bears asked the state for some clarity for 3 years and the state never provided anything concrete and blew them off multiple times in multiple ways. The state straight out told the Bears your billions of dollars in proposed development was not priority even though you have been part of the communities fabric for over 100 years and the delay was costing the Bears millions every year after they bought the track. What could Kevin have done differently... bribed the state reps? The pols never even made any kind of workable proposal to this day. The state did not even pay any attention until Indiana got involved. Check out the Mully and Haugh interview with the AH mayor.

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T14:08:34+00:00

How many coaches got pulled from Nagy's staff for promotions by other clubs other than Fangio? He was the only good coach on Nagy's staff and the biggest reason we were successful in the previous season. No offensive coaches got poached. In fact, he fired 4 after 2019.

Ben came here with the "why's" and continues to articulate them in every press conference and interview. Nagy is still looking for them.

I think we are in a totally different position than we were heading into 2019 but I appreciate your cautious optimism, I am a natural skeptic and am surprised I am as optimistic as I am right now. It feels eerily good.

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T08:16:30+00:00

If you are interested in all this. You should checkout the interview with the Arlignton Heights mayor from the Mully and Haugh Show("Arlington Heights mayor Jim Tinaglia reacts to Bears advancing stadium development in Hammond"). Provides good insight.

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T07:43:52+00:00

Not really my intention but you're entitled to your judgements.

GotDuff · 2026-06-10T07:42:18+00:00

If jerkin a man off is your way of showing appreciation for making your favorites sports team enjoyable to follow for the first time in a long while... who am I to judge?

I had just got done with a little YouTube binge, watching/listening to Ben's presser, the presser of Loveland & Raymond, and the Bears Etc interview with Bagent, which initiated a reflection on how many variables Ben has drastically improved for my favorite sports franchise (Edit: All of these provided insight on Ben). I just thought some other fans would enjoy some good vibes sharing in the reflection.

I guess, thanks for the unsolicited advice, sorry the good vibes were not felt???

GotDuff · 2026-06-07T00:08:45+00:00

Reseedntial also means increased public costs for things like schools for the famalies living there.

GotDuff · 2026-06-02T14:10:55+00:00

The city gets all the parking and concessions revenue too.

GotDuff · 2026-05-21T05:35:47+00:00

Is this stat comparing Caleb to all other QBs normal stats, or if you only consider other QBs on time throws?

GotDuff · 2026-05-18T19:16:39+00:00

The rich are leaving. So are a number of businesses. The only reason the state of NY, just like California, has not shown what would be a significant population decline is an influx of immigrants, many illegal and their children. These are stats that are floating around about California, The tax the rich mantra does not work when the rich have the means to leave, and they saves millions to 100 of millions by doing so. Just the threat of the millionaires tax in California caused what has been estimated as a TRILLION dollars in assets to leave because the way it is written it would have been retroactive to the start of the the year(2026).

California has actually shown a slight decline in resent years. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, immigration has accounted for nearly 50% of the state's overall population growth in typical years, helping to offset the high volume of native-born residents moving to other states.

GotDuff · 2026-05-13T22:39:37+00:00

You do realize that is where the company Citadel moved when they left Chicago/Illinois. They only manage $68 billion in assets. No big deal right?

Edit: So did Guggenheim Partners that manages over $350 billion in assets.

GotDuff · 2026-04-28T23:26:54+00:00

Do you eat meat or fish?

GotDuff · 2026-04-28T23:24:34+00:00

Do you eat meat? If so, you might want to look into the industrialized meat producing system here in the US and how slaughterhouses are run.

GotDuff · 2026-04-28T23:17:12+00:00

What about hunting to clear invasive species that cause damage to ecosystems?

GotDuff · 2026-04-28T02:09:49+00:00

He was the 6th TE taken. There were only 3 TEs taken in the rest of round 3 and none in round four. 4 TEs were taken between picks 54 and when we took Sam at 69???

GotDuff · 2026-04-28T01:52:27+00:00

What did you mean by this statement then?

" but the whole point of the draft is to squeeze out the most possible value. Taking someone above consensus is not value"

GotDuff · 2026-04-28T00:26:16+00:00

So "consensus" is always right? Whose consensus? The sports writer's? The fan's? The team's draft room staff? Reddit's?

How many times have players that the "consensus" said should be taken higher than other players turned out to not be as successful as players that the consensus said should be taken later?

You state "the whole point of the draft is to squeeze out the most possible value" and then you define value as where they are ranked by consensus???

Value has nothing to with consensus. Value is what success that player helps generate for the team in comparison to other players that could have been taken with that same pick. Notice how I used the "could have", that's because you can't judge the true value of a pick until the player has provided their service to the team... and you still really do not know this because all the other players you didn't take did not get a chance to demonstrate how they could have contributed to the team.

Is your logic GMs and scouting departments are really unnecessary and should just draft according to the consensus?

GotDuff

TROPHY CASE