Boilernation

Bears still haven't fully committed. I'll believe it when a site is officially picked and construction is announced. But, I'm still betting on Illinois to completely screw this up because of politics. They've given away Milliions in tax payers funds for other reasons recently. Not giving the Bears a fair property tax rate as well as infrastructure upgrades around the property is not about them sticking it to the Billiionaires. It's political turmoil from within, imo. I'm thinking it's 80/20 at this point in favor of Indiana with the Bears ownership practically begging Illinois to cave. They once again crafted a public statement in favor of Indiana without actually committing on going to Indiana.

Is this just a last ditch effort by the Bears to get Illinois to committ to property tax certainty and infrastructure improvements? Conflicting info here, but Cronin is a legit journalist and is well informed when it comes to the Bears.

Technically, they're not even in Chicago in the first place. Halas Hall and the practice fields are in suburban Lake Forest.

Agreed and it likely wasn't intentional. IMO, the Bears would be accepting the Hammond offer this morning if they weren't deadset on building in Arlington Heights. At first I thought Indiana was foolish to get involved since they were likely going to be used. In hindsight, it was a win/win for them. In a matter of a few months they were able to put together a deal that Illinois still hasn't been abled to finalize since the Bears bought the property over 3 years ago. Braun and his buddies jumped at the idea of showing businesses in Illinois how easy it is to get deals done in Indiana.

No arguments from me on the burdens faced by Illinois tax payers, but those are fairlytale numbers in that article. There's not single for pro profit business who is going to buy that land from the Bears or previously Churchill Downs and pay $350M per year in property taxes. I believe at this point New England and Miami both own their own stadiums and pay less than $5M per year in property taxes. Arlington International Racetrack was paying around $9M per year in property taxes before going out of business. For comparison in the business world, All State was paying around $4.7M in property taxes on their massive 186 acre corporate campus in Northbrook, IL, prior to selling it. The article also fails to mention the gain in Sales Taxes that will come from the Arlington property once the Bears fully develop it into an entertainment district. The Bears bought the property. They've already said they'll pay 100% of the cost to build the stadium if they build in Arlington. They just want tax certainty and infrastructure around the property to be increased, which is what any business buying that property for development purposes would ask for. No business is buying that property and gladly accepting a $350M/year tax payment. At that point it would just sit empty.

Nah. I could give two shakes less if you want to waste your day/night arguing hypothetical matchups. Just find it annoying when you want to bash an entire area of HIGH SCHOOL football teams because you don't like that the AP and Coaches Poll voters rate Crown Point and Merrillville high.

I would agree. The product on the fields does very much look improved in comparison to last year.

Belittling the accomplishments of HS football players on a board meant to promote Indiana HS football because AP/Coaches poll voters give them lofty rankings is childish.

Lowell hasn't? Andrean hasn't? And typically when a Region school has made it to Indy to bore you they've beaten a Fort Wayne school at some point along the way. So what if 5A was weak. It's still a W. Against a respectable team from a solid Central Indiana Conference. And the Vikings beat Snider in Fort Wayne to get there. But, nice back handed compliment. Are you actually a fan of Indiana HS football or just the upper echelon Central Indiana teams?

Which is wild to me that this is generally the talking point despite The Region's recent/historical sucess against Fort Wayne from The DAC and Northwest Crossroads (Lowell + Andrean). I gave up on "The Region vs. Indy" arguments once I moved to Indy around 2002 and witnessed the difference first hand and it became obvious the once rural Indy suburban schools were booming in enrollments. But, I often wonder why people often give Fort Wayne a pass when knocking The Region as if Fort Wayne carries the same dominance. The head to head records between the 2 metro areas have been very competitive.

I'm a big fan of mascots that pay homage to the local industry. Whiting is home to the 8th largest oil refinery in the US and we all know about the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Lets get the Whiting Oilers vs. the Speedway Sparkplugs on the books.

Nobody in the Region can compete with Crown Point’s lines (OL/DL) or coaching staff. Those advantages are negated against Westfield, Carmel, etc. They don’t have much speed at RB. They don’t have any WR’s that can dominate a secondary like Carmel or Westfield. They lost a 4 year starter at WB to the MAC and his replacement isn’t better.

I think you're grossly underestimating Westfield while over estimating Crown Point. Westfield has far more talent than Crown Point. Outside of Gibbs Crown Point has taken a major step back in skill talent in comparison to the past 2 years.

2 brutal redzone turnovers for Pavia after running his mouth about Albama. Meanwhile, Ty Simpson continues to look like a 1st round prospect.

Agreed on Franklin. I could understand them wanting to move on in hopes of leveling up; however, getting rid of Franklin can also just as well take them back to 8-4 purgatory.

I'm hoping we get a Merrillville vs. Lafayette Jeff Semi-State. The O/U on that one should be set at 80. The more I watch Hill from Merrillville the more I'm impressed by him. I won't be surprised if he gets some Power conference offers heading into his Sr. year. Kid has an arm and is a threat running the ball. Merrillville has a stable of speedy WR's.

McKim seems to have resurrecting RDP in just 1 season. Good to see! I was thinking Hanover Central had taken over that area and couldn't have been more wrong.

Illinois is very hard to schedule with them starting a week later. The elite conferences in the Chicago area typically only have 2 openings for OOC play.

Seems like he would have been better off to stay at Penn and the hype surrounding Elkhart's portal prowess was premature once again.

Is Bardo playing yet for Elkhart? A lot of good story lines in this one. Elkhart continues to garner attention in the offseason for the portal achievements and are often talked about as a program on the verge of leveling up. Good chance for Penn to remind Elkhart who owns Michiana.

Are you referring to urban areas like Hammond/East Chicago or small towns in the middle of corn country? I haven't looked up a school like Delphi, but I could see them as well with that massive meat packing plant.

I would guess by a lot and I would also guess that more have relocated to the donut of Indy due to inflated property values and taxes in Illinois.

???

Completely understand. Feel the same way about Portage.