I've walked a lot from Union Station to the Solider Field and it's not bad......so for people complaining just do that. I looked and it's a 2 mile walk but come on now....if you can't do that walk then you need to start exercising lol
Chitty, Chitty, bang, bang? Seriously, I hope this works out well for you guys and that Hauptman is indeed out. You guys deserve better. But I do think your badge/name are among the best in the league.
[Swallows Pride] We may need to follow the Crew supporter blueprint to save our identity the way you saved your team. [Clears throat]
some of my best Fire memories are tied to the forced after-party in the SF garage, or the drunken stagger to McCormick Place, before the post game idiocy at Bar Louie. Don't knock it till you try it.
Mutual respect, what a concept. I still want to destroy the Crew eternally. And that segment of their fanbase that crosses the line, can eff off.
Interesting if true. It's been so long since they've been at SF that I'm not sure you can really draw any comparisons between that time and now. Having said that, I spent some time with the Fire in the early 2000's and even with the move back to Soldier Field from Naperville it was still really hard to get people to commit to going to games. Soldier Field was "new" and the Fire were a cheap alternative to the Bears to get in and see the building, and I think that was certainly a driver in attendance. Having a great crowd in the low 20K's mean you were still surrounded by 35K-40K empty seats or so, though at least the parts of the stadium the Fire occupied are relatively close to the field so it helps the atmosphere. But, it's a different league. I doubt the "young" folks who like soccer now are of the opinion that they and their mens league teammates could be stars in the league but they weren't given a chance (I used to hear a variety of sentiments like that!) so they won't support it... So, maybe this gets people to games. Of course, no one will go if the team sucks or has no chance of competing from day one. If the Fire were consistently good, in my opinion they'd have no problem filling Bridgeview. They've fallen so far down in the pecking order people aren't going to be fooled into thinking this is something they must be a part of just because of a location change.
agreed with the above. just saying "hey, we are moving out of bridgeview" might not bring more people. you have to promote the team. you need to build up community relations. you need to put a product on the field that people want to see (ie, not wooden spoon contenders). and, most importantly, you can't do it as a building project. you either are ready for a big time crowd from day one at SF or you have nothing.
Just talked to my season ticket rep while not confirming the rumor said they don't tell the ticket reps anything so not denying it either. He said he heard the same rumor.
Mansueto Mansion 424 West Saint James Place 60614 Write a nice letter and ask him to not rebrand. That’s what I’ll be doing.
I'm almost certainly one of the "hipsters" referred to in this thread: 31 years old, not native to the Chicago area, ten-year resident and live in the city. I'm a new follower of soccer and even newer follower of the Fire and MLS. Last year was my first year following the team and I went to four games; watched ~60% of the games on TV. I've watched every game this season. Among my friends, we've always lamented hauling ass to Bridgeview for a game. The only upside was a reason to go to Al Bawadi. A few of us have cars -- I don't -- but we mostly commute daily on public transit. We always felt that putting it in a town that didn't even have Metra was a big goof and it turned off a lot of potential young fans and certainly delayed my engagement with the team. I personally thought putting the stadium along the Orange Line in a Latino community would have been really cool. The idea of moving the team to the city is very appealing among my friends who follow sports, even those who don't follow MLS. Being able to bike or take CTA to the stadium will make me consider season tickets. Even if they're bad, spending an afternoon along the lakefront and getting to a game is a fun activity -- kinda like going to a Sox game now. All this to say, as someone who is in the target demographic for this move, I think it's a home run.
Welcome aboard. Most people agree with this, even if their own day wouldn’t be as easy as yours or mine. It’s a good move overall. The rebrand if true, is mostly disgusting. Taking the anglophile angle in a city so diverse is just tone deaf and ugly. Plus the name’s ********ing stupid.
If they’re going to rebrand, I’m hoping (as others have stated) that it’s minor. If they have to change the name, I want it to be Chicago Soccer Club with the team crest totally untouched and the word “Fire” on the crest replaced with “S.C.” or something to that effect. With that said I expect it to be a total gut job where they change the name, colors, and crest completely to start over from page 1 and disassociate from the MLS 1.0 branding that tarnishes the team for non-Fire soccer fans in the area.
I’m thinking they will try to go the gut job route too, BUT, I do think if enough people complain they may rethink their position.
Under the Hauptman reign, you have swallowed a lot. May you soldier on. Mods, I will show myself out before I am slapped with another yellow card courtesy of the ever-welcoming Fire forum.
I don’t think there as many of us as you think. This isn’t Columbus where they don’t have other professional sports in town and a lot of people will get up in arms about this. The few odd thousand people who like the team now are peanuts to the total market of customers they’re looking to attract. I’ve said it elsewhere, there will be no meaningful #savethefire movement if the team rebrands / relocates. All goodwill the brand once had has been burned through from the investor perspective. It’s not worth the effort to fight against the existing stigma of the team vs. start over.
TO BE FAIR, there were not a whole lot of options in 2004ish. (We were still 2 years from the possible demise of the league, and while what was then the Home Depot Center existed, we were not at the place we are today, where we know more about the impact of a soccer-specific stadium's location.) Also, the city of Chicago was not, IIRC, the least bit interested in doing anything other than maybe renting SF out, and no other community I am aware of even made a reasonable effort. Certainly nothing close to the Bridgeview deal. If all the development/transit stuff they talked about happening when the place was built had actually happened, it might be a different story today. (They might still be dysfunctional because, hey, Andell, but Bridgeview might not be seen as a major issue.) Soccer's fine at SF when the crowd reaches a certain level. I am not sure that's the level to expect with this club as currently operated. (Oh, and a rebrand would be f***ing stupid and counterproductive and panicky, which, of course, means they are totally considering it.)
The bolded part is why I don't buy this rumor. If in fact the bridgeview Hauptmans were returning to SF, wouldn't some self-congratulating Chicago politician try to take credit for bringing a tenant to SF? And yet, we've heard crickets from the league, from Chicago, and from Bridgeview. Landek or whoever is currently running Bridgeview would be congratulating themselves for getting the debt paid off, as well. Carry on...
With the Bears being primary, I wonder what kind of restrictions they are going to place on these games. No Saturdays games before Bear home games. Turf replacement
The only this works out is if Andi doesn't have anything to do with the team. If he's still the majority owner, the only thing that changes is the location of where we play. Where would we train? Lake Forest? UIC? Northwestern?