News broke in September that longtime Chicago Bears President/CEO Ted Phillips would be stepping down after this season. Bears fans were excited about the plan in September, and after seeing how this season has gone, there won’t be too many parties in Logan Square honoring the businessman.
The Bears have been looking at potential candidates since the announcement. A new report came out Thursday that named a candidate currently outside of the NFL that the Bears were giving serious consideration.
According to a report by Pete Thamel of ESPN, the Chicago Bears are interested in Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren replacing Phillips. Thamel reports that Warren interviewed for the job and is a final candidate.
Sources: Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren has emerged as a top candidate to be the next President/CEO of the Chicago Bears. He’s interviewed in person for the job and is considered among the final candidates. The process is expected to wrap up in the upcoming weeks.
Warren has served as the Big Ten commissioner since January 2020. The Big Ten lists securing media rights as one of his tenure’s most significant accomplishments :
“Commissioner Warren secured groundbreaking media rights agreements with the linear networks CBS, NBC, FOX and the direct-to-consumer streaming platform, Peacock on August 18, 2022. The seven-year media rights agreements will begin July 1, 2023, and provide fans with unprecedented access and Big Ten football, women’s and men’s basketball, and Olympic sports student-athletes with greater exposure than any other collegiate sports conference in history.”
Warren has experience as an NFL executive. He worked his way up to the position of COO for the Minnesota Vikings before accepting the Big Ten commissioner job. Per his website, Warren has decades of experience as an executive at the professional level:
Shortly after an introduction to former St. Louis Rams coach Dick Vermeil, Warren was hired by the St. Louis Rams. During his four-year tenure with St. Louis, the Rams experienced a Super Bowl victory. Kevin was then recruited to work with the Detroit Lions and served as Senior Vice President of Business Operations and General Counsel.
After moving back to his home state of Arizona to work at the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Warren advised the Wilf family on the purchase of the Minnesota Vikings franchise in 2005. Beginning his tenure with the Vikings, Warren worked for the Vikings in various business and legal capacities. Warren was promoted to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) in February of 2015, making him the first African American COO in the National Football League (NFL) and the highest ranking African American business executive in the NFL.
Warren has been out of the NFL game for a few years. He oversaw the Big Ten during one of the most transformative times in college sports. He steered the ship through Covid-19, NIL funding, the expansion conferences, and of the College Football Playoff. It’ll be interesting to see if the Chicago Bears want to bring him back into the NFL waters. He seems like the type of person who can quickly be brought up to speed.
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