Bears celebrate Pride Month through support of CMSA

The Bears will be supporters of this year’s Pride Bowl — an annual flag football tournament held on the lakefront that takes place June 28-29 — through donations, activations and volunteers. The club’s support at the tournament helps create awareness for CMSA and its flag football league as they aim to tackle stereotypes, build camaraderie and transform lives through sport for the LGBTQIA+ community and ally supporters.

Pride Bowl is part of a series of competitions led by the National Gay Flag Football League, which empowers thousands of LGBTQ+ athletes and allies around the country and in Canada. This year, Pride Bowl — which is the only NGFFL competition that is always held in the same city — will feature a 32-team Open (coed) Division and a 24-team Women’s+ Division.

“In the past, we’ve had endowments from the Bears,” Lopez said. “The Bears have been behind the scenes, helping with operational costs, helping make sure we could pay for fields and helping make sure we could pay for porta potties because the park district’s restrooms are closed during the times we play, things like that. Simple things like that do make a big difference, but on the player side, if you’re not on the leadership team, you don’t really know the Bears are a part of that. This year at Pride Bowl, everyone will be able to feel and see that support from the Bears.”

Pride Bowl will also serve as a Bears Huddle event, which are monthly community service volunteer opportunities for the club’s staff members.

As one of the lead champions of the Bears’ Pride Month efforts and captain of the Chicago Blaze in CMSA’s flag football league, suites sales manager Logan Oppegard is excited to see the club’s impact on Pride Bowl this year.

“I am excited and honored to be championing the club’s Pride Month efforts,” Oppegard said, “and I’m proud to be part of an organization that sees the importance of supporting Pride Bowl and the CMSA community. When celebrating Pride, it’s crucial to recognize the importance of outreach, representation, and the amplification of diverse voices and experiences. The fact that we’re able to spotlight this LGBTQ+ flag football tournament and its phenomenal players and use our platform to help this league grow, aligns with our commitment to inspire change and that football is for everyone.”