Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar are taking a swing at one of pro sports' oldest power plays: the relocation threat. On Thursday, the pair rolled out the Home Team Act, a federal bill that would force franchise owners to offer their team for sale to the local community before moving it out of its metropolitan area. The idea is to give cities and nonprofit cooperatives at least a year to pull together financing and buy a team at fair market value, instead of watching it leave after a frantic, last-minute stadium subsidy showdown. Backers say the bill is meant to shield fans and taxpayers from surprise exits and pricey public giveaways to already wealthy owners.
What the Home Team Act Would Require
Under the Home Team Act, an owner who wants to move a franchise across state lines or into a different metropolitan statistical area would have to provide at least one year's notice. During that time, local governments, nonprofits, or home-community cooperatives would get the first chance to purchase the franchise at fair market value.
The legislation would also bar leagues from prohibiting community or public ownership. It instructs the Treasury Department to assemble a team of professional appraisers to set that fair market price, with one notable wrinkle: any public stadium subsidies would be subtracted from the valuation. Owners who ignore these requirements could face civil penalties, and state and local governments would get a private right of action to enforce the law, according to Sanders' office.
Why Chicago Is Central
This is not some abstract thought experiment. The bill was pitched squarely with the Chicago Bears in mind after the team signaled it was eyeing a move in response to generous incentives from Indiana, stirring up fresh regional drama. Casar has openly labeled the Home Team Act a "keep-the-Bears-in-Chicago bill," and supporters have pointed to high-profile relocations - from the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn to the Oakland A's heading to Las Vegas - as the backdrop for this effort.
The Chicago angle is key to the sponsors' case that communities should not be backed into a corner and forced to offer huge public-subsidy packages just to keep their teams from skipping town, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Lawmakers' Pitch
Supporters are framing the bill as a way to push back on billionaire owners who use relocation talk as leverage to secure taxpayer-funded stadiums. "Sports in America should be about more than just making billionaire owners even richer," Casar said in a Sanders' office statement.
Sanders' office has also highlighted a pattern of recent franchise departures that the legislation is trying to interrupt. The bill does not force a sale if no buyer can meet the appraised value. Instead, it is designed to add time and structure so that communities get a real shot at keeping their teams, without completely blocking owners from selling if a community bid falls short.
How Enforcement Would Work
Under the proposal, professional appraisers would determine a fair price for a franchise after subtracting any government payments, credits, or subsidies that went toward building the stadium. If an owner tried to relocate without following those rules, state or local governments could go to court for injunctive relief or damages, and the bill would impose a daily civil penalty for ongoing violations.
Supporters say these enforcement tools are meant to create transparency and breathing room for cities and fans to line up financing, not to strip owners of the right to sell or move if there is no realistic local bid waiting in the wings.
Political Path
The Home Team Act was formally filed on Thursday and now has to survive the usual Capitol Hill gauntlet, starting with committee consideration before any potential floor vote in either chamber. Sanders' statement lists additional cosponsors in both the Senate and House. Community ownership advocates are expected to push the measure into the broader public debate, while leagues and owners are widely expected to resist new federal limits on franchise movement.
Whether the bill gains momentum will come down to how many lawmakers are willing to challenge some of the most powerful figures in American sports and the leagues that back them.
What It Would Mean for the Bears
Casar told the Chicago Sun-Times that the Bears are worth roughly $8 billion, a reminder of the massive financial lift any community bid would have to pull off. The bill explicitly blesses public, nonprofit, or cooperative purchases that mirror the Green Bay Packers model, where more than 538,000 shareholders own stakes in the team, the coverage notes.
Even with a right of first refusal, any serious Chicago effort to buy the Bears would almost certainly need a complex mix of private investors and public partnerships to get anywhere close to that valuation.
For now, the Home Team Act is more of a marker than a mandate, a new bargaining chip for cities and fans who want to keep beloved franchises close to home. It also guarantees fresh debate over how much public money should go into stadiums and how much control local communities ought to have over the teams that define their sports identity.
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