One of the most influential executives in college sports is leaving his job to run the Bears’ front office.
Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren is expected to become the next President and CEO of the Bears, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Warren is a major power player in college football who was involved in getting the Big Ten lucrative new TV deals, adding USC and UCLA to the formerly Midwestern-focused conference, and hammering out the plan that allowed the conference to play its 2020 football season after initially canceling it because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now he’ll be overseeing a Bears team that has struggled mightily on the field but has even bigger fish to fry off the field as it plans to move out of its longtime home at Soldier Field and build a new stadium in the Chicago suburbs.
Before becoming Big Ten commissioner, Warren spent time working for the Rams, Lions and Vikings, rising to the level of COO in Minnesota.
