The second the Hammond news started looking real, every Chicago die-hard ran the same mental math: fine, screw Indiana, just shove the Bears into the brand new Ryan Field up in Evanston. The Ryan family already has NFL ties, Northwestern just spent a fortune on a gleaming new building, problem solved, everybody go home. It is a clean, tidy fantasy. It is also, according to the loudest White Sox voice on the internet, completely dead on arrival.
The Ryan Field swap gets shot down on capacity grounds, with NFL precedent cited from the Soldier Field renovation era.
Would be an easy switch considering the Ryan Family and all…but new Ryan field is only 35K seats. The NFL wouldn’t allow it. They didn’t allow it back when soldier was renovated and old Ryan field had almost 50K seats
That is the whole problem in one tweet. New Ryan Field is being built as a 35K-seat college venue, and the league has been on record for years that an NFL home stadium needs to be bigger than that. The reminder about the Soldier Field renovation is the kill shot — back then the old Ryan Field sat closer to 50K and the NFL still said no thanks. If they wouldn't bless it at 50K, they are definitely not blessing it at 35K, Ryan family connection or not.
The opening salvo of the day blaming Pritzker, the mayor, Kevin Warren and the McCaskeys for chasing the Bears out of Illinois entirely.
Congratulations to @GovPritzker, @ChicagosMayor, Kevin Warren, the McCaskeys and many others - it looks as if you have successfully chased the Chicago Bears out of not just Chicago, but Illinois completely You all STINK
That tone has been building all day because the entire Chicagoland market is now stuck reverse-engineering ways to keep this team. Big Cat already floated the bit-law that the Bears should have to rebuild Arlington Park as penance. Eddie is still digging his heels in that the move is not actually happening. There is even the alt-pitch of cramming the Bears onto 35th and Shields while the Sox slide over to the rail yard near The 78 — a swap nobody asked for but at least keeps the city limits intact.
The Sox-Bears real estate shuffle pitch, offered with a shrug.
I still say the Bears should just move to 35th and Shields with the Sox moving to that rail yard across from the 78 but 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
The cleanest read here is that fans are grasping for any in-state lifeline and the Ryan Field one was always the most romantic option — new building, college-football-clean sightlines, a name that already screams football money. But the league has rules about seat counts and luxury inventory for a reason, and Kevin Warren of all people knows them cold. If Hammond is really where this is headed, it isn't because Evanston wasn't considered. It's because the math on a 35K-seat NFL stadium never worked, and 'just use Ryan Field' was never actually a Plan B. It was a hope.