Much harder? Instead of heading in 90/94 to the city, you take 294 south, maybe an extra 10-15 minutes of driving.
The state football finals are played in Champaign. There is something called the quarterfinals, semi-finals and so on, and many of these have been played in Naperville because the Fire paid to improve the stadium. Once the stands come down the Naperville-Naperville North, and other matches, will not have a decent venue. What galls me is that Mr. Daley and Governor Blagoyevich are throwing favors to Japanese companies to "invest" in Illinois while doing little, if anything to see that a metropolitan area with a GDP greater than Taiwan's or Switzerland actually has a venue for music and some sports. In September, I attended the U.S. Midwest-Japan Conference. Top business leaders from Japan were present along with 6 Midwest Governors. Former Gov. Thompson and Mr. Daley also spoke, and Daley told the Japanese "there is plenty of land in Chicago" for development. He also hinted at incentives. He made it sound pretty easy to start building in Chicago. Tell that to the Chicago Fire. To be fair, Mr. Daley was the most reasonable and humble American who spoke at the conference. Did anyone read the article about him in the London Financial Times 3 weeks ago "Lunch With the FT?"
Facts are good. Facts help you look smart. Naperville Central and Naperville North have played their regular-season games against each other at North Central College since 2000, and they've always brought in their own temporary stands. Yes, there is something called the quarterfinals, semifinals, and so on, and Naperville North and Naperville Central have been perfectly happy to play those games on their own campuses, both before and since the Fire paid to improve the stadium at North Central. Central and North are both out of the playoffs, didn't make the quarterfinals this year, and played their home playoff games on their own campuses. Central didn't make the playoffs last year. North didn't make the quarterfinals. In 2001, Central went to the state final, and played all of their home playoff games on campus. North lost in the first round. When Central and North played each other in the playoffs in 2000, they played at Central High. If you have proof that anyone has played quarterfinals and semifinals at what was until recently Cardinal Stadium, please, enlighten us. Naperville North and Naperville Central have football stadia that have served them well over the years. Amazing how they've managed to play for so long and win state championships despite not having decent venues.
I've lived in Hyde Park, Lincoln Park and Lake County. Try getting to 294 - that is an extra 15 min. alone. Its an extra 30-40 min to Bridgview, and I'm not dragging my family that far. Whe the commute is longer than the game, its silly. I like the City. I would not be interested in Bridgeview, Niles, Schaumburg or any other inner ring suburb. The team is the Chicago Fire, not the Chicagoland Fire. The DePaul/Rosemont comment was great. People put up with Naperville because it was temporary. Many will not go there if it was full time. I love baseball, and I hear the Kane County Cougar games are great, but its a long haul. I identify with the Chicago for my sports teams.
It's only 20 minutes from New Soldier Field to the stadium site in Bridgeview. Get on LSD south, Take the I-55 S ramp, get off on Harlem headed south until you get to 79th. Frankly, I'm pretty sure that 20 minutes is overstating it by a lot. It takes me 20 minutes to get from where I live to Bedford Park, which is probably half again as far as the distance from NSF to Bridgeview.
Depends which suburb in the North you live in, for many near 294 and any of them west it's just a slightly longer drive. Lived in Highland Park and it took an extra 5 mins to get to 294. Fair enough, but Bridgeview will not be Naperville. Its much closer to the city and will have a regular field and serve beer. I would love for the Fire to build in Bridgeport or somewhere right in the city, or for SF to be so financially viable that building just doesnt make sense, but if Bridgeview is the best option I'll still support the team. Go a few miles east from the Bridgeview location and your in the city. The biggest problem with Bridgeview is that the orange line doesnt currently run to that location and it's a hard to say when or if it will.
Jeremy, thanks for finding the link to the London Financial Times article. I think some people might be interested in it. Kenn, I see you are back with your usual attitude. I have been following the state football tournament by reading the Sun-Times and Tribune and saw that some of the games had been played at North Central. It must be the best avaialable venue and a Firehouse would be way better than that. My high school doesn't even have a football stadium and didn't even have a practice field until recently. They ran a mile to Washington park before that. Still, we won more state championships than any other school once we were allowed into the state tournament in 1973, as well as producing Donovan McNabb, Simeon Rice and others. But that is not a model for development, is it? It makes more sense to play football in a decent stadium.
It's so hard for me to feel sorry for someone that has a long commute, when I've attended most of the Fire games over the last 5 years, whether they be in Soldier Field or Naperville, with the commute, on bad days, taking about 1.5 to 2 hours each way. I'll follow them to Bridgeview as well, with a big smile on my face every time I walk through the gates.
Yes, the attitude that won't let you just make stuff up. Really? I'm curious as to which games those were. The state soccer finals were held at North Central the last couple of weekends, as they have been since 2001 (before the Fire did anything there). But there are only three Naperville High Schools and none of them played at North Central College when they played their home playoff games. Couldn't you have played at DePaul's football stadium? Naperville North, Naperville Central, and Neuqua Valley have decent high school stadiums, and they played their home playoff games there. You're deflecting again. Just admit you were wrong and move on.
I think some people's perceptions are WAY off when it comes to driving in from the suburbs. Even if you skip 294 and just drive in on the Edens/Kennedy, the Bridgeport location is about 38th to 40th street on the Ryan. Bridgeview is about 75th street on the Stevenson. As far as I can tell, that is an additional 4-5 miles of highway driving between the "ideal" location and the "terrible suburban" location. Am I wrong? It will be more of a pain for the public transport people, but as discussed, a decent shuttle system makes that difference negligible.
I commute 45 minutes to foxboro every game and that is to sit in a brand spanking new stadium that was built for the Pats. If I was given the choice i would double my commute if it meant that i would go to a stadium built solely for my Revs. The NSF is a nice stadium but it's the Bears stadium not the Fire's. Like Wrigley is for the Cubs, and Comiskey is for the Sox.
I'll repeat what I said before: This isn't about individuals, especially not individuals that post on these boards. The fact that I've traveled hundreds of miles to see the Fire doesn't mean squat.
Kenn, the stadium issue is important to us and something is about to happen. Please don't ruin yet another discussion with this kind of antagonism. You know very well DePaul does not have a football team, but used to, a long time ago. High school football games have been played at North Central using the Fire stadium additions and I think you may be right, that the soccer-not the football-playoffs were played there last weekend, or the weekend before. A Firehouse could benefit the community at large, not just the soccer community, and this is one of the reasons Chicago should come up with a better bid. Don't count on things going smoothly in Bridgeview if Mr. Daley is opposed to it. Look what happened in Arlington Heights.
Personally, I think if Daley really wanted the Fire in Chicago, they would have made it work. I've been hearing that the city really wants the Fire to stay, but now i'm not so sure. I think they would like the Fire to stay, but really don't care much either way.
Well, if it's Bridgeview, I can guarantee that they aren't getting an orange line extension any time in the next 30 years. Hell, even I'd rather have heavy-rail access to O'Hare and Midway first. Lookit, we're in a better place than we were a couple of years ago. Sure, I don't have the books, and the Fire FO does, but if Concerts West can't use the stadium, I just don't see how a new stadium works numbers-wise. And let's go to the expandability argument. How would that work with a roof? If you expand capacity, can you expand parking too? Because the whole point of building there is to spur development, which if successful, takes away all that land that you'd need for the additional parking spaces. Of course, the Fire could just do one of those 10-year "temporary" stadiums along the lines of the old Arlington Heights deal and come back to NSF if and when attendance figures merit. I don't know. There are lots of options, which is a good thing. But it's pretty easy to make arguments against a SSS for the Chicago Fire. And the Bears could always just use chalk for their lines in September and October. It didn't kill the Dolphins (although that dirt infield did).
My apologies to everyone else here for the threadjack. But you're deflecting again. And your insistence on stating untruths as facts goes to credibility of the witness. Just admit you were wrong and be done with it. Sorry. Knee-jerk reaction. You say football, those of us in the Gang of Seven say "DePaul." You brought that one on yourself. Just not state "quarterfinals, semifinals, and so on." And they played regular season games there before the Fire made any additions. So your point---such as it was---is invalid. Both. Class A one week, Class AA the other. But a Firehouse would be a natural place for the state finals in boys (in the fall) and girls soccer (in the spring).
The problem with Bridgeview is not that it is too far or really hard to get to for most people in the chicago area,especially those that drive. The problem comes with getting casual and new fans. I think their answer when they hear The Fire play in Bridgeview will be "where's that".As has been pointed out many times people who live in the suburbs are more willing to drive distances to get to something they want to see. City dwellars even those with cars are more reluctant to travel to suburbs even close ones like Bridgeview. I still say you are less likely to get a lot of people when you play in a location that is not well known or considered major league. Everyone knows where Soldier Field is.All the people who post here that say they will be happy to go to Bridgeview, yes we know, so will I but will it mean less people at games in the long term. Will city people without cars and those who are casual fans go to enough games to make the Fire a long term success in Bridgeview, that is the big question.
Again: Bridgeview does not equal Chicago. Fire does not equal Sting. Anschutz does not equal Lee Stern. Fire Stadium does not equal Rosemont Horizon The situation is similar on the surgface, but wholly different. It's easy to draw the parallels, but the variables are far removed from the original equation.
Fun with MapQuest Hyde Park to SF 10 minutes: http://www.mapquest.com/directions/...sGSc2ZXU5J34WwkowW869BoiKkoS6zg7KnlfzbQ%3d%3d Hyde Park to Bridgeview 28 minutes: http://www.mapquest.com/directions/...h5o2SfVqOuSJclFn7zUAaqTN3u4RVoIo4QUUAsQ%3d%3d Niles to Soldier Field 28 minutes: http://www.mapquest.com/directions/...h5o2SfVqOuSJclFn7zUAaqTN3u4RVoIo4QUUAsQ%3d%3d Niles to Bridgeview 40 minutes: http://www.mapquest.com/directions/...h5o2SfVqOuSJclFn7zUAaqTN3u4RVoIo4QUUAsQ%3d%3d Schaumburg to Soldier Field 42 minutes: http://www.mapquest.com/directions/...sGSc2ZXU5J34WwkowW869BoiKkoS6zg7KnlfzbQ%3d%3d Schaumburg to Bridgeview 43 minutes: http://www.mapquest.com/directions/...sGSc2ZXU5J34WwkowW869BoiKkoS6zg7KnlfzbQ%3d%3d Please note that the listed drive times are all in good traffic and i would venture to say that on a typical game night, the traffic would flow much quicker to and from Bridgeview than Soldier Field. peter edit - oops, i guess the links didn't pick up, but the times listed are what i got when the various sites were all plugged in.
I know I said I wouldn't bring up minor league baseball comparisons... ...but this doesn't seem to impair the Kane County Cougars. Or the Wolves, keeping with the Rosemont comparison.