You can’t fault McCook Mayor Terrance Carr for sounding like a football coach when describing his proposal to lure the Bears to the village.
“We’ll get it done in four quarters. We don’t need overtime like the state,” Carr said. “We’ll either get it done or not get it done, one of the two.”
The “it” he refers to is the biggest news ever in a tiny village that celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
Carr wants the Bears to build their new stadium on former quarry land at 55th Street and East Avenue.
Yes, he is serious.
“We’re putting together a proposal for them right now as we speak,” he said Wednesday afternoon, June 3.
“We’re following the rules. The cart’s not going in front of the horse. The cart is staying behind the horse. (The Bears) could tell us to go pound salt, but we want to let them know we’re interested and we’re here to help them stay in Illinois,” Carr said.
He has hired a consultant to reach out to the Bears.
The state failed to pass a bill needed to provide financing for the Bears to build a stadium in Arlington Heights. The team has said it will decide by early summer whether to build in Arlington Heights or Hammond, Indiana.
Don’t count out McCook, Carr said.
Back in January, Carr released an artist’s rendering of an 80,000-seat stadium at the southeast corner of East Avenue and 55th Street. A developer had contacted him with the idea.
Some locals poked fun, but Carr isn’t amused. He thinks the package he’s putting together will catch the Bears’ attention.
“We’ll have them build their $2 billion stadium. I’ll give them the land. I’ll charge them $1 a year in rent. They give me the stadium. And I’ll cover the property taxes,” Carr said.
Noting it’s a property tax reassessment year in Cook County, he said, “whatever it is, I’ll cover what the property taxes are today.”
The stadium, as a publicly owned property, would not be paying property taxes, he said.
“I’ve got to get a seat at the table with the Bears, that’s Number One,” he said.
“We don’t need Springfield,” Carr said after the June 1 village board meeting. “I don’t need their bill. I’m doing this in-house.”
The Bears would have full control of the stadium for 50 years, he said.
“It’s a simple concept. I’m a young, small-town mayor. I think outside the box,” Carr, 44, said.
The site is a filled-in quarry owned by Vulcan Materials Company, based in Birmingham, Alabama.
Despite the enormous odds against McCook, village trustees John Bubash Jr. and Thomas Perrin think this can work.
“I think it’s great. Good for the community and the area. Income. Taxes. Everything,” Bubash said Monday. “I’m with it 150 percent.”
He added, “Stranger things have happened.”
Perrin noted that the site is near the Stevenson Expressway, thus giving easy access for motorists driving to the games.
“I like it because I’m a big Bears fan for all my life and I’d like to see them here. It’d be absolutely fantastic,” Perrin said Monday.
Perrin said he was surprised that no deal had been hammered out by the General Assembly.
“I guess our government down in Springfield doesn’t realize how many jobs this is going to bring in. Not only for construction but for the future,” Perrin said.
He said that International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 “is right there on Joliet Road. They may like it.”
Perrin wants a domed stadium. “I’m 70 years old. I don’t want to sit out in the cold,” he said.
Plans call for an entertainment district and parking to the east of the stadium.
“Here’s the key. When Electro-Motive was in town, there were 17,800 cars going through 55th and East every day. Know how many cars park for the Bears? All the lots in the area? 9,000.
“I’m onto something. All I need is the Bears to sit with me at the table. They come sit with me, I’ve got them,” Carr said.
When news broke months ago about the developer’s idea, officials in neighboring Countryside were skeptical. That mood has not changed.
On Wednesday, Countryside Mayor Sean McDermott, when asked about Carr reaching out to the Bears, offered a two-word reply: “Good luck.”
Bears fan and Lyons resident Miguel Arriaga, 34, whose in-laws live in McCook, attended the board meeting Monday night.
Told of Carr’s idea, he said “it would be very cool to have Chicago’s pro football team here,” adding he could walk to the games.