On Tuesday, the Bears announced that prices for all non-club seats (85 percent of Soldier Field) will increase in 2012. Bears president Ted Phillips has attempted to harmonize the increase with the fact that the Bears hovered near the bottom in player salaries last season.
“Player spending, if one year you are a little higher, typically you will be a little lower [the next],” Phillips said, according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. “Last year, the plan was not to be in the bottom quartile of spending. A lot of that, frankly, is we were setting aside some money for Matt Forte, which didn’t transpire.” (There’s nothing like use of the word “quartile” to connect with the Superfans.)
In a letter to season-ticket holders informing them that season tickets will become more expensive, Phillips explained that there is “value” in free agency this year -- which strongly suggests that the Bears will be spending more money on free agency this year.
Bears fans would say it’s not as if they could spend less.