Jim O'Donnell so take it with a grain of salt.


THE QUESTIONER WAS SHARP and creative.

"Which do you think will happen first?" he asked. "The Bears will be sold or the main grandstand building at Arlington Park will be imploded?"

The insouciant looked both ways before answering:

"Even money at this point in time, so put both on the board to open at 4-to-5. This one could truly go either way."

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."

The strife makes perfect sense. Even if it is opposite to prevailing thought that the franchise will never be sold as long as Mrs. Virginia McCaskey -- age 98 -- has an earthly say.

The Halas/McCaskey clan is now touching a fifth generation.

That's an expanding list of heirs waiting to hold negotiables rather than simply boast of a T-formation pedigree.

It's also outkicking the expectation. Dick Duchossois has long said: "Less than 4% of large-sized family companies make it to the fourth generation."

The entire Bears-to-Arlington Park scenario is predicated upon a nimble, resourced ownership.

Past performances suggest that isn't the McCaskeys.

They are CD sellers in a Spotified world.

Still, no one can fairly say that George McCaskey hasn't tried to carry on a noble pursuit of keeping the team in the family as a loving, dutiful son.

But is he tasked with the impossible?

If the sale of the Bears is announced in the weeks ahead, there are three suitors who loom larger than all others -- Pat Ryan, Jeff Bezos and Neil Bluhm.
Ryan, 83, is the favorite. The billionaire businessman -- in partnership with 91-year-old Andy McKenna -- owns 19.7% of the Bears. He also holds the right-of-first-refusal as "primary investor" if any of the McCaskey stock comes up for sale.

Sons Pat Ryan Jr. and Rob Ryan are energized entrepreneurs who have diversified interests while attempting to maintain the vigor of their father.

If Ryan were to purchase controlling interest in the Bears, one of his sons would likely emerge as an adjunct executive force to the future.

Ironically, it was Bluhm -- the billionaire who partners with Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) in ownership of the Des Plaines/Rivers casino -- who laid the path to the Ryan-McKenna stake in the Bears.

In the winter of 1987-88, Bluhm and longtime real estate mate Judd Malkin had an agreement in place to purchase that 19.7% share from the heirs and estate of the late George "Mugs" Halas Jr., the son of "The Papa Bear."

Cash-strapped, the McCaskeys executed an eleventh-hour right-of-first-refusal to block the sale to Bluhm and Malkin for reasons of "family control."

The family turned to McKenna -- one of the consummate gentlemen in Chicago business and deal making -- to quickly plug their financial gap.

Enter Ryan with much of the $17.5 million necessary to stall the heirs of Halas Jr. They later sued, claiming the team's valuation of roughly $88 million was low. Their lawsuit failed.

(The Bears are now worth an estimated $3.5 billion.)

No man is as well-positioned to bring the Bears to Arlington Park as Bluhm, 82.

He is the individual most responsible for steamrolling CDI on to the Illinois casino scape via its purchase of 61% of Rivers in the fall of 2018. Churchill Downs chairman Bill Carstanjen owes him.

Son Andy Bluhm, 50, has made his own mark through Delaware Street Capital. He would presumptively have a significant role in a Bears organization controlled by his father.

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."

Since then, floating rumors have had assessments of four teams brought to Bezos -- the Chargers, the Seahawks, the Lions and nettlesome Washington.

Nothing has happened. So why not add the Bears?

It is all two parts information and two parts plausible dream scheming.

But the clairvoyant within can't drift into the arms of Morpheus without thinking:

There is something in the air at Halas Hall.

And it isn't all about imploding race tracks.

That was a great investment in 1988

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Lol. Jim O'Donnell.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

While they haven't wanted to sell while Virginia was alive and being carted around like Rose Kennedy, she's 98. I'm sure they have paid good money to have tax professionals decide the optimal moment to sell on either side of Virginia's crossing of the rainbow bridge in order to fulfill estate and capital gains obligations, and equally good money to estimate Virginia's life expectancy season-by-season.

A better lease in a new stadium anywhere in the area would probably get the team value closer to $4B. And if Arlington Heights was to build a domed stadium to the NFL requirements, they would be rewarded with one Super Bowl right away, and likely a second one for Super Bowl 75.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Can't you understand what's happening here?

Don't you see what's happening?

McCaskeys aren’t selling. McCaskeys are buying! And why? Because we're panicky and they’re not.

That's why. They’re picking up some bargains.

Now, we can get through this thing all right. We've got to stick together, though. We've got to have faith in each other.

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You know me like that.

Hub was going on that all this has to do with some reported news that the NFL okayed some financing for the Bears. Everyone assumes Arlington Park but it was simply re financing parts of Soldier Field and super displays them have there.

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Elections have consequences.

Banks and cities will throw huge money at the Bears for a new stadium whether it is in the city or in Arlington. The Bears family would be stupid to sell when they can just extract a billion from the team. Owner of a football team is one of the easiest jobs in the world. You literally only have to hire a CEO-type to run things if you really want.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm confident that O'Donnell has absolutely no inside knowledge of this situation.

I do believe that, were the discussion taking place, Mc Caskeys would sell to Ryan/Mc Kenna before Bluhm for the same "reasons of family control".

If I were a Halas great great grandchild, I'd be looking to get my grubby paws on some of those billions as well. Keep an interest for sentimental reasons. I think even future owners would want to have some ownership connection to Halas to trot out for public relations. However, get out of the business of running a football team. None of their hearts seem to be in it anyway.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, if any of the the progeny gave any care, he/she would have been preparing himself for football management starting in high school. Play/manage on a high school team. Play/manage a college team while getting a sports management degree from the best possible school. Spend a few years in scouting. Move into the executive suite and go to law school. Continue learning as an under GM. Then, by 40, you would have someone with experience, league connections and a legitimate management pedigree.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

but, if you are one of the 50 or so heirs (and I might be severely understating) having to feed your family by humping it as a ticket rep rather than living the life of luxury, wouldn't you want to cash out?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

So let them out of their ownership shares, whatever those would be if they really want to.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

This was pretty good.

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This came up in the other thread about Arlington.....in no short order...
1) The Arlington Park property is the best long-term option the Bears have and will ever have
2) The McCaskey's have zero financial ability to purchase said best long-term property option. To do it, they'd have to bring in a financial investor / owner.

The McCaskeys have to be the McCaskeys.....big difference on what they should do and what their egos will dictate what they do. They'll find a way to screw this up. They have no business owning the Bears....they've repeatedly demonstrated their ineptitude. Halas blood is all they have and it's been proven that amounts to nothing.

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Banks will finance the purchase. Why wouldn't they?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

After the first three lines, I gotta say that column was shockingly lucid considering the source.

That said, I think it would have to be an offer-they-can’t-refuse scenario before the family gives up this team, and especially not until after Virg kicks the bucket.

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Not a mult.

of course they would. They can attach a loan that will be around 2 billion onto a 3.5 billion asset.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

(((reasons of family control)))

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