Good morning, Chicago.

As Indiana and Illinois lawmakers spar over where the Bears should build a new stadium, even Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker acknowledged that the team’s next home is unlikely to rise within Chicago’s city limits.

“I think now there’s a common understanding by most of the (Illinois) General Assembly that they’re not going to be able to build in the city of Chicago,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker’s pronouncement came a day after Indiana lawmakers took another step toward potentially luring the Bears across the border to Hammond, as a key Indiana House committee approved a plan to create an agency that would build a new stadium for the team.

The vote more firmly pits Indiana versus Illinois as the Bears weigh a move from Soldier Field, their home for more than half a century. And given the lack of movement on any stadium projects near Soldier Field or elsewhere in Chicago, Pritzker’s latest comments suggest that Illinois’ only viable option is the land the Bears own in northwest suburban Arlington Heights.

Transportation and a sufficiently large site are “very hard to find in a dense city like the city of Chicago,” Pritzker said, in comments he made at an unrelated news conference in Oak Park on Friday. “So that’s why I think we’re down to the question of whether they’re going to build in Arlington Heights or they’re going to build something in the state of Indiana.”

Today’s eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History