The Chicago Bears’ long-time partnership with WBBM radio could be coming to an end soon.
Media guru Robert Feder reports the team’s radio broadcast rights are up for grabs, adding WBBM’s bid to keep the Bears at WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM might not be enough to keep the team at what has been its radio home since 2000.
Feder reports one station in the mix for the Bears’ radio rights is WGN AM-720, which last served as the team’s radio flagship in 1996. Nabbing the Bears from WBBM would be a power move by WGN, which lost the Chicago Cubs to their radio rival in 2015 before the team moved to WSCR AM-670 in 2016.
The Bears’ radio rights were open for bidding as recently as 2012, when the team and WBBM Newsradio agreed to an extension. An announcement is expected in September.
If the Bears were to leave WBBM, it would mean that four of Chicago’s major pro sports franchises (Bears, Cubs, Bulls, White Sox) have changed radio flagships since 2015.