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Bears change course on pregame ritual, ending Packer fan’s lawsuit

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Lifelong Green Bay Packers fan Russell Beckman lives about an hour away from Chicago and has held season tickets for the Bears over the past several seasons.

Beckman recently filed suit against the Bears in hopes of throwing out a pregame ritual that forbid fans from wearing Packers gear in warmups while attending Bears games at Soldier Field.

The lawsuit originally claimed said ritual violated Beckman’s First Amendment rights to free speech. After a judge refused to throw out the lawsuit, the Bears themselves ultimately caved.

“Bears attorney Paul Greenwalt says that the team is eliminating the program that allows season ticket holders to attend pregame warmups in a marketing reorganization. He said that means Russell Beckman’s lawsuit, which accuses the Bears of violating free-speech rights by prohibiting fans from wearing Packers gear at the warmups, is no longer applicable,” NBC 5 in Chicago noted this week.

Beckman previous noted that he was allowed to attend warmups wearing his Packers gear in 2014 and 2015. But that changed in 2016 when he received an email from the Bears with the following warning:

“NO OPPOSING TEAM GEAR WILL BE ALLOWED.”

Beckman showed up to the game wearing his Packers gear and was ultimately turned away.

Yeah, this old black and blue rivalry is still going strong. But at least for now, we can chalk the Packers up with a win here.

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