Peter Wilt

On Monday i asked for your questions and below i will try to answer all of them - except the Holy Grail questions as i don't want to risk being cast into the Gorge of Eternal Peril... If not "answer", i will at least respond in some fashion to each question. My favorite question was deleted after Huss responded in the original post. Basically it asked, "Who are you, anyway???". i guess i've been gone too long, which leads us to the first question:

1) Huss: What's the over/under on how long for someone to ask: "Peter, when are...

Longtime American soccer writer Jamie Trecker (author of Love and Blood) and i have known each other for more than a decade. i didn't lose my temper with him until at least the third time i met him - maybe it was the second time. Despite our many differences of opinion over the years, we are still friendly and in fact are getting together tomorrow for lunch. We'll be eating at Club Lago, an Italian joint in Chicago's River North area that Jamie and i actually agree on as one of the truly great places in Chicago.

Here are links and comments to some of my favorite Jamie Trecker...

Yesterday was a long and crazy day...though when i think about it, "long and crazy" tends to be the norm in a pro soccer start up phase. The day started with posting to this blog at 7 a.m. from my Chicago area home before heading to Toyota Park at 8:30 am. The day ended around midnight after a two and a half hour drive back from Champaign, Illinois highlighted by an exchange of international text messages while driving past small Illinois towns such as Rantoul, Gibson City and Kankakee.

In between there was:

* The Chicago Red Stars weekly 9 am staff meeting...

In late 2005 i received a call from Shek Borkowski asking my advice on the start up of a professional women's soccer team in either Chicago or Indianapolis. After occasional consulting with Shek and his FC Indiana partners Gary and Dale Weaver for half a year, they offered me the President/CEO role in May, 2006.

They gave me three specific responsibilities. i was to secure a viable investment group, workable stadium agreement and five year business pro forma by October 31, 2006, as a founding franchise in the new professional women’s soccer league expected to begin in 2008....

Going out on a limb here and making public predictions on a League i'm involved with. i imagine that those i don't pick to do well won't be so happy, but c'est la vie. They'll have the opportunity to prove me wrong over the next five months.

Caveat: Without a previous season or even substantial pre-season to base these picks on, they are very much SWAGs...and as usual, these are for entertainment purposes only. Wagering is neither implied nor encouraged by anything herewith. ;-)

MVP: - THAT'S going out on a limb, huh? i think Kelly Smith, Abby Wambach,...

WPS Chicago Red Stars President and CEO Peter Wilt will be guest blogging on BigSoccer all week. Peter Wilt is a soccer executive who was the first President and General Manager of the Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer, led the effort to bring an expansion MLS franchise to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and maintains strong connection to the sport of soccer in the Midwest, Chicago in particular. Wilt is most known for his work with the Chicago Fire, where he gained a reputation for being a fan-friendly businessman in the soccer world. Wilt was known for answering questions from fans through BigSoccer,...