Fire Stadium Talk

Of course I'm only a distant supporter at this point, but I like the South side idea.

Go Fire!
Go South!

 

So the "Chicago Fire" is named for the historic event, not the city of Chicago. Didn't know that.

And perhaps the Metrostars are named for the city of Metropolis' stars: Clark Kent and Superman.

 

How is Bridgeport? Is that a good location for a stadium?

 

right next to US Celluar sounds like a great idea. I've always thought htat I couldn't wait for the day when we had a SSS in the shadow of one of the other "Big 4" sports. I like it, it kind of says, 'We're one of the big boys too.' I'd imagine that location would be pretty prime for transportation too?

 

This site's location would fit any pro-team looking to build a new stadium -- NFL, NBA, MLB. The White Sox stadium is here. The Bears looked into building a stadium here. It's adjacent to a major highway and the El trains, and only 4 miles from the heart of Chicago. It's tough to find this amount of land this close to downtown. Being able to share the White Sox parking is huge as it cuts the land requirements by 80%.

The downside of this site is that it doesn't have the neighborhood trappings of bars and restaurants. Bridgeport to the west is a nice family orriented area -- Da Mayor is from there. But there's not much retail in Bridgeport. A little further west and a bit north is Pilsen which is the heart of the Mexican community in Chicago. To the east is a pretty rough area with extensive housing projects.

 

I've read that the Chicago Housing Authority has demolished many of the high rise housing project buildings in the South Side. Are they just replacing them with low rise housing projects?

 

Yay! Bridgeport is my home town! Bridgeport is definitely an up and coming neighborhood. The real estate prices have been skyrocketing in recent years, and it is more and more often being referred to as "Bridgeport Village". Though, it should be noted that pershing(39th St.) is actually considered the southern border of Bridgeport. Anything south of 39th is considered Canaryville, which is mostly industrial.

This is correct, though some still remain, they are all marked for demolition(and surely will be before 2007). Also, those buildings(and the rough area in general) are on the other side of the express way.

Well, it's a little complicated, but (very)basically the city's plan is to integrate lower income housing into neighborhoods throughout the city without actually sectioning off areas like traditional projects.

 

Appropriate!

As a partial Hyde Park resident, let me just say that I wholly approve of said south-side location. I will most likely be long gone from the south side by the time such a stadium could be put in, but I would be proud to return to that area to support a new home for the Fire

additional note to those of you hooligans out there: This location should keep most people out of trouble... as long as you're not a hobo or not waving a gun at anyone, then the authorities tend to leave you alone (or even congratulate you for being one of the few pedestrians who is not waving a gun around). <-- that might not be the exact case in this neighborhood, but I speak from experience on the southside CTA... Red and Green lines.

 

If they pick Bridgeport as the site for the "FIREHOUSE" does that mean the stadium could be built in time for the 2006 season, or perhaps for the 2005 season.

 

This is an incredible story. Do you think the Fire are actually "important" enough that this could happen? I guess Wilt thinks so.

 

For clarification, to the best of my knowledge the area described is actually South Armour Square. Bridgeport likes to the NW of Armour Square.

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the proposed site is in bridgeport. Bridgeport extends south to 39th St. which is essentially the Bridgeport/Canaryville border.

 

Dear Peter,

If that stadium ends up in Bridgeport I will get treat you to dinner at Gibsons. we will be surrounded by beautiful sexy women reapeating the phrase "you are a handsome as well as powerful man!" as we eat dinner. Now there is some incentive for ya

 

Now that's motivation!

 

How does this work with the northern suburbs? Sounds pretty positive given access to Dan Ryan and the El.

But what kind of "commute" is this? 1/2 hour? 45 minutes?

 

The commute would be similar to the commute to Soldier Field! For some it'll be shorter and for some longer, otherwise pretty close to the same.

 

I guess it depends on what Northern suburb...

But really, for most folks that wouldn't be immediately adjacent to the stadium, it's going to e the same as a trip to SF, if not faster for the mass transit set as the el stop is literally right there and not 1/3 of a mile away as at SF.

 

Let's not get too excited yet. We already knew that the Fire was going to receive a bid from the city of Chicago in addition to the suburban locations. Now we know where the Chicago site is, but we still don't know anything about the financial arrangements. Other things being equal, practically any city location was going to be better than the suburban alternative. Problem is, other things are never equal.

 

Bridgeview I guess would work, but putting the ground near Pilsen would be a good thing.

 

I think I heard somewhere that there are 750,000 Hispanics living within 15 minutes of the Bridgeview site.

While the location of the Chicago site has now been announced, the city of Chicago likely isn't ponying up the same kind of cash that the burbs are. The burbs are probably falling over themselves trying to get the stadium. What does the city need with another stadium, however? Where are the incentives? Daley probably felt a little singed by the bad publicity regarding $432 million dollars of taxpayer money going to the Bears, er, the new monstrosity, er, New Soldier Field. I don't see a big reason for him to really want the same thing with a soccer stadium. Which means that city funds will be severely limited. I don't see the city forking over 70% of the cost of the stadium. We have to find compelling reasons. It might be too late, as the bids are already in, but it's never too late to try.

 

Actually, I see another angle here. A Fire stadium in the same general vicinity as the Sox Park could be a way for Daley to channel more commercial development to the area, which would benefit the Sox (and the city) as well. If he were able to piggyback it on the stadium deal itself, it overcomes a bunch of hurdles in one fell swoop.

Just a thought.

Later,
COZ

 

How about a 40-50 million dollar stadium in Bridgeview. City gives the fire the land, and 10-15 million, and Anschutz's uses the cash from the Rapids sale to cover the rest of the construction costs. Sounds good to me.

 

The Bridgeport location is brilliant. I hope the city of Chicago and AEG can agree to a deal that gets the stadium built there.