The Chicago Bears are expected to make a stadium announcement Friday, Aug. 14, according to Hammond, Indiana, Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., who said the team told him directly that news is coming while soil testing is already underway at a proposed site in his city.

The announcement would land just hours before the Bears take the field for their preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns at noon Saturday, Aug. 15, at Soldier Field.

Meanwhile, the team remains firmly planted at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, deep in its third week of training camp. Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren, himself a Lake Forest resident, and Chairman George McCaskey are expected to address the matter at midday Friday, according to David Haugh of 104.3 The Score.

"I do know there's extensive testing going on even right now," McDermott told NBC Chicago on Wednesday, Aug. 12. "I had one of the local businesses in the new footprint call me and say, 'hey, they're boring holes currently.'"

McDermott stressed he does not know whether the announcement specifically involves the stadium, but said he is "hopeful it's going to be good news."

The site under examination is known as Wolf Lake Terminals, a 110-acre parcel just west of Interstate 90 and east of the Illinois-Indiana state line, roughly 19 miles from downtown Chicago. McCaskey told NBC Chicago on Tuesday, Aug. 11, that the Bears are conducting "due diligence on a second site in Hammond" and that he and Warren would "have more to report in the coming days."

Asked whether there was any movement in Illinois, McCaskey's answer was one word: "No."

The Bears pivoted to Indiana after a PILOT bill failed to pass the Illinois General Assembly. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed legislation in February creating a stadium authority capable of steering roughly $1 billion toward the project, and the Bears' board voted in June to formally advance the Hammond option.

Warren laid out the team's criteria at a July 16 appearance at Gorton Center in Lake Forest, saying "property tax certainty" and infrastructure commitments would decide the site. State Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest) had pushed for an Illinois solution, releasing a statement in June after the Senate passed a competing measure she said would keep the Bears in Illinois without costing the state a dollar to build the stadium.

For Lake Forest, the stakes are tangible. Halas Hall at 1920 Football Dr. has been the Bears' headquarters and training home for years, and Warren lives in the community. A move to Hammond would not necessarily relocate the team's offices, but the franchise's long-term footprint in Lake Forest remains an open question.

The Bears opened camp July 28 and held their first practice July 29. Their preseason opener Saturday kicks off at noon at Soldier Field, televised on FOX32 and NFL Network.