The Chicago Bears confirmed a name change as they move to Indiana, which means the franchise spent a century building a $5.8 billion brand around the word "Chicago" and decided the word was optional. Soldier Field is a Chicago Park District property. The Bears have been tenants there since 1971, on terms that predate the era when naming rights, premium seating, and adjacent development became the actual revenue engine of an NFL franchise. The last time Soldier Field felt like a genuine home-team venue was Super Bowl season 1985; what it has been since is a public facility on a lease that was always going to expire once Indiana offered a shovel and a site.

The Indiana stadium's naming rights are now on the market for the first time since the franchise ran as the Decatur Staleys in 1920, and the current NFL venue naming market prices deals between $20 million and $35 million per year. Chicago becomes NFL-free. It is the third-largest television market in the United States, and it will be without an NFL home team for the first time since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. Fox and CBS hold the NFC and AFC broadcast packages through 2033 and carry Chicago affiliates that were built around a local team. The last time the NFL lost a top-ten market to relocation, recovery took thirteen years: the Baltimore Colts left in 1984, the Ravens arrived in 1996.