There’s A Lot Of Talk That The Chicago Bears Are Going To Be Sold

Yesterday, the buzz started to grow about some apparent strife within the McCaskey family that may eventually wind up with the Chicago Bears being taken over by the highest bidder.

The bombshell was dropped by Daily Herald columnist Jim O'Donnell, when he reported on a interesting answer by someone who's "in the know" on the internal workings of the Chicago Bears. The question asked of this person was something like "what'll happen first, the Chicago Bears will be sold, or the grandstand at Arlington Park will be imploded?"

The answer that came back got the speculation about a sale rolling when the person basically said it was "even money" on which would happen first, a Bears sale or an Arlington demolition.

Jim O'Donnell, Daily Herald:

The exchange prompted later back-channel inquiries.

The most striking reply came from an individual with exceptional knowledge of the working dynamic within the McCaskey family.

That person said: "There is some internal strife going on among family members to sell ... now."

And, when you think about it, it makes sense. No, not selling the team, but the fact that there would be those within the McCaskey family that might want to cash out on the Bears, especially when the franchise has been valued at $3.53 billion, and according to Forbes, is the 18th-most valuable sports franchise on Earth.

Virginia McCaskey and her late husband Ed have 11 children of their own, and there are also 40 or so grandchildren. It's hard to believe that every single one of those people are of an absolute like-mind when it comes to the future of the Chicago Bears.

Let's assume for a moment that all of this is true, and the Bears will plant a for sale sign out in front of Halas Hall. Who would the prospective buyers be?

There's some speculation that it could be Pat Ryan, a billionaire who already bought in for about 20% of the Bears back in the 80s, or Neil Bluhm, a casino magnate who is tied in with Churchill Downs and owns a piece of both the Bulls and the White Sox. But the biggest name being mentioned is a guy named Jeff Bezos. Yeah, the Amazon guy and world's richest human. But, he may not be interested.

Jim O'Donnell, Daily Herald:

The inclusion of Bezos -- Amazon's $200 billion man -- is automatic on any list of NFL teams rumored to be circling the sales ring.

But it seems that the NFL wants the 57-year-old futurist more than Bezos wants the NFL.

In 2018, Dallas owner Jerry Jones chirped: "I'd carry him piggyback to get him into the NFL."