It appears there is no risk of fans having to root for the Chicago Bears of Anaheim Indiana.
A day after unverified rumors started circulating that the Bears could change their name as part of a stadium agreement with Indiana, team chairman George McCaskey stated that will not be happening while speaking with reporters Thursday. They will remain the Chicago Bears, even in another state:
"We will be the Chicago Bears whether we're in Arlington or whether we're in Hammond. Our focus is on Hammond, that's where we're advancing our efforts and that's where the bulk of our time, attention and resources are being devoted."
The Bears have been looking for their post-Soldier Field home for years at this point, with the two remaining candidates being the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, where the team previously purchased the site of a former racetrack, and Hammond, Indiana.
The team announced in June it was moving ahead with Hammond, after regularly signaling frustration with the Illinois state legislature over a lack of progress with the Arlington Heights proposal. Team president Kevin Warren reiterated Hammond was the team’s “sole focus” on Thursday.
Hammond is roughly 60 miles from the Bears’ Halas Hall headquarters in Lake Forest, underscoring how drastic the change could feel for the city’s fans. McCaskey did his best to tamp down those concerns, via NFL.com:
McCaskey acknowledged the “anxiety” of a move to northwest Indiana for the team's fans.
“But when I’ve driven that route, other than a sign telling me so, I wouldn’t know that I’ve just crossed the state border,” he said. “And as Kevin said, once people see the building, once they get in there, once they understand that our top priority from day one was a world-class stadium experience, we think we’ll make that adjustment. We think Bears fans are up for that.”
Thursday saw Warren announce the team has completed its review of Hammond’s Lost Marsh Golf Course site and that it was performing due diligence at another site at the nearby Wolf Lake terminal.