Bears Reportedly Explore Sale of Minority Ownership Held by Late Andrew McKenna Sr.

The Chicago Bears' ownership group is considering the sale of a minority stake, according to Bloomberg's Randall Williams and Miranda Davis.

The portion of the franchise was owned by Andrew McKenna Sr., who died in 2023. Williams and Davis noted the vast majority of the Bears, around 80 percent, is controlled by the family of late founder George Halas.

Heading into the 2024 NFL season, Forbes valued the Bears at $6.4 billion, the ninth-highest figure in the league. The sale of McKenna's stake would provide a much more concrete number for how much the team is worth.

Across the board, sports franchises have exploded in value in recent years. Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal posited in March that the $6.1 billion sale of the Boston Celtics is likely to have an inflationary impact on NFL teams since they all collect more annual revenue than the Celtics.

There is one downside to the valuations going up and up. The pool of potential buyers gets smaller and smaller as the cost of buying an NFL franchise continues to climb. That's why the league has opened its doors to private equity. Selling off a small ownership stake to a PE firm is a quick way to collect a sizable amount of cash.

In the case of the Bears, some of the profit from a minority ownership sale would presumably go toward constructing a new stadium in Arlington Heights, Illinois, which is back on the menu.

The bigger picture remains unchanged, though. Team chairman George McCaskey said in April his family has no intention of divesting from the Bears after the death his mother, Virginia Halas McCaskey.