Christopher O'Brien (October 23, 1881 – June 3, 1951) was a Chicago, Illinois pro football franchise owner.
O'Brien was also a co-founder of the American Professional Football Association (renamed the National Football League in 1922) by representing the Cardinals (then called the Racine Cardinals) at the September 17, 1920, league meeting at Ralph Hay's Hupmobile dealership in Canton, Ohio.
That same year O'Brien gave the team its longstanding moniker when he, finding a bargain, bought used football jerseys from the nearby University of Chicago.
In 1919, Ralph Hay and George Halas saw the popularity of O'Brien's Cardinals in the Chicago area as a boost to the new league.
In 1920, O'Brien lured great halfback John "Paddy" Driscoll to the Cardinals for $3,000 a year, a sum considered outlandish at the time.
In 1921, George Halas, owner of the Decatur Staleys, requested permission from the NFL and from O'Brien to move his team to Chicago.
On December 6, 1925, the Pottsville Maroons defeated the Cardinals, 21–7, to establish the best record in the league and seemed to all but officially clinch the NFL championship.
NFL President Joseph Carr then suspended the Maroons for playing a team of University of Notre Dame All-Stars in Philadelphia (and winning 9–7) on the same day the Frankford Yellow Jackets were scheduled to play a game in Philadelphia, violating Frankford's franchise rights.