Tremaine Edmunds #49 of the Chicago Bears celebrates with teammates after making an interception throughout the second half in opposition to the Dallas Cowboys on September 21, 2025 at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois.
Melissa Tamez | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
The National Football League’s finance committee authorised the sale of two.35% of the Chicago Bears to present house owners of the workforce in a deal that units a league document and values the Bears at $8.9 billion, in response to three folks aware of the deal, who requested to not be named as a result of they weren’t approved to talk publicly.
The deal closed a number of days in the past, in response to one of many folks. Because the sale is to present workforce house owners, the league doesn’t require the deal to be authorised 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 Team Valuations — No. 10 among the many league’s 32 groups. The workforce rose to No. 7 in CNBC’s 2025 valuations.
The stake of the Bears that was offered was held by the property of Andrew McKenna, in response to two folks aware of the deal. McKenna died in 2023. Galatioto Sports Partners represented the property in the sale, mentioned the folks, who requested to not be named as a result of they weren’t approved to talk publicly. Two-thirds of the two.3% offered 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 Partners responded to emailed questions from CNBC in regards to the sale.
The earlier document excessive valuation in the sale of a minority stake in an NFL workforce was $8.6 billion, in the acquisition of a 6.2% stake of the San Francisco 49ers in May, in response to an individual aware of the deal, who requested to not be named as a result of they weren’t approved to talk publicly. That topped the $8.3 billion valuation for an 8% stake in the Philadelphia Eagles at the tip of 2024, CNBC beforehand reported. The New York Giants are at the moment seeking to promote a ten% stake at a few $10 billion valuation, CNBC beforehand reported.
The Bears at the moment play at the out of date Soldier Field, which was final renovated greater than 20 years in the past. The Chicago Park District gets some of the revenue from non-NFL occasions at the stadium. The workforce is exploring building a stadium in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. A hard and fast-roof domed stadium would give the Bears a possibility to host non-NFL occasions year-round and get extra non-NFL occasion income.
Valuations for the sale of restricted accomplice stakes don’t essentially translate to regulate sale costs. Large LP stakes, say, above 20%, usually promote at reductions to regulate sale valuations as a result of restricted companions don’t have any stake in how the workforce is run and the greenback quantity to purchase the stake is comparatively giant. In some circumstances, nonetheless, small LP stakes, say, under 10%, can promote at a premium to a management sale valuation as a result of an LP stake will be the solely alternative an individual has to personal a chunk of an NFL workforce attributable to skyrocketing valuations and the precise greenback quantity required to purchase such a stake is comparatively small.
The final management sale of an NFL workforce was Josh Harris’ buy of the Washington Commanders for $6.05 billion in 2023, in response to media reviews.