Rumor: The Coming <soft> Rebrand

I’d rather we keep the US Open Cup streak alive and go back to adding to it rather than hiding from it.

 

Far from a dumb idea, that is the least worst idea so far and what I think will actually happen, if anything.

 

I think it would be ridiculous to name this club "Hull City AFC."

All of those names in the article suck. I mean, really suck. Water Tower FC? The Towermen? Vomit-inducing. Why tip toe around the name "Fire?" Stick with it or move on to something else. A half ass pseudo-Fire makes no sense. Those you have not yet reached won't have a clue about what you are trying to do, and will be left with the idea that you just want to name your team after a place to take selfies while a tourist in Chicago, and the old supporters of the Fire will just snicker at the stupidity of not being the Fire, but sort of being Fire-lite.

 

Totally agree about the lame ass names! This sentence from the article told me all that I needed to know about the writer's knowledge regarding our current situation.

“And the Fire’s struggle to remain relevant in a crowded sports market is most closely related to the location of their current home, SeatGeek Stadium, a good way beyond the reach of the ‘L’ train system, let alone the city center where the younger people likely to attend matches live, work and play.”

The current lease at SeatGeek Stadium is an issue. The location is not the main reason for the Fire's struggles. The primary reason is management of the club. Nelson Rodriguez is the absolute primary reason for the Chicago Fire being a non-entity in the Chicagoland market. How N-Rod is able to slide through without any accountability is beyond me. Does no one writing about the business status of the team get this? It is total bullsh*t to blame our current problems on Bridgeview. The way N-Rod has run this team, a soccer specific stadium in the heart of Wrigleyville would have the same issues as the current team. Nothing will change until N-Rod is long gone from Chicago. The damage that he has done will be very difficult to recover from.

 

Hull City AFC would make as much sense as "Water Tower FC."

I think, if there is a "soft rebrand," then it will be something like Chicago FC, with the nickname of the "The Fire."

I agree that it is not a great idea.
I agree that it will do nothing to "reach people" the team has not reached.

However, I think it is less dumb than any of the names tossed out (not just vomit inducing, but he seems to have "vomited out" the idiotic names) in the article.

 

I agree with all of this of course (I created the Nelson Rodriguez Career Death Thread within hours of his hiring for good reason).

However, I think the damage is easily recoverable.
1) Have a good team.
2) Have a competent coach.
3) Promote the crap out of the team.

Items one and two are clearly at the foot of Nelson 'shady' Rodriguez.

As for No. 3, the fact that he went and alienated the crap out of the fanbase (yes, I am a "Wallower"), especially Sector Latino and Section 8, was horrific.

If the team is located in Chicago proper (especially on the Lakefront), that helps 3 to a degree.

As for Bridgeview, I think we are ALL in consensus that Bridgeview is A problem, but nowhere near THE problem with the Fire. If everything else was great, it would not be even be A problem.

 

Seems like the rumor mill had mostly settled on the fact that the team shitcanned the idea of a full name change though. I haven't seen much to contradict that around the interwebs in the last month.

 

I think I'd seen similar. It'd mean the rent has already doubled if that's true. It'd break $1M/year after season 20.

A drop in the bucket compared to some of the nightmare rates AEG was paying for the MetroStars back in the day, but still, an incentive for them to bail out while they can.

 

EDIT- wait, reading the article, this is just a list from some guy rather than something official from the club? Engineers Chicago FC has to the dumbest thing ever...

 

Yeah, not sure why so many people freaked out about it.

Catering to the untapped Terre Haute expat fan base.

 

Yes, it is some random writer from Baltimore who writes about baseball and soccer.

 

So after the game tonight I received an email from the team to answer questions about how I feel about the team's crest, name, and colors. So it seems a rebrand is definitely coming.

 

I just received the same.

 

They don’t care what I think, but I already sent a letter to Nrod and Mansueto with my thoughts.

 

Yeah...me too.

I told them what in think about a possible rebrand.

 

It's not. Needs to be a unanimous vote on a rebrand. Mansueto is firmly on the "no" side. That's 49%. We're safe. I hope.

 

but Andi has 51%

 

How do you know this?

 

I also got the email and when they asked what one thing would I want to change about the brand I replied nothing, just get some great players and win.

 

I got the same - I said: don't change the name, the crest, or the colors - just improve the relationship between the loyal fan base and the front office

 

I told them to change the majority owner.

 

I'm a journalist, I have sources now. It's from someone who's closer to the front office side than the locker room side of the club.

 

Screenshot / cliff notes of this email for those of us deemed unworthy by ownership to provide our thoughts?

 

So someone on Reddit can vouch for you?

 

To view this email as a web page, click here.
Chicago Fire Soccer Club



Dear J,

As a valued member of the Chicago Fire Soccer Club community, we're interested in your perspective on the club's brand identity. We'd appreciate a few minutes of your time to fill out the following survey (eight total questions) on the club's name, crest, colors and brand story.

The survey should take 3-5 minutes to complete.


CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY