As part of their ongoing commitment to girls flag football and other youth sports, the Bears generously donated artificial turf from the Walter Payton Center and $50,000 to the Rockford Park District.

The turf, which measures about 30 yards by 30 yards and includes the Bears' iconic "C" logo, was used in the indoor practice facility at Halas Hall for six years.

Last Saturday evening, the turf was unveiled as part of the grand opening of the Rockford Park District's Clarence Hicks Memorial Sports Complex, a $7.5 million facility that features an eight-lane running track, pro turf field, bleacher seating for more than 1,000 fans, LED field lights and a press box. Other upgrades include a discus cage, javelin runway, long jump pits, new scoreboards, fencing and a 64-stall parking lot with solar lighting.

The turf donated by the Bears is being used for a warmup zone at the complex. The Rockford Park District has added on-site signage to help youth learn more about Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, where the turf once stood, and to highlight the long-standing relationship between the Rockford Park District and the Bears.

"The turf that we had in the Walter Payton Center, besides being significant and sentimental, was still in phenomenal shape," said Bears director of football development Gustavo Silva. "It's still got life in it, so it was a matter of getting it to a place that could use it. Now it's turf that kids can play on and warm up for their games on."

Silva revealed that the $50,000 the Bears donated to the Rockford Park District in association with USA Football will be used to help launch a girls middle school flag football league similar to the girls high school league they helped start in 2022.

"We hope that we can expand the game into the middle school level throughout the state so that we have a feeder system that feeds into the high school teams that are playing, and those are feeding into the college teams that are playing," Silva said.

"It's part of our overall mission to build a pathway for girls to be able to play the game from youth all the way to and through college, and potentially even playing internationally in the Olympics one day."