Chicago Bears Valued at over $1 Billion, 13th Richest Sports Franchise

Forbes Magazine rated the most valuable sports franchises and the Chicago Bears ranked as the 13th most valuable sports franchise, valued at $1.08 billion.  Yes billion with a “B.” What George “Papa Bear” Halas started as the Decatur Staleys back in 1920 is worth over a billion freaking dollars not to mention the fact that all 32 NFL franchises ranked in the Top 50 on Forbes’ list.   Here is the list of the top NFL franchises, where the Bears rank 9th:

"Here are the top NFL clubs per Forbes:1. Dallas $1.65 billion2. Washington $1.55 billion3. New England $1.36 billion4. N.Y. Giants $1.18 billion5. N.Y. Jets $1.17 billion6. Houston $1.15 billion7. Philadelphia $1.12 billion8. Tampa Bay $1.09 billion9. Bears $1.08 billion10. Denver $1.08 billion11. Baltimore $1.08 billion12. Carolina $1.05 billion13. Cleveland $1.03 billion14. Kansas City $1.03 billion15. Indianapolis $1.03 billion"

Seeing this opens up a couple of questions for me.  First, how the heck are the Tampa Bay Bucs and Houston Texans worth more than the Bears? Seriously? The Bucs?  How much is that fucking pirate ship worth?

Speaking of the pirate ship, the other question is that most of the top franchises are organizations that own their stadium, like Jerry Jones’ Billion dollar football Fantasyland.   Is the value of the actual stadium included in the value?  Since the Bears don’t own Soldier Field, does that mean they’re more valuable that franchises which own their stadiums? (Or is it stadia? Spellcheker is calling me out on stadia, so I’ll stick with the more traditional stadiums.)

Forbes lists the Bears with an annual revenue of $241 million.  Not a bad little family run business, huh?