Bears Worth $785 Million

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Sep 4, 2004 5:30PM

According to Forbes magazine's annual valuation of NFL teams, the Bears are worth $785 million, making them the 8th most valuable franchise in the league. That value is a 26% increase in value since last year, which can be attributed to the remodeled Soldier Field and its plethora of luxury boxes and club level seating.

The Bears, owned by the McCaskey family, pulled in a tidy $33.1 million in profits on $175 million in revenue, thanks in part to a pretty sweet Soldier Field deal. In return for use of the predominantly taxpayer-funded $621 million stadium, the Bears "pay $5.7 million in rent and get to keep all the money from football games, including concessions, parking and suites." Which was about $49 million last season.

This report demonstrates how football is a business first and sport second, as poor performance on the field is no guarantee of poor performance on the balance sheet, and vice versa. Stadium revenue tends to be the biggest variation in team revenue since the NFL television revenues are split evenly among all of the teams. As a result, while the Bears, Lions and Texans all rank fairly high in the rankings -- thanks to new stadiums -- perennial powers like Minnesota, San Francisco and Oakland languish near the bottom due to older, less lucrative stadiums. Guess it's time for the 49ers to get their own damn space ship!