Insights from Ben Johnson's debut offseason with the Bears | The Offseason
Insights from Ben Johnson's debut offseason with the Bears | The Offseason
This week on 'The Offseason': The Bears finish their final week of OTAs with QB Caleb Williams and WR Rome Odunze in attendance. The Chicago Tribune's Dan Wiederer joins the show to talk about what we learned during Ben Johnson's first offseason. Is Caleb Williams the 2nd year QB with the most pressure on him heading into the season? Plus, rookie OT Ozzy Trapilo discusses competing for the starting LT job and his connection to the Doug Flutie Hail Mary game.
The Chicago Bears could potentially sell a minority stake in the franchise.
The Bears are exploring a sale of the minority stake, according to multiple reports.
What they're saying:
According to Crain's Chicago, the team is weighing a sale of the late Andrew McKenna Sr.'s stake in the team.
McKenna was a former chairman of McDonald’s and a Chicago ntive. He died in 2023.
It isn't known how large of a size McKenna's stake is with the Bears. Galatioto Sports Partners was hired to handle the potential sale, Crain's Chicago reported.
According to Crain's Chicago, the Halas family owns approximately 80% of the team. There are also shares owned by insurance billionaire Pat Ryan. Both Ryan and McKenna originally purchased their stakes in the franchise in 1990, which combined for about 19.7% worth of stakes.
What's next:
The Bears have multiple irons in the fire as of June 2025. They're continuing their push for a new stadium, with the latest development being the team focusing on Arlington Heights as the site for their new home.
The Bears remain under the majority ownership of the Halas-McCaskey family, led by chairman George McCaskey. In March, McCaskey said the team will continue to consider private equity transactions, which is something the NFL approved last year.
"It’s something that we’re continuing to look at," McCaskey said at the NFL Owner's Meetings in March. "It may be utilized as part of our stadium construction financing plan, we haven’t made a decision yet."
Indianapolis Colts chairman and principal owner Jim Irsay passed away in May and the team unveiled his succession plan for the Colts, passing the team on to his daughters, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt, and Kalen Jackson.
The Bears haven't publicly unveiled what the succession plan for the team is after Virginia McCaskey's death in February. It remains to be seen if the Bears will unveil their succession plan, which George said in March was submitted to the NFL.
BearsSports