Things to Do

Soldier Field

Home of the Chicago Bears since 1971, with its distinctive glass-and-colonnade design — game-day tips and lakefront access.

By the Extra Chicago editorial team·Updated Oct 20262 min read·2 sections

Aerial view of Soldier Field football stadium in Chicago

Photo: Josseph Downs / Unsplash

The short version

✓Home of the Chicago Bears since 1971, on the lakefront near Museum Campus, not downtown proper.
✓A modern glass-and-steel bowl was inserted inside the original 1924 colonnade in a much-debated early-2000s renovation — the mix of old and new is the building's defining feature.
✓It also hosts major concerts and international soccer friendlies, so a listed event isn't automatically a Bears game.
✓The lakefront setting means views of Lake Michigan from the upper deck that no other Chicago sports venue offers.
✓Football's season is short and concentrated — roughly biweekly home games from September through early January — so a visit has to be built around a specific date.

A 1920s colonnade wrapped around a modern bowl

Soldier Field has stood on the lakefront since 1924, but the stadium most visitors actually sit in today is the product of a sweeping renovation completed in 2003, which dropped a steep, modern glass-and-steel seating bowl inside the original Doric colonnade. The result is genuinely unusual among American stadiums — a spaceship visibly parked inside a neoclassical shell — and it split architecture critics sharply when it opened. Whatever you make of the aesthetics, it's one of the more distinctive silhouettes in Chicago sports, and it photographs differently from every angle depending on how much of the old colonnade versus the new bowl you're framing.

The location is the other half of the appeal: Soldier Field sits on its own lakefront spit near Museum Campus, separated from the Loop's skyscraper density, so game day here comes with a genuine lake view and cooler, windier conditions than an indoor venue like United Center. Pair a Bears trip with a Museum Campus stop earlier in the day — the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium are all a short walk from the stadium.

Museum Campus

The Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium, a short walk from Soldier Field.

A packed baseball stadium crowd with Wrigley Field in the background

Chicago Sports Venues Guide

How Soldier Field compares to the city's other three major-league venues.

Game day, and what else fills the building

Bears home games run roughly biweekly from September through early January, so unlike a Cubs or White Sox trip, you can't count on catching a game across a broad summer visit window — a Bears trip has to be planned around a specific Sunday (or occasional Monday or Thursday night) on the schedule. Tailgating is a real part of the culture here, with lots opening well before kickoff, and the lakefront setting means dressing for wind off the water on top of whatever the season's actual temperature is doing.

Soldier Field isn't exclusively a football building. It regularly hosts major touring concerts and has become a recurring host for international soccer friendlies and tournament matches, so it's worth confirming exactly what's on the calendar for your dates rather than assuming any Soldier Field listing means the Bears are playing.

Bears home games: roughly biweekly, September through early January.
Also hosts major concerts and international soccer friendlies — verify what's actually scheduled.
Lakefront setting means real wind and cooler temperatures than an indoor venue — dress for it.