George Halas McCaskey is the current chairman of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. He replaced his brother

Michael McCaskey Michael Benning McCaskey (December 11, 1943May 16, 2020) was an American sports executive who was the chairman of the Chicago Bears in the National Football League from 1999 until 2011. Biography McCaskey, son of current Bears principal owner Vir ...

as chairman in 2011.

Biography

McCaskey, the eighth-oldest child of Bears owner

Virginia Halas McCaskey Virginia Marion Halas McCaskey (born January 5, 1923) is the principal owner of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). She is the eldest child of Bears founder and owner George Halas, who left the team to his daughter upon h ...

and Ed McCaskey (who himself was a former Bears chairman), was originally an assistant state attorney in Lee and

DeKalb DeKalb or De Kalb may refer to: People * Baron Johann de Kalb (1721–1780), major general in the American Revolutionary War Places Municipalities in the United States * DeKalb, Illinois, the largest city in the United States named DeKalb **DeKal ...

counties. McCaskey also worked in television after graduating with a bachelor's degree (1978) from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree (1981) from Arizona State University College of Law, and was a reporter for an

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

affiliate in Peoria. He was the team's senior director of ticket operations since the Bears

1991 season File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, 1991 Russian presidential election, elected as Russia's first President of Russia, president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated ...

, and was a member of the team's board of directors since 2004. In 2011, during the

NFL lockout The NFL lockout may refer to any of the lockouts or strikes in the history of the National Football League: * The 1968 NFL strike/lockout, which lasted 12 days before the start of the 1968 season. * The 1970 NFL strike/lockout, which lasted a ...

, McCaskey's brother Michael retired as chairman of the club after 12 years. Before he assumed his position, he met with

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

owner

Rocky Wirtz William Rockwell "Rocky" Wirtz (born October 5, 1952) is the principal owner and chairman of the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. He is also president of the Blackhawks' parent company, the Wirtz Corporation, a diversified conglomerate headquartered i ...

, as well as

White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

and Bulls owner

Jerry Reinsdorf Jerry Michael Reinsdorf (born February 25, 1936) is the owner of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and MLB's Chicago White Sox. He started his professional life as a tax attorney with the Internal Revenue Service. He has been the owner of the White So ...

Jerry Jones Jerral Wayne Jones (born October 13, 1942) is an American businessman who has been the owner, president, and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) since February 1989. Early life Jones was born in Los Ange ...

of the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

was the first NFL owner with whom he met. McCaskey reflected on meeting Jones, commenting, "He was very gracious, very accommodating. He’s a fascinating guy. I really enjoyed visiting with him, getting to know him. We sat in a suite at

Cowboys Stadium AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium, is a retractable-roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the hom ...

and looked out over the field. We then went downstairs and bumped into a tour group. As soon as they saw who he was, they were going crazy. They were taking pictures and he was chatting them up." McCaskey is the second-highest figure in the Bears organization below his mother Virginia, with team president and CEO

Ted Phillips Ted Phillips is an American businessman and the President and CEO of the National Football League's Chicago Bears and has been a part of the organization since 1984. He is only the fourth president of the 100-year-old organization, the others bei ...

reporting to him. While the president oversees structural changes such as hiring and firing the general manager, the ownership provides input; McCaskey explained in 2012, shortly after the departure of general manager

Jerry Angelo Jerry Angelo (born c. 1949) is a former American football executive who was the general manager for the National Football League's Chicago Bears from 2001 to 2011. Prior to joining the Bears, Angelo spent 14 years overseeing Tampa Bay Buccaneers ...

, that he did not "feel any particular need to place a personal stamp on the Bears, that my job was to work with and in support of the president and CEO."

References

External links

Chicago Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCaskey, George Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Chicago Bears executives Arizona State University alumni Halas family Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law alumni