The Bears are "planning to move" their business unit out of Soldier Field and have hired real estate brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle to "help them land new office space" in or near the Loop area of Chicago, where they plan to relocate 25 to 30 employees, according to Danny Ecker of CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS. The team is "seeking between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet near the heart of the city with the goal of moving most of its Soldier Field-based staff into the new offices" by the start of the '18 season. The Bears have about 30 "full-time employees based in offices near Gates 8, 10 and 14 at the stadium." Most of them "work in the team's corporate partnership and event production departments, which will move into the new space." The Bears said that a handful of stadium operations employees "will remain at Soldier Field." The downtown group is a "fraction of the team's 185 full-time staff, most of whom are based" at its Halas Hall HQ in Lake Forest. That total number is "up from 175" at the end of '16 (CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS, 10/23 issue).
SOUND THE HORN: In St. Paul, Brian Murphy notes the Vikings' training facility, the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center, is 70% "completed." The Vikings are "scheduled to move there in less than six months." It will take until early '18 for the club to "reap contemporary NFL amenities." Most of the "exterior walls and roofs of the two main buildings are finished." So are the "interior skeletons of the locker and weight rooms, auditorium, team museum and indoor field house." Bulldozers "sculpted land in and around the 6,500-seat outdoor stadium and four grass practice fields that will allow the Vikings to host their training camp at home after more than 50 years at Minnesota State Mankato." Plans are for the "amphitheater-style stadium to host" D-II and III football games, select prep rivalries and some high school soccer matches (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 10/24). In Minneapolis, Rochelle Olson notes the Vikings’ portion of the project includes the team and corporate HQ, a "glassy, angular building as well as surrounding fields and the stadium." Four full-size football fields with "perfect green grass flank the western side of the white building that will be the new headquarters, replacing the 36-year-old Winter Park, 20 minutes directly west on the interstate in Eden Prairie" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/24).
