June 6, 2026 • 10 mins
Rob Parker and Keith McPherson react to reports that the Chicago Bears could eventually move to Indiana as part of their stadium ambitions. The guys debate whether the franchise could realistically keep the “Chicago” name after crossing state lines, with Rob making it clear that moving out of Illinois crosses the line for him. Plus, the duo breaks down what a potential relocation would mean for the team, the fans, and the city’s identity.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We got news.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
We got a little NFL news today, basically Rob g
the NFL and the Bears.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We're hearing news about their new stadium.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Yeah. Not the kind of news you want though, if
you're a Bears fan. Let me tell you that right now. Now,
as you guys know, they've been trying to get a
new stadium for years now, for years.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
They don't like Soldier Field. Jeez, have you ever been
to Soldier Field? Yes, sir, I have, okay, you know.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And they put the spaceship covering over it and all that,
they've remodeled it, they've done things.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's right down on the water. Then they don't like
it though. They don't like it.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
They don't like it. And so they've been trying to
get a new stamum in Arlington, trying to get a
new stadium downtown, trying to get a new stadium.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Here, all over the place.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Well, on Thursday, the Bears Board of Directors voted to
advance the stateum development. Not in Chicago, not even in
the Great State of Illinois. Instead, they want to cross
the border into Hammond, Indiana. And the anticipation is, barring
something really unforeseen, the Chicago Bears will eventually play their
(01:04):
home games in a different state.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
We already saw the Kansas City Chiefs. Where did they go?
They went to Kansas right. They got a new stadium
coming in Kansas. Kansas City, Kansas right, not Kansas City, Missouri.
There are two they're going across to get their new stadium.
And now here comes to Bears. And I'm gonna say
(01:30):
this to you, Keith, and I believe this, and you're
the perfect person to have on this. Being a kid
who grew up in New Jersey and went the two
football teams in New York.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I think the Bears have all right.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
If they want to move to Indiana, go ahead, move
to Indiana, Go get the stadium you want, do whatever
you want. But you can't take Chicago with you.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
You can't take Chicago, Keith, Chicago stays.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Change your name to the Hammon Bears, change your name
to the Indiana Bears, whatever you want.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
To change it.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
To change it, you can't reap the benefits of being
called Chicago and playing in Hamon, Indiana once you cross
state lines. I've always said, as a kid who grew
up in Queens that the Jets and Giants should have taken.
They should have been the Jersey Jets. They should have
(02:30):
been the New Jersey Giants. As somebody who grew up
in New Jersey, like the nets, I covered the New
Jersey nets.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
They played in New Jersey. Where do you feel? Where
are you on this?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And is it disrespectful to the taxpayers in Indiana putting
up the freight for this big, brand new stadium and
you don't even want to be identified with the place
where you're playing.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Yeah, let's go from New Jersey to Indiana to Chicago.
First off, being in as a kid, I remember playing Madden.
I remember playing a video game and they're coming into
East Rutherford, New Jersey, And as a kid, I'm like,
why they don't rep us? There's two teams, neither one
could be New Jersey. I ended up being a Dallas
Cowboys fan anyway, so it bumps.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Well, so bothered you am? I right, didn't you? It
was odd.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I didn't know geography yet, I didn't even know where
Dallas was I didn't realize it was all the way
in Texas. But hey, I don't have to rep them.
There's no pride in repping the New York Giants. The
New York Jets. They play in Jersey, but they don't
claim us.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Nah.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
I wasn't going that way. Nobody told me to go
that way. And now you here forever. All of the
people that have to come from Long Island to go
see the Giants or Jets over there complain about going
to those games, and when they're not good, that stadium
is empty.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Whatever.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
You'll see how much of a mess it will be
when FIFA comes to New York New Jersey Stadium for
the World Cup.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Let's go to Indiana.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Now, I've only been to Indiana one time, when I
was staying in Chicago for ten days with my homie
and we got bored and we wanted to go to
the casino. There's a casino out there called the Horseshoe,
Lucky Horseshoe Casino. I won five hundred dollars. I left,
and that's all I know about Indiana. Maybe they're trying
to get closer to Bloomington to get that Hoosier's luck
after they won the national championship. I'm one hundred percent
(04:12):
right there with you. You cannot make them the Chicago
Bears by way of Indiana. They cannot be the Indiana
Chicago Bears. The thing about Soldier Field and the Chicago
Bears and all that history and them playing outdoors on
grass in that area of Chicago where they play is
exactly that. It's windy over there. It's right by the
water over there. The one time I went there, you
(04:34):
can tailgate right out there in the parking lot. You
come in, you see the historic stuff. Like, they gotta
revamp that place. They gotta figure something out with that.
Chicago is a city that is steeped in tradition. They
don't think that they're the second city to New York.
They love their sports teams, from the Chicago Bulls to
the Blackhawks to the Chicago Cubs. Some people like the
(04:55):
White Sox moving the Chicago Bears with Caleb Williams to Indiana.
I don't care how great the stadium is. I think
that's an l I don't think that's the right move.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
There are certain places that I don't think people are
going to buy into. And it's not like the Clippers
new arena is in Inglewood. That's La proper, you know
what I mean, it's La proper. I'm talking about going
to another state. Could you if the Lakers. The Lakers
move to uh, I don't know, New Mexico, could they
still be the Los Angeles Lakers or what would be
(05:28):
the closest rob GD You could just go over the
state Arizona, Nevada, you know what I mean, or something
that's close to California, close to the area.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
I don't know. It just feels weird.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
And if I'm the governor or, I'm the mayor of
Chicago or whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You know when you go, you can't take Chicago with you.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
We won't allow it to happen because you want the
juice of it, and you wanted the history of it,
and Chicago sounds better.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
That's what the Giants and the Jets have done. You
know that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Why is it called Why are the Angels who were
in Anahei, who are in Anaheim call themselves the Los
Angeles Angels?
Speaker 1 (06:09):
You know why?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Because there's more cachet with Los Angeles being included in
that marketplace, even though they are forty miles away in Anaheim,
and Anaheim has its own city, and Anaheim is a
fine place in Orange County, but they still decided from
a marketing standpoint that it's Los Angeles because that's what
(06:31):
they want to be in there. Rob G, you're a
football fan, you you were into the football. Would it
bother you if the Bears were still Chicago?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Would it bother me if they moved to Indiana and
they kept the name Chicago Bears. Yeah, it's stupid. It
insults my intelligence. It's it's now the Giants and the
Jets get away with it because you say, hey, we're
a hops keeping a jump awave.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
And it's what is it eleven miles or seven miles?
It's it's it's close.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
And also, they can't build that that type of complex
in Manhattan, right, They can't build that type of stadium
in the city.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
And so that one gets a little bit of a pass.
But when you have a situation like Chicago, where they
already have a stadium there, what they're doing is they're
just being greedy and they don't want to pay for
it themselves. They want the taxpayers to pay for this
and someone else to pay for that, and we just
collect all the money by hosting the venue there. And
so for them to do this kind of thing, and
(07:25):
by all accounts, it's going to happen. It's just a
matter of where exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I can't believe. It's just crazy Chicago of all places.
I just.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
And you know the other thing is is Chicago historically
you go and watch their games, cold weather, physical football.
That's part of what it is. One of the plans
that they've had are all the plans they've had so far.
That we're in Illinois and now this one in Indiana,
all domes, right, how does that gonna make you feel?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Rob It's another one as somebody who's covered that sold.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Your field for a long time.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
You know, I've been covering the league since nineteen eighty seven,
the NFL, and to go to all these different stadiums
and to seeing what we're doing. It's like the people
of Kansas City too. You don't think they feel like,
like what do we do? All we do is sell
out the place every week, right, all every game, we
sold out the place. We did everything, and it wasn't enough.
(08:23):
Not only are you making a gazillion dollars, you want
us to pay for your stadium and have it come
out of our pockets. So they ditched the people of
Kansas City, Missouri to go to Kansas and now here
we are in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Why are we here? Go if you want, you can
go into free country. I'm not mad. If they want to.
They they got it.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
They got a sweet art deal, they got a better deal.
They want to go to hamm in Indiana, fine, but
you should be the Hammon Bears, the ham and Cheese Bears,
that's what they should be called.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
The ham and Dogs are big out there in Chicago.
They like their brats all that. But ain't no way.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Should you get the opportunity to be able to use
Chicago and use that as a flex. Chicago's a major
city in this country, right, there's something that goes with.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Chicago, even in that division.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Rob you think about it, they put a dome on
that stadium in Indiana. The Lions play indoors, the Vikings
play indoors. It'll just be Green Bay outside. So that
cold dynamic of you got to go there to the
frozen tundra and play in the elements. In the later
months into the playoffs, you know we're gonna start to
see that eliminated. And I know there's a narrative around
(09:43):
that too, Like we saw that game with the Denver
Broncos and how that was affected by snow. But like
that's fun for us as fans, but the NFL probably
doesn't really want that product. They want them to play,
you know, in an area that the elements can't affect
the football and what you know, plays are run and
stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
But I'm I'm stuck on this.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
If you go to Indiana, be Indiana whatever, rebrand, right,
the Commanders exist, change your name to whatever it's gonna be.
That is Chicago Soldier Field historic if you leave that area,
and even you know how it is.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
When the Baltimore Colts left and went to Indianapolis, right,
they didn't call themselves the Baltimore Colts.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
The Ravens became.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Yeah, the Ravens became and yeah, there's just something about
what is it Lake Shore Drive and driving up there
in Chicago and going to that stadium.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
It's part of the experience. It is amazing, all right,
We got news.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
We got a little NFL news today, basically Rob g
the NFL and the Bears.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We're hearing news about their new stadium.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Yeah. Not the kind of news you want though, if
you're a Bears fan. Let me tell you that right now. Now,
as you guys know, they've been trying to get a
new stadium for years now, for years.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
They don't like Soldier Field. Jeez, have you ever been
to Soldier Field? Yes, sir, I have, okay, you know.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And they put the spaceship covering over it and all that,
they've remodeled it, they've done things.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It's right down on the water. Then they don't like
it though. They don't like it.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
They don't like it. And so they've been trying to
get a new stamum in Arlington, trying to get a
new stadium downtown, trying to get a new stadium.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Here, all over the place.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Well, on Thursday, the Bears Board of Directors voted to
advance the stateum development. Not in Chicago, not even in
the Great State of Illinois. Instead, they want to cross
the border into Hammond, Indiana. And the anticipation is, barring
something really unforeseen, the Chicago Bears will eventually play their
(01:04):
home games in a different state.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
We already saw the Kansas City Chiefs. Where did they go?
They went to Kansas right. They got a new stadium
coming in Kansas. Kansas City, Kansas right, not Kansas City, Missouri.
There are two they're going across to get their new stadium.
And now here comes to Bears. And I'm gonna say
(01:30):
this to you, Keith, and I believe this, and you're
the perfect person to have on this. Being a kid
who grew up in New Jersey and went the two
football teams in New York.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I think the Bears have all right.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
If they want to move to Indiana, go ahead, move
to Indiana, Go get the stadium you want, do whatever
you want. But you can't take Chicago with you.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
You can't take Chicago, Keith, Chicago stays.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Change your name to the Hammon Bears, change your name
to the Indiana Bears, whatever you want.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
To change it.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
To change it, you can't reap the benefits of being
called Chicago and playing in Hamon, Indiana once you cross
state lines. I've always said, as a kid who grew
up in Queens that the Jets and Giants should have taken.
They should have been the Jersey Jets. They should have
(02:30):
been the New Jersey Giants. As somebody who grew up
in New Jersey, like the nets, I covered the New
Jersey nets.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
They played in New Jersey. Where do you feel? Where
are you on this?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And is it disrespectful to the taxpayers in Indiana putting
up the freight for this big, brand new stadium and
you don't even want to be identified with the place
where you're playing.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Yeah, let's go from New Jersey to Indiana to Chicago.
First off, being in as a kid, I remember playing Madden.
I remember playing a video game and they're coming into
East Rutherford, New Jersey, And as a kid, I'm like,
why they don't rep us? There's two teams, neither one
could be New Jersey. I ended up being a Dallas
Cowboys fan anyway, so it bumps.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Well, so bothered you am? I right, didn't you? It
was odd.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I didn't know geography yet, I didn't even know where
Dallas was I didn't realize it was all the way
in Texas. But hey, I don't have to rep them.
There's no pride in repping the New York Giants. The
New York Jets. They play in Jersey, but they don't
claim us.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Nah.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
I wasn't going that way. Nobody told me to go
that way. And now you here forever. All of the
people that have to come from Long Island to go
see the Giants or Jets over there complain about going
to those games, and when they're not good, that stadium
is empty.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Whatever.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
You'll see how much of a mess it will be
when FIFA comes to New York New Jersey Stadium for
the World Cup.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Let's go to Indiana.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Now, I've only been to Indiana one time, when I
was staying in Chicago for ten days with my homie
and we got bored and we wanted to go to
the casino. There's a casino out there called the Horseshoe,
Lucky Horseshoe Casino. I won five hundred dollars. I left,
and that's all I know about Indiana. Maybe they're trying
to get closer to Bloomington to get that Hoosier's luck
after they won the national championship. I'm one hundred percent
(04:12):
right there with you. You cannot make them the Chicago
Bears by way of Indiana. They cannot be the Indiana
Chicago Bears. The thing about Soldier Field and the Chicago
Bears and all that history and them playing outdoors on
grass in that area of Chicago where they play is
exactly that. It's windy over there. It's right by the
water over there. The one time I went there, you
(04:34):
can tailgate right out there in the parking lot. You
come in, you see the historic stuff. Like, they gotta
revamp that place. They gotta figure something out with that.
Chicago is a city that is steeped in tradition. They
don't think that they're the second city to New York.
They love their sports teams, from the Chicago Bulls to
the Blackhawks to the Chicago Cubs. Some people like the
(04:55):
White Sox moving the Chicago Bears with Caleb Williams to Indiana.
I don't care how great the stadium is. I think
that's an l I don't think that's the right move.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
There are certain places that I don't think people are
going to buy into. And it's not like the Clippers
new arena is in Inglewood. That's La proper, you know
what I mean, it's La proper. I'm talking about going
to another state. Could you if the Lakers. The Lakers
move to uh, I don't know, New Mexico, could they
still be the Los Angeles Lakers or what would be
(05:28):
the closest rob GD You could just go over the
state Arizona, Nevada, you know what I mean, or something
that's close to California, close to the area.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
I don't know. It just feels weird.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
And if I'm the governor or, I'm the mayor of
Chicago or whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
You know when you go, you can't take Chicago with you.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
We won't allow it to happen because you want the
juice of it, and you wanted the history of it,
and Chicago sounds better.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
That's what the Giants and the Jets have done. You
know that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Why is it called Why are the Angels who were
in Anahei, who are in Anaheim call themselves the Los
Angeles Angels?
Speaker 1 (06:09):
You know why?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Because there's more cachet with Los Angeles being included in
that marketplace, even though they are forty miles away in Anaheim,
and Anaheim has its own city, and Anaheim is a
fine place in Orange County, but they still decided from
a marketing standpoint that it's Los Angeles because that's what
(06:31):
they want to be in there. Rob G, you're a
football fan, you you were into the football. Would it
bother you if the Bears were still Chicago?
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Would it bother me if they moved to Indiana and
they kept the name Chicago Bears. Yeah, it's stupid. It
insults my intelligence. It's it's now the Giants and the
Jets get away with it because you say, hey, we're
a hops keeping a jump awave.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
And it's what is it eleven miles or seven miles?
It's it's it's close.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
And also, they can't build that that type of complex
in Manhattan, right, They can't build that type of stadium
in the city.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
And so that one gets a little bit of a pass.
But when you have a situation like Chicago, where they
already have a stadium there, what they're doing is they're
just being greedy and they don't want to pay for
it themselves. They want the taxpayers to pay for this
and someone else to pay for that, and we just
collect all the money by hosting the venue there. And
so for them to do this kind of thing, and
(07:25):
by all accounts, it's going to happen. It's just a
matter of where exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I can't believe. It's just crazy Chicago of all places.
I just.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
And you know the other thing is is Chicago historically
you go and watch their games, cold weather, physical football.
That's part of what it is. One of the plans
that they've had are all the plans they've had so far.
That we're in Illinois and now this one in Indiana,
all domes, right, how does that gonna make you feel?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Rob It's another one as somebody who's covered that sold.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Your field for a long time.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
You know, I've been covering the league since nineteen eighty seven,
the NFL, and to go to all these different stadiums
and to seeing what we're doing. It's like the people
of Kansas City too. You don't think they feel like,
like what do we do? All we do is sell
out the place every week, right, all every game, we
sold out the place. We did everything, and it wasn't enough.
(08:23):
Not only are you making a gazillion dollars, you want
us to pay for your stadium and have it come
out of our pockets. So they ditched the people of
Kansas City, Missouri to go to Kansas and now here
we are in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Why are we here? Go if you want, you can
go into free country. I'm not mad. If they want to.
They they got it.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
They got a sweet art deal, they got a better deal.
They want to go to hamm in Indiana, fine, but
you should be the Hammon Bears, the ham and Cheese Bears,
that's what they should be called.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
The ham and Dogs are big out there in Chicago.
They like their brats all that. But ain't no way.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Should you get the opportunity to be able to use
Chicago and use that as a flex. Chicago's a major
city in this country, right, there's something that goes with.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Chicago, even in that division.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
Rob you think about it, they put a dome on
that stadium in Indiana. The Lions play indoors, the Vikings
play indoors. It'll just be Green Bay outside. So that
cold dynamic of you got to go there to the
frozen tundra and play in the elements. In the later
months into the playoffs, you know we're gonna start to
see that eliminated. And I know there's a narrative around
(09:43):
that too, Like we saw that game with the Denver
Broncos and how that was affected by snow. But like
that's fun for us as fans, but the NFL probably
doesn't really want that product. They want them to play,
you know, in an area that the elements can't affect
the football and what you know, plays are run and
stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
But I'm I'm stuck on this.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
If you go to Indiana, be Indiana whatever, rebrand, right,
the Commanders exist, change your name to whatever it's gonna be.
That is Chicago Soldier Field historic if you leave that area,
and even you know how it is.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
When the Baltimore Colts left and went to Indianapolis, right,
they didn't call themselves the Baltimore Colts.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
The Ravens became.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Yeah, the Ravens became and yeah, there's just something about
what is it Lake Shore Drive and driving up there
in Chicago and going to that stadium.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
It's part of the experience. It is amazing, all right,
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kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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