(Bloomberg) -- The Chicago Bears’ current proposal for a new stadium financed partially with municipal debt is a “non-starter” for the state, a spokesperson for Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said on Wednesday.

Pritzker’s chief of staff and deputy governor met with officials from the National Football League team to discuss the plan for the multi-billion dollar project that the Bears organization announced last week. The proposal includes construction of a $3.2 billion stadium, which would be financed in part by about $900 million in bonds from the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which was set up in the 1980s to help finance professional athletic stadiums.

“The current proposal is a non-starter for the state,” Alex Gough, a Pritzker spokesperson, said in an emailed statement. “In order to subsidize a brand new stadium for a privately owned sports team, the Governor would need to see a demonstrable and tangible benefit to the taxpayers of Illinois.”

Read: Chicago Bears Unveil $4.7 Billion Stadium Plan on Lakefront

The governor and other state leaders have repeatedly expressed reluctance to provide public dollars for a sports arena, especially at a time when other costs are growing. Illinois and Chicago are facing rising expenses to care for thousands of migrants arriving from the US Southwest border, and both governments have billions of pension debt to pay down. 

“We had a productive conversation with the Governor’s office,” Scott Hagel, a spokesperson for the Bears, said in an emailed statement. “We share a commitment to protecting the taxpayers of Illinois and look forward to further discussions.”

State lawmakers are negotiating Illinois’s tightest budget in three years and expect to vote on the spending plan before the end of May. The Bears have indicated that the team is seeking approval of its plan from the Illinois General Assembly this month.

Pritzker’s office is open to conversations with the team, lawmakers and others “with the understanding that responsible fiscal stewardship of tax-payer dollars remains the foremost priority,” according to Gough.

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