The Bears’ expansion of Halas Hall is not the first step toward moving training camp to Lake Forest, chairman George McCaskey told the Sun-Times on Thursday.
The Bears, he said, plan to keep their training camp at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais.
“They’ve provided outstanding facilities,” he said. “The staff’s been terrific. [We have] a good, long standing relationship. It’s a great touch point for our fans.”
The Bears expect construction at Halas Hall — which is adding a 162,500-square foot building to their 143,000 square-foot home — to be done in April.
“The whole idea is to give our players the best possible resources,” McCaskey said.
The expansion gives the Bears plenty of room for training camp. The Bears added two more fields on the Halas Hall footprint last year.
But the Bears wouldn’t have sufficient parking to invite fans in anyway, McCaskey said.
“We also want to be good neighbors to our friends in the business park,” he said. “We also want to do right by ONU.”
