$20,000 base? I would say that seems pretty cheap, but that will be about $20 per person, assuming only 1,000 show up. Now, if the Fire sell out the game... Oh, wait, take that to the Optimism Thread.
Based on Seatgeek's website they are only offering tickets on the north and east sides of the stadium. Maybe that's why it is so cheap because they are making it cheap.
That is incredibly depressing. If the Fire do not think they could attract a big crowd, why bother? Oh, wait, it is OUR Chicago Fire, so I guess it makes sense.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but if we continue playing at Soldier field, we will always have a huge section of consecutive games on the road, because of the bears. Is that correct?
Mansueto signed a deal for soldier field split in years like this: 3, 3, 1, 1. Looks to me like he was initially thinking of a temporary stay.
" The document states Bridgeview will oversee and receive all proceeds from concessions, while the Fire will take all profits from merchandise sales. The Fire also will receive all net revenue from parking after expenses, according to the agreement. Because of its stadium naming-rights agreement, SeatGeek is the ticket provider, meaning Fire fans who purchased tickets through Ticketmaster — as is done for matches at Soldier Field — were refunded and needed to repurchase tickets through SeatGeek. The $20,000 fee is sizable compared with what the Fire pay to use Soldier Field. According to the lease agreement between the Fire and the Chicago Park District, which operates the iconic lakefront venue, the Fire pay a base fee of $10,000 per match (excluding expenses) with an annual increase of 3%, according to a copy of the document acquired via FOIA. Furthermore, the $20,000 fee nearly matches the cost for an entire Chicago Red Stars season in Bridgeview. The National Women’s Soccer League club pays $20,500 per season excluding expenses, according to a copy of its lease agreement acquired via FOIA."
Three year contract, three year option, one year option, one year option. Compare that with the 30 year contract for Bridgeview. It’s as if we signed a deal for Soldier Field with several built in out clauses. EDIT: Covid messed with the timeline but it looks like we had a three year plan to find a space for a stadium, three years to acquire and build, then time for overruns.
So if we stay at soldier field, every year we will play a large block of games on the road. This means by being at soldier field we will never make the playoffs because we are one of the worst road soccer teams in the world.
I mean, if we always suck on the road we won't make the playoffs no matter where we play our home games. If we have a good team (did someone mention the optimism thread?) we'll be fine with a schedule front-loaded with home games.