According to the Des Plaines Valley News, the Chicago Fire Soccer Club’s moving out of Bridgeview, and back into the city (Soldier Field), is now officially official.
Expect a club statement shortly. Also, expect a lot of analysis and quotations on this site later today/tonight as we’ll be attending the media roundtable with Chicago Fire GM Nelson Rodriguez, which begins at 4pm. Back in early April, news of the move back into Soldier Field leaked, so today’s development was fully expected.
We previously published an extensive piece on what the Chicago Fire move, and possible rebrand, would mean for both the city and the suburb; and you can read that here.
Here’s an excerpt from the DPVN article:
Under the terms, the team would pay the village $60.5 million to escape its lease. That includes a $10 million payment upfront with the balance paid over the next 15 years, the village’s financial advisor Dan Denys told the board.
The village would use that money to offset debt service on construction of the 20,000-seat stadium, Denys said. That means there would be no property tax hikes to raise money to pay the down the debt.
The Fire would also pay the village $5 million for the next five years of using the Bridgeview facilities for practice, Denys said.
It is thought that the move to Soldier Field would be temporary, and that the Chicago Fire would have their own stadium again.
City of Chicago official: Old Michael Reese hospital land could be site of new Chicago Fire stadium #cf97 #MLS @TaylorTwellman https://t.co/MQwn5dqiko pic.twitter.com/d13bOCH15E
— Dan Mihalopoulos (@dmihalopoulos) May 7, 2019
When that new stadium is built, it could be on the site of the former Michael Reese Hospital. At least according to a city official quoted by a WBEZ reporter.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.