Indiana lawmakers moved forward with their end of a proverbial deal to move the Chicago Bears to Hammond, passing Senate Bill 27 nearly unanimously in a 95-4 vote Tuesday.
The bill outlines the financial incentives and authority to build a stadium in northwest Indiana's Lake County.
"To the people of Indiana that might be wondering, how does this benefit me?" Republican Rep. Hal Slager posited to his fellow lawmakers from other areas of the state. It's more than a football team and stadium, he said: It's a potential influx of tax revenue, infrastructure improvements, and once-a-generation economic development.
"We will bring the visitors, and that will benefit the entire budget," he said.
Are the Bears moving to Indiana? What happens now?
It's still unclear whether the team intends to move from Chicago to northwest Indiana, as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said last week Bears representatives had "mostly agreed" to keep the team within the state.
Just last week, Indiana lawmakers announced they had a verbal commitment from the Bears to invest $2 billion in a Hammond stadium, but no formal deal has been signed.
SB 27 will now head to Indiana Gov. Mike Braun's desk once the Senate decides whether to agree with the House's changes.
Read the full text of Indiana's Chicago Bears stadium bill
Below is the full text of the bill as of Tuesday, Feb. 24. Future versions of the bill will be available at iga.in.gov.
Why are the Bears considering a move to Indiana?
The team had been seeking tax breaks and nearly $900 million in public funding to build a stadium in Cook County, singling out Arlington Heights as an option in late 2025, according to media reports at the time.
Bears President and CFO Kevin Warren's expressed his frustration with the state of negotiations in a Dec. 17 open letter, saying the team was not receiving "a sense of urgency or appreciation to date."
Warren said in the letter the team would have to expand its search to the wider Chicagoland region, including northwest Indiana.
An NFL spokesperson told IndyStar in January that, under NFL rules, the Bears hold marketing rights in the area because it is within a 75-mile radius of downtown Chicago, a right that applies to every NFL team.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Will Chicago Bears move to Indiana? It's still unclear