pf9 Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 Soldier Field, though only hosting the Bears since 1971, is almost a century old. And it is the last remaining NFL venue seating less than 65,000. it's time the Bears consider a new stadium. There are arguments in favor of both building an open-air stadium and a stadium with a roof (like a retractable roof). Those who favor an open-air stadium enjoy the home-field advantage of late-season games in cold weather. On the other hand, building a stadium with a roof would allow the Super Bowl, CFP title game, and Final Four to come to the city. Chicago is the largest market that has never hosted the former. But of course, moving indoors would mean your biggest rivals would be the last NFC North team playing an in open air stadium, the other two teams in the division play in outright domes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkwdw13 Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 The renovation of Soldier Field isn’t even 20 years old yet, it isn’t getting redone or a new stadium anytime soon. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAF-N72EX Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 35 minutes ago, pf9 said: Soldier Field, though only hosting the Bears since 1971, is almost a century old. And it is the last remaining NFL venue seating less than 65,000. it's time the Bears consider a new stadium. There are arguments in favor of both building an open-air stadium and a stadium with a roof (like a retractable roof). Those who favor an open-air stadium enjoy the home-field advantage of late-season games in cold weather. On the other hand, building a stadium with a roof would allow the Super Bowl, CFP title game, and Final Four to come to the city. Chicago is the largest market that has never hosted the former. But of course, moving indoors would mean your biggest rivals would be the last NFC North team playing an in open air stadium, the other two teams in the division play in outright domes. You don't know how the park district works do you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAF-N72EX Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 6 minutes ago, blkwdw13 said: The renovation of Soldier Field isn’t even 20 years old yet, it isn’t getting redone or a new stadium anytime soon. I do wish they would do more with the field though because it's dangerous in bad weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkwdw13 Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 5 minutes ago, JAF-N72EX said: I do wish they would do more with the field though because it's dangerous in bad weather. I wish they could get a new stadium but the only way that is going to happen is if they pay for it themselves and that won’t happen since they don’t have the money to. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epyon Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 I'm in the minority here, but I generally dislike the differences in stadiums in any way. You've got a few stadiums like KC and Seattle that are designed as Acoustic weapons that funnel sound to opposing side lines... Fields like Chicago, New England, Buffalo, and Green Bay that weaponize the cold... And there's fields like Chicago and San Fran (at least their old stadium, not sure about current) that weaponize atrocious playing surfaces and injure more players. The competitor in me hates all of those factors having any impact on the game and kind of wishes there was a league standard imposed (indoor and turf, for example). That said, as a "former player" of the sport (high school, nothing serious) , some of my greatest memories where getting to play during a rain, wind, mud, snow, fog, or the only game I got to play on turf instead of grass... And I can't deny that it also adds a ton of variety to the game as well. Overall I think we do need to build a better stadium, specifically bigger, and if be thrilled if we improved the garbage playing surface (which I think is a factor in our offense sucking historically, and our defenses being "good" historically). The problems are that I don't see any way it gets done near the lake front via a lack of space, and given the whole pandemic thing, I'm not sure anyone is going to be anywhere near inclined to build new giant petri dishes for a decade or more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beardown3231 Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 I actually don't mind the playing surface. I feel like it has improved the last few years. We really don't see a ton of serious injuries anymore. Houston, SF and even NYJ/NYG have gotten a ton more heat this year than the Bears have. My only issue with the renovated Soldier Field is that they made it the smallest in football by a large margin in terms of seating capacity. I wish it had been built with 75-80K seats, not 62. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
41st ward Chicagoian Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 In a perfect world I would replace Soldier field. Anyone who lives in Chicago knows driving into downtown is terrible. There is very poor public transportation to Soldier Field in comparison to Wrigley or where the white Sox play. I would move it out of the lake front museum campus to a suburban location. Schaumburg has great highway access, lots of hotels and entertainment that would make holding a Super Bowl very attractive. 100% for a retractable roof. 1. Fan comfort. Who want to sit next to the lake in the winter? Not me. 2. The game is not 3 yards and a cloud of dirt anymore. It’s a skilled game its a passing game. The bears need to stop living in the past and modernize. 3. The field conditions would obviously improve a great deal. With all this being said. It’s a wish list and a big wish at that. The city is broke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topwop1 Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 Doesn't really matter to me as I typically don;t attend Bears games live in person but the one time I did attend a game there I found it to be fine as a stadium. I don't see them building a new stadium any time soon though, especially not any where else other than where Soldier Field is currently located as that is some prime real estate right off lake Michigan. Like you said OP, the Bears have a distinct home field advantage come the colder months so why ruin that? Also Chicago isn't no soft indoor dome type of city. Football is a tough sport and IMO is meant to be played in rugged conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLCbear Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 (edited) On 10/18/2020 at 12:06 AM, blkwdw13 said: The renovation of Soldier Field isn’t even 20 years old yet, it isn’t getting redone or a new stadium anytime soon. those 'renovations' made us have the UGLIEST DOG stadium in ALL of football ! there is not a worse, or more esthetically unpleasing stadium anywhere !! whoever designed that crap should be beaten and blackballed from ever working again !!!! Edited October 19, 2020 by SLCbear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WindyCity Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 What gets replaced first Charles Leno or Soldier Field? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkwdw13 Posted October 20, 2020 Share Posted October 20, 2020 4 hours ago, SLCbear said: those 'renovations' made us have the UGLIEST DOG stadium in ALL of football ! there is not a worse, or more esthetically unpleasing stadium anywhere !! whoever designed that crap should be beaten and blackballed from ever working again !!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ty21 Posted October 20, 2020 Share Posted October 20, 2020 Why not just cover the top with glass that additional fans can lay on. That’s another 10,000 or so 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beardown3231 Posted October 20, 2020 Share Posted October 20, 2020 (edited) 23 hours ago, WindyCity said: What gets replaced first Charles Leno or Soldier Field? Not one person, sane or not, would say Soldier Field Edited October 20, 2020 by beardown3231 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trubiskytime Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 On 10/19/2020 at 6:41 PM, WindyCity said: What gets replaced first Charles Leno or Soldier Field? Lmao I love this comment! 😂😂 Some people here don’t realize how good of a sense of humor Windy has!! 😂 His sarcasm is always on point!!! 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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