Chicago Bears makes offer on Arlington International property

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Bears of the NFL said Thursday it has made an offer to purchase the 336-acre Arlington International Racecourse property from its owner, Kentucky-based Churchill Downs Inc.

The Bears Twitter feed on Thursday released a statement from president and CEO Ted Phillips saying the team had submitted a bid to buy the property. CDI had set a deadline of 5 p.m. on June 15 for interested parties to make offers. On Wednesday, a consortium called Endeavor Properties LLC said it had bid on the property. Former Arlington president Roy Arnold is the public face of this group, which includes real estate developers and individual investors who want to preserve racing at the historic track.

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The Bears has long been linked in published reports to the Arlington property, which sits northwest of Chicago proper and is on a commuter rail line emanating from downtown Chicago. The Bears play home games in downtown Chicago at Soldier Field, renovated in 2002 and leased by the team through 2033. The team’s training facility recently was moved from the city of Bourbonnais south of Chicago to Lake Forest, a northern suburb.

CDI has said this will be the last year of racing at Arlington and in February announced it intended to sell the property for development.