The team's longtime home has been Soldier Field, built in 1924. It is the oldest stadium in the NFL, and open to the elements. When icy snows fall, opposing teams shiver in the lake winds. The Bear players wear short sleeves, and sling touchdown passes. Bear down, as we fans say. Domes are for tea parties, not football.
The Chicago Bears have been renting since Warren G Harding was president. They started out in the NFL as tenants at Wrigley Field, sharing the baseball cathedral with the Cubs for 50 seasons before the league insisted all teams play in a stadium with a capacity of at least 50,000. So in 1971, the Bears decamped to Soldier Field, where they've been ever since.
The Kansas City Chiefs announced Monday they will relocate across the Kansas-Missouri border in a new domed stadium that will be ready by the 2031 season. The move comes after a Kansas legislative committee approved a bonding package to support the move earlier in the day to lure one of the NFL's iconic franchises across the state line from Missouri and replace popular but aging Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs have played at Arrowhead Stadium on the Missouri side of Kansas City since 1972.