A evaluation was done by Forbes at the end of 2004 as to the value of each NFL team. The Bears are 8th on the list at 785 million. Of course, the Redskins are #1. The next highests NFC North team is the Packers at #13.
are owned by McCaskey family,
who bought them in 1920
for $100.
The skinny
Somewhere Papa George Halas is smiling. Last season the Chicago Bears, the team that Halas founded and one of the NFL's original franchises, moved into the brand new Soldier Field. The Bears pay $5.7 million in rent and get to keep all the money from football games, including concessions, parking and suites. The funding from the $621 renovation came mostly from taxpayers, with the Bears and the NFL kicking in a combined $250 million (the Bears had to pay $49 million in cost overruns). Last season the Bears started an alliance--estimated to be worth $4 million a year over the next 12 years--with Bank One, whereby the Chicago bank will be the team's "presenting sponsor," the first such deal in modern NFL history. For its money, the bank has rights to stadium signage, ads on the Bears' radio broadcasts and non-game TV programs and the team's banking business.