As excited as I am about the impending move to the spaceship on the lake, I am worried that this move may have a dreadful late season effect on the Fire. Assuming that the dimensions of new SF are wider that that of Spartan or Cardinal Stadiums, the Fire may have a difficult transition to a wide field. At the beginning of last season the Fire had a rocky start at Cardinal Stadium, but did quite well once they traveled to some of the larger pitches in MLS. At the end of the season this did not hold true as the big Razor (and the Revs) cut the fire down in the playoffs. Given the results this year, it seems our performances are far superior on narrow fields. The one abberation is KC, however, I'm speaking as much about the flow of play and continuity of the team as I am goals and the Fire performances this year at RFK, Gillette and (except for a 17 minute span) Arrowhead give cause for concern.
Justin Mapp on the right, DaMarcus Beasley on the Left. Speed on the wings will make play on a wide field a positive not a negative. Relax and enjoy the show. The difference in the wins hasn't been narrow fields as much as it's been the insertion of young, talented, hungry players.
From August on every year, additional Bears seating will be added that will narrow the field. I don't think it will be Spartan narrow, but I don't think you have to worry about the effect on the team this year. In the future, we will have to adjust to a nice wide field from march though July, and then playing on a narrower field the rest of the way.
Granted, the 'narrower' field will still be wider than the old 'narrow' field from all accounts. Won't know exactly until they set up for the first time, but it's going to be hard to be given the room they have to work with.
I would imagine that even with the inserted seats the field is still 75 yards wide?? No?? IF not that is a bit of an engineering gaff!! Hopefully the city will give the fire a nice option for their own stadium in city limits the next few weeks!!!!
Not gonna happen. Why would they GIVE us the land? Just because we asked? If that's the case, I'd like a little piece of land too. Please Mr. Chicago.
Well, they did make a bid, and they knew we are looking for a public/private partnership...so even if they don't give land to us outright it's reasonable to assume they've come up with something in the way of a lease or shared ownership.
I'm sure that Mr. Chicago will be happy to give you a little slice of industrial land somewhere once you show them that you can bring out 15-20,000 people 15 times a year spending money (and sales tax) within the City. On a more serious note -- the design of the stadium couldn't give us an extra 3-4 yards when the field is narrowed?