Bears Sticking With Sportservice; Company Gets Five-Year Extension To Run Merchandise At Soldier Field

Soldier Field – Soldier Field

The Chicago Bears have signed a five-year extension with Delaware North Sportservice to run the merchandise at Soldier Field. The renewal takes effect for the 2019 season, team officials said.

In addition to managing three Bears Pro Shop locations at the stadium, Sportservice will continue to operate retail at the 7Up Chicago Bears Training Camp in Bourbonnais, Ill., the Miller Lite Chicago Bears Draft Party and other official team functions, Sportservice President Carlos Bernal said.

For the coming season, the vendor is upgrading its point-of-sale system with Oracle’s NetSuite system, featuring self-swipe machines at retail locations. It’s part of Delaware North’s companywide mission to provide a frictionless payment process for its customers, Bernal said.

The Bears selected Sportservice after going through a bid process for the business. Sportservice has run the Bears’ retail since 2003, the year Soldier Field reopened after a renovation that cost more than $600 million. Fanatics runs the Bears’ online retail operation.

Bears rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky’s No. 10 jersey ranked 37th on the top-50 player sales list covering the last year compiled by the NFL Players Association.

Elsewhere in the NFL, Sportservice also operates merchandise at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.; MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; and New Era Field in Buffalo, N.Y.

Three miles southwest of Soldier Field, Sportservice runs the Chicago Sports Depot, a 14,000-square-foot retail store across the street from Guaranteed Rate Field, home of Major League Baseball’s White Sox. The store opened in 2012 and sells White Sox, Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks apparel.

This story originally appeared in VenuesNow, Pollstar’s sister publication.