SPRINGFIELD — Representatives for the Chicago Bears were poised to leave Springfield Thursday yet again without any help from state lawmakers in their drive for a new stadium in Arlington Heights.

Not even a proposed $25 million payment from the team to benefit the city of Chicago was enough to get them past midfield as the clock wound down on the Illinois General Assembly’s fall veto session.

The Bears floated the $25 million payment in a letter circulating among Chicago Democrats who are widely opposed to throwing any blocks to clear the team’s path out of Soldier Field and into a new dome at the site of the old Arlington International Racecourse.

Since closing on the 326-acre suburban parcel in 2023 for $197 million, the team has been shut out in their Springfield push for legislatio

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