WARE, England — Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey learned something new in the week leading up to the franchise’s third regular-season game abroad.
In August 1960, the Bears played a preseason game against the New York Giants in Toronto. McCaskey was only 4 years old then. The two teams played each other on the 110-yard Canadian field, and according to the New York Times story from the 16-7 Bears win, it was the first game between two NFL teams in Canada.
It symbolized, to McCaskey, another example of the Bears being on the forefront of something that would soon become the norm in the NFL — games in other countries. Twenty-six years later in 1986, the Bears were the first NFL team to play in London.
McCaskey quipped that he’s not bitter that he didn’t get to go on that trip. His brother Brian, then an assistant trainer, did get to attend the “American Bowl” against the Dallas Cowboys.
“We’re just coming off the Super Bowl, and these guys were like rock stars,” McCaskey said. “They captured the attention of people who weren’t even fans of American football. It was novel. Even now, as recently as 2019, the people in the stands, they seem excited that there’s an event.”
Good afternoon from Ware. Last day of practice for the Bears ahead of Sunday’s game pic.twitter.com/sNCZehEbV2
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) October 11, 2024
McCaskey spoke with The Athletic from Hanbury Manor in Ware, the home for the Bears during the week before their game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
A member of the league’s international committee, McCaskey has certainly had a front-row seat to the NFL’s expansion of the international series, from one game a year to four, and soon there will be eight. The 17-game season, which meant nine home games for one conference, created a situation where even the Bears would have to give up a Soldier Field game and come to London for a “home game.”
“The argument that was presented was, you’re not losing a home game,” McCaskey said. “You’re going to play internationally when you would have ‘nine’ home games. Chicago fans are still getting eight regular-season games at Soldier Field. We’re making ourselves available to a global audience. That’s what Michael Scott would call a win-win-win situation.”
The London game is inconvenient. It’s a long flight for the players and coaches. The team had to send representatives in March to scout out locations that could work, and then figure out myriad logistics to make the week seem as routine as possible. While many Bears fans will be in attendance Sunday in North London, it’s not the same as them coming to Soldier Field.
McCaskey, like the rest of the Bears’ brass, understands and respects the uniqueness of playing a game abroad. That doesn’t mean they’re jumping for joy or running to volunteer annually. Entering Sunday, only five teams had played fewer games internationally than the Bears’ two.
Still, the Bears’ fan base in London is strong. It dates back to even before the American Bowl. It might require exponentially more work to transport the entire football operation across the ocean, but the atmosphere at Tottenham should be lively.
“Londontown is a Bears town,” McCaskey said. “We were the first (to play in London) in the modern era, even though it was only a preseason game, but we were at the height of the Super Bowl XX popularity at the time. You don’t even have to be a fan of American football to have an interest in those guys. It was fun. It was great to see. And I think a lot of that is still carrying over.”
It’s common for McCaskey to receive the question, “What would George Halas think of this?” As the NFL has evolved, even in just the past decade, so many elements of it would be quite surreal to McCaskey’s grandfather.
But even with the games in Toronto and Montreal, when Halas was the head coach, he was onto something.
“He was such a visionary,” McCaskey said. “I think he knew that the game would explode, but I don’t think that anybody could comprehend the extent to which it has become popular, not just in the United States but now the UK, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Canada — talking about Ireland, Spain, France, Australia. It’s crazy.”
(Photo: Kevin Fishbain / The Athletic)
