On Dec. 26, shouts for the McCaskey family to “sell the team” were loud as the Chicago Bears fell 6-3 to the Seattle Seahawks at Soldier Field during a Thursday night snoozefest. It was the tenth game in a row the Bears had lost.
Questions about the ownership of the Bears became very real when principal owner Virginia McCaskey died on Feb. 6. Chairman and owner George McCaskey and the rest of the McCaskey family are figuring out how to keep majority control of the Bears amid a heavy tax burden.
The McCaskey family is dealing with a tax burden
Per Peggy Kusinski of ESPN Chicago, the family is believed to have filed an extension on their inheritance and estate tax bill that was due April 15.
Because the family is not rich in assets besides ownership of the Bears, the family is expected to try and sell some of Virginia’s 22% ownership to pay the tax bill by next year. Patrick Ryan is expected to increase his shares of the Bears along with a group of outside investors that have no relation to the McKenna and Ryan families who own a minority share.
“They don’t have that kind of money coming in to pay those taxes,” Kusinski said on ESPN’s Waddle & Silvy this week. “Federal taxes will be due in nine months. So they have to take on new investors. So what I’ve been told is that Patrick Ryan’s been spending a lot of time at Halas Hall for the last six months.
“And he is likely going to be buying additional shares of the Bears, likely from Virginia, but it could also be from any of the other family members that just can’t financially even afford. Remember, guys, you don’t get any of that money until you pay the taxes.”
The Chicago Bears will still be owned by the McCaskeys
While Ryan and outside investors are expected to buy shares of the Bears, the McCaskey family will likely keep majority ownership.
“So they’re leaning on Patrick Ryan, who does have that, and if he doesn’t have it himself, he has access to it, because that’s the world that he is from. He understands that world,” Kusinski said. “The Andrew McKenna estate, the same way, but from what I’m told, it’s Patrick Ryan and his family that is really going to be putting together this group, and they will be minority shares.
“They will not become majority owners. So when George McCaskey says, we are not selling the team, the McCaskeys will remain the majority owners for sure.”
If the people they trust can help them pay their taxes.
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