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On Tuesday rumors surfaced on Twitter of an upcoming rebrand for the original MLS expansion franchise. With attendance dropping and a stadium location that each season becomes comparatively worse, the Chicago Fire might be in for their biggest shakeup to date.
The Fire began their MLS playing in Soldier Field, home of the NFL's Chicago Bears. They called that massive NFL stadium home until 2005, except for a two year period in Naperville, IL's Cardinal Stadium. In the era known as MLS just having a team exist and survive was all that was really requested by soccer fans. MLS 2.0 saw a wave of new soccer-specific stadiums being built for new and existing clubs. Chicago built what is now SeatGeek Stadium to have their own home and one designed for soccer.
The main issue though was that the team no longer played in Chicago, but instead Bridgeview - 30 minutes southwest of the city. It's a long trek out to watch the Fire play, even on a good traffic day. Between the distance, time of matches and the weather, Chicago has struggled to pull in impressive numbers. It doesn't help that the club has only made it to the playoffs two of the last eight seasons, losing in the first round. Nor does it help that since the Fire's new home was built the ideal has shifted.
Seattle and Portland entered MLS with stadiums in their cities, packed with supporters. Atlanta United shattered expectations by regularly drawing crowds over 70,000. Los Angeles FC built a new stadium in downtown LA. Chicago Fire's front office are just thankful that the New England Revolution still play in Gillette Stadium.
Something has to change
A group was pushing to land a USL team in Chicago with a new 20,000 seat stadium, but it has since dropped from their radar. When the plan was announced though, the quick thought was that the division two team would eventually outdraw the Fire. A better location and a new stadium would bring in more casual fans. It was to be a sad day in the MLS club's future.
So it comes to no surprise that this rumor (claimed from a 'solid source') was inevitable for the Fire to have a chance to grow. The news calls for the organization to rebrand the team as 'Chicago City Football Club' (or 'Soccer Club' as the user highlights trademarked names) and play in Soldier Field once again.
Soon to be breaking #cf97 news from a solid source. Nice buyout for Village of Bridgeview, 2/3 of bond debt is being bought out. it is apparently a done deal. pic.twitter.com/rFP4UTVmFs
— J. Vlahakis (@jvlaha) April 2, 2019
Sure they might not fill the massive 61,500 stadium. But simply being in Chicago will lift the numbers beyond the last seasons' 14,806 average.
Fans who live near Bridgeview won't be happy. Long term fans who are attached to the name Fire won't be happy. Some might even prefer SeatGeek because it is designed for soccer, rather than Soldier Field. But Chicago is struggling, on and off the pitch. In the US' third largest city, that is unacceptable. SeatGeek has had 13 years. MLS has changed. Soccer in America has changed. It's time for Chicago to as well.
