The Bears recently broke ground on a project to expand and upgrade their HQs at Halas Hall. The football center's weight room and training room, currently 7,000 square feet, will see an expansion of 1,500 square feet. The locker room will be upgraded with reconfigured lockers and new carpeting. Existing and newly created meeting rooms will feature enhanced technology. A new event center will be built off the south end of the existing building, including a 4,000-square foot broadcast studio and conference space that can host approximately 150 people for both events and original programming. A new press conference room and relocated media courtyard also will be a part of the facility along with increased work space for media members. Additionally, the team will incorporate a practice viewing suite to the second level of Halas Hall. The 40-person suite will overlook all four of the team’s practice fields and feature many of the amenities of game suites at Soldier Field (Bears). In Chicago, Dan Pompei notes the renovated Halas Hall will include "many new offices and 105 more parking spaces." The broadcast studio will "enable the Bears to expand their inventory." Among the possibilities are "a year-round radio show and more Bears-produced television offerings" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/12). Also in Chicago, Adam Jahns wrote, "There’s no denying that the Bears have outgrown their facility, which was built in 1997." The expansion project is "scheduled to conclude by Aug. 1, just before the team returns from training camp." The outdoor practice fields and the Walter Payton Center "will not be impacted by the project" (SUNTIMES.com, 2/11).
