Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren is set to leave college sports to take the job as president and CEO of the Bears, sources confirm to Sports Illustrated‘s Pat Forde. The news was first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Thursday morning, and the Bears subsequently confirmed the move.
Warren will leave the Big Ten after impactful three years as its commissioner. The conference will add USC and UCLA, poaching two of the Pac-12’s biggest brands, in the coming years, and Warren helped the league land a massive new media rights package with multiple partners worth $7 billion plus escalators over seven years.
Warren will start work with the Bears on April 17, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Warren came to the Big Ten after years as an NFL executive, most recently serving as chief operating officer of the Vikings from 2015 to ’19. He had been with Minnesota since ’05, starting as a vice president with the franchise.
He will replace Ted Phillips, the Bears’ outgoing president and CEO whose retirement at the end of the ’22 season was announced in September. Phillips took on the role in 1999, and has four decades of experience with the club.
