A few days ago, the rumor gained traction that billionaire Jeff Bezos might be interested in buying the Chicago Bears, the historic and popular NFL franchise, which has been facing several years of sporting and institutional crisis.
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The Bears began the 2024 season with high hopes of returning to the playoffs after selecting quarterback Caleb Williams as the No. 1 pick in the Draft. However, as the end of the regular season approaches, they just want to go on vacation after experiencing a nightmare that included firing the head coach during the season for the first time in the team's history.
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Who are the current owners of the Chicago Bears?
The Chicago Bears are a rarity in global sports, as they have been controlled by the same family since 1921.
The team was founded in 1919 as the Decatur Staleys by a food company, but two years later it was sold to George Halas, who moved it to Chicago and renamed it “Bears”. He made it one of the main attractions of the NFL and remained president until his death in 1983. The ownership then passed to his daughter Virginia Halas McCaskey, currently 101 years old.
Those are the only two owners in the history of the Bears, although due to Virginia McCaskey's age, the duties of president are currently carried out by her son George McCaskey.
Why are the Bears in crisis?
Chicago won the Super Bowl of the 1985 season with a formidable defensive team, but since then, successes have been scarce: it was the National Conference champion in 2006, reached the NFC final in 2010, and since then has only had two brief playoff appearances.
In recent years, they have consistently failed in hiring general managers and coaches, including Matt Eberflus, the head coach who was dismissed on November 29 of this year. He was considered the main party responsible for having a bad offensive coordinator and squandering the rookie season of the promising Caleb Williams.
There are quite a few in the specialized Chicago press who believe that the Bears' sports crisis is related to the McCaskey family and would not frown upon a sale.
Add to that a series of erratic decisions to build a new stadium. The Bears play at the historic Soldier Field, which is publicly owned, next to Lake Michigan, but they aspire to a more modern and roofed venue. To that end, they took the step of purchasing a large plot of land in Arlington Heights, a suburb several kilometers north of Chicago, but this year they presented images of a project just a few meters south of the current Soldier Field that would involve both public and private capital.
The idea was to start building in 2025, but so far none of the projects are progressing, and they will also need contributions from investors. Could Bezos appear as a partner there?
Where did the information about Bezos buying the Bears come from?
The information emerged from the account @MLFootball on the social network X, where it has over 300,000 followers, indicating that the betting company Bovada has listed Jeff Bezos as the main candidate “to buy the Bears and be the next owner”.
No other media has reported an interest by the McCaskey family in selling the 80% of the shares that give them control of the Chicago Bears.
Bezos, owner of Amazon, has an estimated net worth of $194 billion.
How much could the Chicago Bears be worth?
NFL teams are rarely sold, as they provide owners with significant public visibility and due to the league's million-dollar contracts, they always yield profits.
Those who have sold do so because the original owner passed away, and the heirs prefer to liquidate the property. This was the case with the Denver Broncos, when it was purchased by a group led by an heir to the Walmart fortune.
The last team to change ownership was the Washington Commanders, when the NFL forced owner Dan Snyder to sell following a series of investigations, including one by the House of Representatives, that reported a toxic work environment within the organization, with accusations of workplace abuse and sexual harassment. Snyder sold the team for $6 billion to a group led by Josh Harris (owner of the NBA's 76ers).
The Bears should be worth much more since Chicago is the third-largest market in the United States. Forbes valued the team at $6.4 billion.