The National Football League's finance committee approved the sale of 2.35% of the Chicago Bears to existing owners of the team in a deal that sets a league record and values the Bears at $8.9 billion , according to three people familiar with the deal, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The deal closed several days ago, according to one of the people. Because the sale is to existing team owners, the league does not require the deal to be approved by three-fourths of the NFL's owners.

The Bears were valued at $6.4 billion just a year ago in CNBC's Official NFL Team Valuations — No. 10 among the league's 32 teams. The team rose to No. 7 in CNBC's 2025 valuations .

The stake of the Bears that was sold was held by the estate of Andrew McKenna

See Full Page