Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Admits He Left Bears-Packers Game Early While Trying to Keep Team in City
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is trying to convince the Bears to stay on the lakefront. Then he went on the radio and told everyone he left a Bears versus Packers game early to beat traffic. The Bears came back to win while he was still trying to get out of the parking lot.
This is one of those self-inflicted wounds that politicians manage to deliver on themselves once in a while. Johnson was on 104.3 The Score advocating for a new stadium for the Bears in Chicago, and he used his own story to make the point that Soldier Field traffic is a nightmare.
“Getting in and out of Soldier Field is an absolute nightmare. Let me tell you how bad it is. Bears versus Packers, I’m at the game, we’re losing. I decide to leave to beat the traffic. Before I get out of the footprint, the Bears come back to win,” Johnson said, via the Chicago Tribune.
Mayor, please. You do not leave a Bears versus Packers game early. Not under any circumstances. Not for any reason. That is the entire game on the calendar that justifies enduring whatever Soldier Field throws at you on the way out.
Johnson was trying to make a logistics argument. He pivoted immediately to “the ingress, egress part, that’s what we need to fix.” Fair enough on the substance. The problem is that he just told an entire city he was not committed to seeing the game through.
Bears fans have already made their feelings known on social media. The reaction has been swift and unkind. This is a fan base that has suffered for decades, and they expect the people in charge to at least pretend to care as much as they do.
The political timing is also bad. The Bears are evaluating their future, with potential moves to Arlington Heights or even Hammond, Indiana, on the table. Johnson is pushing to keep them in Chicago. Telling fans the current stadium experience is so bad that even the mayor flees early does not exactly sell the case for staying.
To be fair, Soldier Field traffic is bad. Anyone who has been to a game knows that getting out can take more than an hour. The lakefront location has charm, but the infrastructure was not built for modern stadium logistics. That has been an issue forever.
The Bears have leverage in these negotiations because they can credibly threaten to leave. The team has been clear that they want a modern stadium with modern amenities, and the question is whether that happens in Chicago or somewhere else.
Johnson’s comments will not move the needle one way or the other on the actual stadium deal. Owner Kevin Warren and the McCaskey family are not going to base their decision on the mayor’s game-day habits. But the optics matter, and right now the optics are bad.
The mayor needs the Bears to stay more than the Bears need the mayor to stay in office. He should remember that the next time he is in front of a microphone with a story about the team he is trying to retain.
And next time, sit through the fourth quarter. The traffic will still be there. The comeback might not.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
