The Chicago Bears have owned the city for such a long time and most fans these days don’t even know that it used to host two NFL teams at one point in time. From 1920 to 1959, the Bears shared the city with the Chicago Cardinals. Almost 40 years where there were two franchises in the market. The Cardinals even won a pair of NFL championships during that period in 1925 and 1947.
However, a dismal period in the ’50s along with the establishment of the rival American Football League compelled the Cardinals to depart Chicago in 1960 for a new home in St. Louis. Since that time, the Bears have held complete dominance of the city. The NFL has never once considered challenging it with another franchise since then. Either via relocation or expansion. Is it possible that longstanding monopoly could come to an end.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk seems to think so.
When asked about the possible locations new teams would go if the league expanded, Florio had an interesting list. While the league isn’t yet considering expansion, he believes this will be possible once the regular season expands to 18 games in the future. When that happens, he pointed out some obvious locations. St. Louis being one, having lost the Rams to Los Angeles. San Diego is another, losing the Chargers to L.A. as well. Then he brought up the wild card.
This is a fascinating point. It is common knowledge by now that the Bears have placed a bid to purchase Arlington Racecourse International. A strip of land that covers 326 acres. This led to inevitable speculation that the franchise might be seeking a location for a brand new stadium. One they wholly own themselves rather than lease. Were this to happen, it would rob Soldier Field of a football team. That is unless another happened to swoop in and occupy it.
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Chicago Bears certainly excelled when they had competition
Their greatest period of success came when the Cardinals were in town at the same time. Between 1920 and 1959, the Bears ended up winning six league championships including four in the 1940s when both teams were good. It’s fair to wonder if the franchise sort of took their foot off the gas once there was no longer any threat to their financial well-being. They have just two titles since the Cardinals left.
Maybe the return of another franchise in the market will give them the sense of urgency they’ve lacked at times over the years. For baseball fans who love the Cubs and White Sox, this could develop into another such rivalry. Of course, would the Chicago Bears ownership be wild about this idea? Probably not. It would just mean another team eating into their fanbase.
Then again the NFL doesn’t seem to care about that.
They greenlit throwing the Rams and Chargers together in Los Angeles a few years ago. If they feel two teams will maximize the profitability of the Chicago market? That is something they’re going to consider. The first domino will be whether the Bears do end up moving to their own building over the next few years.