With the Bears issuing a non-binding announcement on Friday that they will be advancing with the potential building of a brand new stadium in Hammond, Indiana, the Bears need their leverage play in opposition to Illinois to not be seen as the leverage play it is.
Of course it is a leverage play. If it wasn’t, a deal would already be accomplished to construct in Hammond.
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Instead, the Bears hold speaking to Illinois at the same time as they supposedly deal with Indiana.
It is smart for the Bears to attempt to persuade members of the media that Indiana is not a leverage play. (It would not make sense for members of the media to swallow the hook, except it is part of a broader quid professional quo for scoops and/or entry.) For a leverage play to be efficient, it must be seen as actual. If it isn’t seen as actual, the leverage will not transfer the needle in Illinois.
The actual query is not whether or not Indiana is leverage (as a result of it is) however whether or not Indiana is a bluff. In different phrases, are the Bears merely utilizing a possible Hammond transfer as a approach to get the very best deal in Arlington Heights? (Also, did the Bears initially pivot to Arlington Heights to get the very best deal in Chicago?)
It’s doable that the Bears, deep down, don’t need to depart Chicago, however that the group concluded at the outset of this course of that it is unattainable to construct a brand new stadium in Chicago on phrases favorable to the franchise except the metropolis and the state imagine the crew could construct throughout the border.
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With a transfer out of the space an impossibility (the placement of two groups in L.A. took away a great “or else” risk for 20 years of stadium tasks), a possible transfer inside the space carries actual worth. As leverage, and presumably as a bluff.
That’s the factor a few bluff. Admitting it is a bluff strips the bluff of any worth.
Regardless of whether or not the Bears will really transfer to Indiana, the risk stays leverage for now. If it wasn’t, there could be nothing for the Bears and Illinois to debate. The mere incontrovertible fact that the two sides are nonetheless speaking proves conclusively that the Bears are taking part in Indiana in opposition to Illinois — in the identical manner that they have been taking part in Arlington Heights in opposition to Chicago.