Ted Phillips

Ted Phillips is an American businessman and the President and CEO of the Chicago Bears and has been a part of the organization for 27 years now. He is currently only the fourth president of the 90 year old organization, the others being Michael McCaskey, George Halas, Jr., and "Papa Bear" George Halas. He is also the father of three sons, Matthew, Max, and Frank ^[1]. Phillips was born in Oneida, New York and was raised in Nashua, New Hampshire ^[2]. He graduated from The University of Notre Dame with an undergraduate degree in Business and Accounting. With this degree he worked for the accounting and consulting firm Ernst and Whinney (now known as Ernst & Young). He worked as an auditor and tax accountant with them from 1979-1983 before joining the Bears ^[2]. Phillips is currently one of only two individuals in the NFL to serve on both the NFL Working Club Executive committee and the NFL Senior Club Executive committee, whose mission is to analyze both the financial and football operations aspects of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The NFL salary cap system is widely regarded as the best overall financial system in professional sports ^[2].

The Chicago Bears

Phillips began his career with the organization on September 28, 1983 as the teams Controller. After about four years he was promoted to the Director of Finance. Here he was responsible for the club's business operations and the negotiating and signing of all player contracts ^[1] . While working with the Chicago Bears he earned his masters degree in Marketing and Management from the Kellog Graduate School at Northwestern University in 1989 ^[1]. In 1993 he became the Vice President of Operations and served there for six years ^[2].

President & CEO

The organization recognized Phillips work and effort and placed him in position to improve the club. Phillips was named the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Chicago Bears on February 10, 1999, making him only the fourth president in team history. He made many changes to the organization in order to legitimize the franchise once more. In the offseason of 2001, Phillips hired Jerry Angelo as the General Manager of the team, and later extended his contract in 2003 and 2006 to create stability in the front office. He also brought the Bears summer training camp back to Illinois in 2002. Fans have appreciated this by attending camp in groups of over 10,000 at the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois ^[2].

With the growing value of the team ticket prices kept rising, but in 2009 Phillips decided to freeze ticket prices in lieu of the country's economic situation ^[3]. Despite this, Phillips kept the Bears in the Top 10 Most Valuable NFL teams and raised the teams value to $1.09 Billion in 2011 ^[4]. He also voted against the new NFL rule to move up kickoffs to the 35 yard line, considering Special Teams have been a strong point for the Bears, but the rule passed ^[5].

Controversy

There has however been some controversy with his authority by other members in the club. Phillips refused to admit that Soldier Field needed to replace its grass with field turf, despite having many players on his team say that it should be replaced and that it was dangerous to player safety. During the winter the grass becomes very torn up from being used 10+ weeks, causing a lot of slipping and sometimes even injuries. Phillips actually flipped the situation to state that this gives the Bears a home field advantage, even though the Bears don't really practice at Soldier field^[5].

There was also some controversy when the organization decided to not re-sign veteran Center Olin Kreutz. Kreutz was a 6 time Pro Bowl candidate over his 12 year career with the Bears. Kreutz wanted a $4 million contract to be compensated for his tenure, but Phillips and his crew only offered $3.5 million and later signed another Center, Chris Spencer ^[6].

Accomplishments

References