Tremaine Edmunds #49 of the Chicago Bears celebrates with teammates after making an interception through the second half towards the Dallas Cowboys on September 21, 2025 at Soldier Subject in Chicago, Illinois.
Melissa Tamez | Icon Sportswire | Getty Photographs
The Nationwide Soccer League’s finance committee accredited the sale of two.35% of the Chicago Bears to current house owners of the staff in a deal that units a league document and values the Bears at $8.9 billion, in response to three folks conversant in the deal, who requested to not be named as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly.
The deal closed a number of days in the past, in response to one of many folks. As a result of the sale is to current staff house owners, the league doesn’t require the deal to be accredited by three-fourths of the NFL’s house owners.
The Bears have been valued at $6.4 billion only a 12 months in the past in CNBC’s Official NFL Group Valuations — No. 10 among the many league’s 32 groups. The staff rose to No. 7 in CNBC’s 2025 valuations.
The stake of the Bears that was bought was held by the property of Andrew McKenna, in response to two folks conversant in the deal. McKenna died in 2023. Galatioto Sports activities Companions represented the property within the sale, mentioned the folks, who requested to not be named as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly. Two-thirds of the two.3% bought will go to the McCaskey household and one-third will go to the Ryan household, leaving the previous with about 77% possession and the latter with about 23%, the folks mentioned.
Neither the NFL nor Galatioto Sports activities Companions responded to emailed questions from CNBC in regards to the sale.
The earlier document excessive valuation within the sale of a minority stake in an NFL staff was $8.6 billion, within the buy of a 6.2% stake of the San Francisco 49ers in Could, in response to an individual conversant in the deal, who requested to not be named as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly. That topped the $8.3 billion valuation for an 8% stake within the Philadelphia Eagles on the finish of 2024, CNBC beforehand reported. The New York Giants are at present trying to promote a ten% stake at a couple of $10 billion valuation, CNBC beforehand reported.
The Bears at present play on the out of date Soldier Subject, which was final renovated greater than 20 years in the past. The Chicago Park District will get a few of the income from non-NFL occasions on the stadium. The staff is exploring constructing a stadium in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. A hard and fast-roof domed stadium would give the Bears a chance to host non-NFL occasions year-round and get extra non-NFL occasion income.
Valuations for the sale of restricted companion stakes don’t essentially translate to regulate sale costs. Giant LP stakes, say, above 20%, sometimes promote at reductions to regulate sale valuations as a result of restricted companions haven’t any stake in how the staff is run and the greenback quantity to purchase the stake is comparatively massive. In some instances, nonetheless, small LP stakes, say, under 10%, can promote at a premium to a management sale valuation as a result of an LP stake stands out as the solely alternative an individual has to personal a chunk of an NFL staff as a result of skyrocketing valuations and the precise greenback quantity required to purchase such a stake is comparatively small.
The final management sale of an NFL staff was Josh Harris’ buy of the Washington Commanders for $6.05 billion in 2023, in response to media studies.
