Alderman proposes City of Chicago buy the Bears and sell shares

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- One of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's floor leaders is defending a proposal to have the city of Chicago buy and then sell shares of the Chicago Bears.

12th Ward Alderman George Cardenas has drafted a resolution calling for a feasibility study of a plan for the City of Chicago to buy the Chicago Bears and then sell shares of the team to the fans.

Cardenas wouldn't say where the administration would find the $4 billion the team is reportedly worth, though he believes there will be investors. And he didn't say there are indications that the McCaskey family would be willing to sell the team.

“The city just acquired a casino. We need these assets to stay in the city. And we have to come up with a way to entice the Bears," Cardenas said as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. "If they don’t want to be here, let’s buy them out. I mean — they can’t manage this team. They haven’t managed this team [well] in decades."

Even Cardenas’ resolution itself recognizes that there may be some legal and financial barriers to city ownership of an NFL franchise and the McCaskey family has shown no interest in selling the team, but with the team threatening to move to the suburbs, Cardenas wants to do something.

"I love the Bears. I think a lot of us love the Bears," he said. "All I'm saying is why don't we figure out a way to own our own team-to figure out a way to have people partake in that-in that success and do it not neccessarily for the profit motive as it is for the pride of having something of your own."

To those who say his idea is “way out there,” Cardenas said what’s really out there is that the team owners wanted the city to build them another stadium when he says the first one hasn’t been paid off.

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