Michael McCaskey era in final days for Bears

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Michael McCaskey era in final days for Bears

March 21, 2011 12:45 PM |

By Dan Pompei

NEW ORLEANS -- The NFL meetings this week at the Roosevelt Hotel will be Michael McCaskey's last as the Chicago Bears' chairman of the board.

On May 5 at the Bears' board meeting, McCaskey officially will step aside and his brother George will become chairman of the board.

George, who has been the Bears' director of ticket operations since 1991, has been transitioning into his new role for close to one year, learning about different aspects of the organization.
Michael has been the chairman of the board since 1999. Before that, he was the Bears' president since 1983. So he has been involved in the upper management of the Bears for 28 years.

At 67, Michael wanted to step down and allow his younger brother to have a larger role. Michael is pursuing a second career in photography and has a website devoted to it.

"The transition is going very well," Bears president Ted Phillips said. "George has been coming to league meetings, so he's understanding the league issues. Internally, he and I have an outstanding relationship. I think he will put a premium on communication, which will help us. I look forward to working with him."

George McCaskey is not expected to be involved much with day-to-day operations, leaving that to Phillips. His primary role is expected to be dealing with league affairs.

Retiring chairman most proud of Super Bowl victory, Halas Hall and Soldier Field

NEW ORLEANS — As Michael McCaskey looked around the room in the NFL owners meetings, he saw fellow team owners like Mike Brown of the Bengals and John Mara of the Giants. He thought about why he admired them.

And he hoped he would get to see them again from time to time.

This meeting will be McCaskey's last as chairman of the board of the Bears. It ends a string of 27 years in which McCaskey has been at the top of the food chain at Halas Hall, first as team president, and as chairman of the board since 1999.

As part of a succession plan, the 67-year-old is stepping down so his 54-year old brother George McCaskey can take over at a May 5 board meeting.

Public opinion of McCaskey has been harsh, but during his tenure the Bears won a Super Bowl and made it to another. They played in five NFC championship games. They made 12 playoff appearances. They had a regular-season winning percentage of .539. He helped get Soldier Field rebuilt, and was primarily responsible for building the new Halas Hall.

McCaskey said he is most proud of the Super Bowl victory, Halas Hall and Soldier Field.

"I'm also proud that the Bears continued to stand for the values that our grandfather (George Halas) began us with, and that we maintained a commitment to strengthening the league," he said.

As for regrets, he said, "I wish we had done more in the '80s with that wonderful set of players we had. I wish we had won more Super Bowls."

While McCaskey believes he is leaving the Bears in good hands, he acknowledges he has mixed feelings walking away.

"This is the most exciting sport in the world," he said. "It's a business started by my grandfather. It's a little tough to leave that excitement and not be involved on the front line. At the same time, I'm looking forward to having some time to explore some things like my photography and traveling with my wife."

At michaelmccaskey.com, McCaskey shows his work as a photographer. He just returned from a trip to Ethiopia in which he took many photographs. He and his wife Nancy plan on living abroad for periods of time in different countries, including France.

McCaskey will remain on the Bears' board of directors and attend meetings four times a year. But he will no longer serve four NFL committees. He has been chairman of the Super Bowl and Hall of Fame committees, and held seats on the stadium and international committees.

He has spent some of the past year preparing his brother for the job.

George is expected to have a somewhat different style from Michael, but he is not expected to be dabbling in football decisions.

"I've given a lot of thought to how to do the job," George said. "I've got three chairmen as predecessors with vastly different styles. One of the things I'm thinking a lot about is how to be informed and involved without interfering. George Halas is a great model. Ed McCaskey is a great model. Mike McCaskey is a great model.

"And I'm looking to Virginia McCaskey as the best role model for me — be a good ambassador for the Bears, support our president and CEO and be of any help to him that he'd like for me to be. At its most fundamental level, I want to help create an environment that's conducive to success."

Michael said he would have liked to have gone out with a Super Bowl victory, but he is content to leave the team in good shape.

"We have a good group of players, facilities and a stadium that are among the best in the league, a very fine set of coaches, a very good CEO in Ted Phillips and a general manger in Jerry Angelo, and financially we are in a strong position," he said. "There are a lot of positives to build on."

dpompei@tribune.com

This is underrated news in the Bears world as Michael McCaskey new nothing about football. There is some hope in me that George will have a better grasp of how the NFL works.

idk how much this will matter considering his mommy neutered him after the debacle that led to the hiring of dickhead Jauron. Either way maybe this is like getting the black cat out of the building

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Originally Posted by dabears54

Retiring chairman most proud of Super Bowl victory, Halas Hall and Soldier Field

As for regrets, he said, "I wish we had done more in the '80s with that wonderful set of players we had. I wish we had won more Super Bowls."

dpompei@tribune.com

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Mikey you pompus :asshat3:, you had absolutely jack shit to do with that Super Bowl victory except to hold the trophy and smile. Don't even think about taking credit for it.:4_2_211[1]: :asshole:

Regrets......regrets????????? No Mikey, the regrets belong to Bears fans who regret not winning two or three Super Bowls during that era. What you should feel is downright shame for the way you virtually destroyed a team that should have left a legacy as being THE dominant team of the 80's and one of the best of all time, you brainless idiot! :2up::clueless::yousuck:

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Originally Posted by WindyCity

This is underrated news in the Bears world as Michael McCaskey new nothing about football. There is some hope in me that George will have a better grasp of how the NFL works.

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MMC has had nothing to do with football since 1999 when his mom fired him and put him in the broom closet- he has been a 'figurehead" since and the real power with Phillips and angelo and the board( Mom and mckenna and ryan).

FWIW, i've had some dealings with George and he is really a Nice guy and is pretty reasonable and he is def., unlike mike- into the old tradtions of the Bears and really respected halas and what the franchise means- so from that standpoint its a positive, but from a football operations standpoint, don't think anyone changes

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Originally Posted by soulman

Mikey you pompus :asshat3:, you had absolutely jack shit to do with that Super Bowl victory except to hold the trophy and smile. Don't even think about taking credit for it.:4_2_211[1]: :asshole:

Regrets......regrets????????? No Mikey, the regrets belong to Bears fans who regret not winning two or three Super Bowls during that era. What you should feel is downright shame for the way you virtually destroyed a team that should have left a legacy as being THE dominant team of the 80's and one of the best of all time, you brainless idiot! :2up::clueless::yousuck:

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yep and it was his inabilty to relate to players, unlike his degenerate gambling Dad(ed mccaskey), who at least the players liked, despite only wanting to gambling on the horses daily( he used to take bets from players before practice and go to the track,..lol.. Ditka lost many players hen backed the "scabs", and then Mike being the moron and cheap-ass he was tried to run it as a business and not think about the football side, and while Finks and viasani had built something that was going to take awhile to destroy( thank god no f/a back then like now!), he finally did it.. &(&&^$^E#E#E glad gone

McCaskey wows owners with speech

BY SEAN JENSEN sjensen@suntimes.com .hideTime { DISPLAY: none}Mar 23, 2011 02:12AM

NEW ORLEANS — During NFL owners’ meetings full of distractions, Bears chairman Michael McCaskey provided much-needed perspective and earned two ovations.
After commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged McCaskey, who will hand the chairmanship of the Bears to his younger brother George in early May, he addressed owners, coaches and executives Tuesday with a powerful four-minute speech that Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder described as “beautiful.”

“It was very thoughtful, touching and really moved a lot of people,” said Clark Hunt, the chairman of the Kansas City Chiefs. “It was a tremendous speech.”

Added Indianapolis Colts vice chairman Bill Polian: “It was eloquent, it was on point, educational, interesting and entirely in keeping with how he’s conducted himself in all his years in the league.

“We’ll miss him.”

McCaskey, who wasn’t available to comment after his speech, recounted how his grandfather George Halas founded pro football and shaped what has become the most popular sport in the United States.

Snyder marveled at McCaskey’s recollection.

“I’ll tell you, I was just loving the story,” Snyder said.

McCaskey lamented that the Green Bay Packers were the defending Super Bowl champions and that the Bears would work to unseat them. But with a lockout in place, McCaskey “put things in perspective,” Packers president Mark Murphy said.

“He talked about his grandfather being at the table in 1920, when the league was being formed,” Murphy said. “I mean, that takes you all the way back to the beginning.”

George McCaskey said he’s looking forward to taking over as chairman of the Bears (“It’s a big responsibility,” he said), but he was proud of his older brother on Tuesday.
“It was very gratifying how well-regarded he is by the other owners,” George McCaskey said. “This group he was addressing is not easily impressed, and you could tell they were impressed.”

Snyder "marveled at his recollection"? Hell all Mikey had to do was memorize a couple of chapter of "Halas by Halas" and his speech was done. How hard was that? Mikey as about as effective a leader as his old man and he never should have been given his post with the Bears to begin with. Even the old man knew that and asked Virginia not to put him in charge.

I'm glad the owners will miss him because I sure as hell don't. Good riddance Mikey :asshatsign:. Enjoy your travels. I here Libya is a great place to go right now!

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Originally Posted by soulman

Snyder "marveled at his recollection"? Hell all Mikey had to do was memorize a couple of chapter of "Halas by Halas" and his speech was done. How hard was that? Mikey as about as effective a leader as his old man and he never should have been given his post with the Bears to begin with. Even the old man knew that and asked Virginia not to put him in charge.

I'm glad the owners will miss him because I sure as hell don't. Good riddance Mikey :asshatsign:. Enjoy your travels. I here Libya is a great place to go right now!

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of COURSE! the owners will "miss him"... they liked the bears only winning 4-5 games a year when was in charge, as opposed to the playoffs and almost 10 win avg of now.. You always "like" the bumbling idiot if the competition and hope he stays..