Mansueto In

it'd be interesting if any of the brand research data was made public

many people who don't follow the MLS figure the current logo for a Chicago Fire Department apparel -- it cannot score well on recognition for non-fans, especially outside the Chicago area

 

Fair, but the Fire don’t have that problem. All red is perfect for a team called the FIRE. If they’re changing the name I get the change in colors, but if you’re keeping the name why would you change it from literally the perfect color for the name?

 

My favorite fact about that event was that none of them were soccer players. They were all actual models.

 

Almost. Perhaps more bizarrely, the back row are real players, the front row are models.

L-R Ramos, Wegerle, Harkes, Burns, Sorber

 

That's amazingly bizarre.

 

That is not a fact at all.

Beat me to it.
After Harkes, it took me two or three looks to pick out the rest.
Good job.

 

Well, the 2011-2019 Chicago Fire have dispelled this "news"!

 

I don't disagree with any of this, of course.

With new ownership, a relocation and (hopefully) new management, there is no need for rebrand.

Just advertise the crap out of the team and things will improve.

 

Correct if he got a 10% return, very possible over the long term investing moderately aggressively. That said, no money market in the world is returning 10%. For FDIC, you're looking at 1.85%. For SIPC, maybe 2.25%. Also, expect another rate decrease at the next Fed meeting.

Edit: In Germany and Japan, cash deposit rates have actually gone negative. You have to pay to keep your money out of the market.

 

1. He won't have 3.5 billion, he would have 3 billion after spending a half a
billion getting the FIRE.

2. 10% really? The best I ever had was 6% and this was 20 years ago. Like GHjelm said it's more like 1.85%.
3. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have 3.5 billion in cash in a money market.
4. I doubt that he would spend 1/2 billion to let it go to hell.

 

Vio bank 2.52 APY as of last week. (FDIC insured)

 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/spor...0190920-lmklciu2hnhafaaww5hpvnefmm-story.html

So he wants to

-keep the name
-play downtown
-invest in the team
-have them on TV


WTF is going on here ....

 

They must be short on cash

 

Sounds like somebody that wants his team to be successful, a complete opposite what Andi has done.

 

https://ussoccerplayers.com/2019/09/new-hope-old-challenges-for-chicago-fire.html

 

"Whatever the benefits of the team’s deal with ESPN Plus, with which the Fire signed on for three years in 2018, it has been a big minus in terms of exposure.

"Die-hard fans might have signed up and figured out how to watch on their phones, smart TVs or whatever. For everyone else, it was out of sight, out of mind and out of the question.

"Think of how many more would-be fans would be exposed to the Fire if their games were on a more traditional TV outlet, the kind one stumbled across when channel surfing, where those less dedicated to the Fire, MLS and soccer might see them and fall into their thrall."

This is why I called bullsh*t on Nelson Rodriguez' comment that "viewership" was up in his press conference a couple of months ago.

 

WGN might have TV slots available next year.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/3...chicago-teams-leave-wgn-tv-without-any-sports

 

I'd rather see them back on NBCS than WGN or another broadcast station.

While over the air channels may be in more homes, there's a lot of value in having your games promoted during the other team's games. Imagine Eddie Olczyk reading out "Watch the Fire take on Orlando this Saturday at 1, right here on NBC Sports Chicago" during the 1st round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs! That's your target audience, not the viewers of Black-ish reruns, as the Trib article mentions.

 

Nrod was telling the truth but using national viewers numbers vs the last local numbers which is an bullshit comparison.

 

That’s called a lie.

 

True, that was his implication, but it was the number of devices streaming the games vs. number of cable viewers.

Most importantly, the comment ignored the fact that ESPN+ cannot be streamed in bars.
(although he said in his July presser that there was a "device" that the Fire provided to 30 bars to stream the games. I have never found such a device, despite reaching out to both the Fire FO last year and ESPN this year for information)

 

you know something I don't know?

 

The new Cubs network might be an interesting opportunity. They need programming a lot more than NBC Sports Chicago does now that they have the full packages for the Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks. What they would do with Cubs conflicts is an open question, but then that would be an even worse problem on NBCSC.

There are also going to be major carriage problems for CubsNet, guaranteed. And the whole Sinclair thing. It's tricky.

One true statement though, the bigger this thing gets off the ground next year, the better the broadcast options going forward are going to be. Prove to these stations that there is real local interest, and the calculus changes from where this franchise has been.