::Huge News:: Ok guys, sorry for the misleading headline but I wanted to draw in as few non-Fire fans as possible. My car totally crapped out on me when I was driving to the Meet the team party. It was a huge pain in the ass, but something good came out of it. I called my father to come give me a hand. While he was there, he filled me in on some really big news. It's official. We are to become the first two team city in MLS when we welcome in Chivas USA. I'm still getting all the information straight but I'll touch on a few points. - Chivas will not play in Soldier Field(at least not permanently). They will be Co-Tenants in our stadium in Bridgeview. - He will not be required to buy the stadium as it was in LA. Our stadium is owned by the city so he will be a tenant just like us. - The team will be headquartered in Cicero. Their headquarters will be part of a complex Vergara is already building(or about to build) there. More info to come...
Scott Buete on public access at 7pm Ok, after looking at my post I realized that I should give a little backstory. My father is a friend of Vergara's, and he's been making a case for Vergara to put his team here since day one. He's been keeping me somewhat informed throughout, but I wrote most of it off because of all the San Diego talk in the papers. He told me that he got the final word on the club's location on monday. That was followed by a conference held in Chicago by Vergara for friends, associates, and people involved in his OmniLife corporation, in which he stated his intent to put his team in Chicago.
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm This sucks. I heard a few whispers from someone at work last week also, but I pooh, poohed it at the time. Vergara is rumored to be part of the Chicago Motor Speedway/Sportsman's Park redevelopment. This decision is more in the name of protecting AEG's interest in the tool box, than Vergara believing Chicago is somehow a better maket for Chivas USA than So Cal. Won't the locals in Bridgeview be thrilled when instead of 20 or so soccer games a year, they will have a game every weekend.
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm I'm just brimming with questions! Will the teams have their own locker rooms? Will they have an English radio contract? How much police will be needed to separate Section Eight from Section Ocho on derby day? Why isn't Scott Buete on Public Access? Will the Section Eight roadtrips be by car caravan or bus? Will the stadium now be named the Firebarn?
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm Well, he told me that one of the deciding factors was that the hispanic(well, pretty much all the ethnic) communities in Chicago are far more organized than their LA counterparts. Therefore, it will be easier to build up a fan base. I don't know how much of that I buy though. I will say that Chicago was definately in Vergara's top two cities throughout this entire process. I'm excited. From what I know of Vergara, he really puts money second when it comes to soccer. And he IS looking out for the best interests of the league. Whether or not we will sometimes disagree with his actions(which I sometimes do). Plus, I just can't wait til derby day! Just imagine, Section 8 on one end, Section ocho(good one) on the other. P.S. For anyone that is interested, Vergara put in his official bid for Atletico Madrid friday. It's not public, but I think it was in the region of $400m. Maybe more, I can't really remember. Who knows, there may be some spanish loans in the Future. P.S.P.S. Don't worry about Chivas Chicago being a farm club for CD Guadalara. The way contracts are handled in MLS make that impossible.
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm I don't know though...considering the Fire have drawn 12 and 11 for their first two games, and they're supposed to be one of the top-drawing teams, I'm worried about losing the share of whatever Hispanic market exists. I'm not as anti-putting-two-teams-in-one-city as most people are, but then i'm not exactly for it either. L.A. made more sense. San Diego/Houston certainly made more sense. I'll be curious as to what kind of English media coverage this team does get, however...if they'll even try to cultivate a relationship with the English newspapers and Fox Sports/Comcast Chicago's in town or if they'll solely go for the Hoy! and La Tremenda markets. So many interesting questions.... I would love to know what America fans in Chicago will do. I would love to know what the attendances will be like on derby days. I would love to know what I'm having for dinner.
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm Ok you got me, Scott isn't gonna be on TV anytime soon. Now put on your cowboy hat and go die in a fire.
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm The big questions still need to be answered if this is true.I really can't understand why he would think chicago, although having a substantial mexican population, would outdraw LA's. 1 Will the new team have to follow all MLS foreign player rules which supposedly they will? 2 Will Mexican fans support a team that does not have all mexican players? 3 Will they start next year at SF? 4 Does having another team in Chicago dilute the soccer fan base so neither draws enough? 5 Will having two teams playing at same stadium be too much for the grass to kept in decent shape? 6 With MLS cap rules how will he be able to obtain good mexican players, when no one else can?
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm genpabloescobar answered the same way I would. This is the one thing I couldn't get a solid answer on. I'll ask him again though. I remember Vergara saying that if he came to Chicago, that they would play in Soldier Field. This one season might have been what he meant(in sly beat around the bush speak). If I where him, I'd just wait til the stadium was finished. As for players, there are always SI's, Ti's, Green cards, dual citizenships, and Loan deals (it works for LA and New Jersey). I don't imagine it being that difficult. Hell, he might even be able to have a shared contract with another team so only a small portion shows up in the cap, ala Ruiz (40k my ass).
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm I have always hoped that Chicago would get a second team for me to hate. It's just that I had hoped it wouldn't happen until MLS was profitable.
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm My nephew has been invited to try out for the new chivas team.This is sad. I had always thought he would end up playing for the Fire, not against them. Then again, every time i tried bringing the Fire up to him, he had *no clue* about he team.... his father, an immigrant, brought him up in a fairly "mexico good, usa not worth discussing" atmosphere when it came to soccer (After the 2002 WC, when Titos was still a frosh, i said "maybe someday he'll be on the pitch for USA, and his dad says "he'll be playing for Mexico"). So it makes me wonder.... if the reason the MLS and particularly the Fire hasn't had a big influx of mexi/latino development players has something to say about the parents not exposing (or worse, refusing to expose) their kids to the league . Anyway, I hate chivas (and my bro-in-law).... so, GO FIRE!
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm I'm sure the "Everyone hates Chivas" banner will be a trademark image throughout MLS stadiums. Other than possibly hurting Fire's attendance, this should be a good financial move for the Fire. The stadium will be paid off much faster, and without as many HS football games and concerts tearing up the turf. One soccer game a week should not be bad at all. Will Vergara have to pay market rights to AEG to have a team in Chicago? If so, that's $$ to AEG, if only a one-time deal. Also, what does Chivas have to do to become a tenant at the Firehouse? AEG put up, what, $15MM+, just to get it built? Chivas should at least have to pay a somewhat steep rent, or possibly a large, upfront fee to help cover costs of construction or to even upgrade the stadium with nicer stuff. The main thing this will do for Chicago MLS is bring more attention to MLS. How much more is yet to be seen, but there will definitely be an increase in certain forms of MLS coverage, and fan interest in the area. Greddy, the title worked on me, until it hit 15 replies.
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm I really hope so. I'd love to see more money put into the stadium. Oh, and don't go spreading this stuff around ok
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm point, but it hits me hard cuz i would have loved to see him in Fire Red/WHITE and BLUE. anyway, Club America wants to go to San Jose http://www.univision.com/content/content.jhtml?chid=4&schid=368&secid=0&cid=287252 sorry, it's in spanish
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm Fanaddict blew it. That was a cool way to go about this subjuct. Decent, level-headed discussion. It's over now. Here We go...
Chivas in Chicago... As far as I'm concerned, this is just as believable as everything else that's been leaked about Chivas--which is to say it's all a rumor. I wouldn't really waste my time getting excited abut it one way or the other until it's confirmed by an actual press release from the MLS office. And the way the league expansion is going, I'd have my doubts about it even then. Remember Cleveland--that was a sure thing, wasn't it?
Re: Chivas in Chicago... the more i think about it, the more chicago is a great choice for Chivas.... stadium will be soccer-only, city-owned. and let's face it... the mexican community has lots of $$ they love to spend on mexi pro/nat teams that they are not spending on the Fire. so, why go to a place where you have to risk splitting mexi $$ among teams (such as LA), building your own stadium, etc?? Good move for Chivas. red/white colors for both teams??
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm Blue is an accent color at most. Our colors are Red and White. Blue is as much a color of ours as silver is.
Re: Scott Buete on public access at 7pm Here we go indeed. Listen people, I completely understand your skepticism. It is not at all unwarrented. I would just appreciate it if you refrained from posting your disbelief in this thread. This thread is meant for discussion. Moreso for discussion by Chicago fans. I'd hate to have this thread clogged up with post after post of people saying the same thing, "I don't believe you".
Re: Chivas in Chicago... Well, it was presented as a rumor, noone is hiding that. I don't think ther is anyone here who takes this and believes that this is it, done deal. It is a topic for discussion. Greddy could just be getting his kicks, but his post count is over 15, he knows how sensationalistic rumors are treated around these parts. He may be being fed BS from his sources, but as far as beleving Greddy, sometimes you just have to go with a little blind faith in the messenger in order to discuss something like this.