You won’t see the Bulls’ championship banners again this regular season.
After a recent concert at Chicago’s United Center that featured Disturbed, Three Days Grace, and Sevendust, the banners were removed when arena staff found “minor damage” to them.
The event’s pyrotechnics, positioned directly beneath the Bulls’ six NBA championship banners, caused significant heat damage, warping the lower portions of these iconic symbols.
“United Center is currently working with the Bulls to explore options to repair these banners,” United Center communications in a statement, according to the Associated Press. “While the banners will not be in place for the remainder of this season, we do anticipate them being back in place next season.”
As a result, the banners have been removed for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.
The Bulls display the banners to commemorate their NBA titles from 1991-93 and from 1996-98, teams led — of course — by Michael Jordan.
Other Bulls banners nearby are their nine division championships and six conference titles, which hang from the rafters for events at the United Center, including games played by the NHL’s Blackhawks.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the venue “originally hoped the banners would be returned to the rafters by Thursday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.”
The repairs, however, won’t be complete until after the season is done.
The Bulls are currently the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference at 28-38.
They will likely be in the play-in, and at 10, they’d have to win two sudden-death games to advance to the playoffs.