The owner of the Chicago Fire is considering building a privately financed, soccer-specific stadium in the city

Chicago Fire owner Joe Mansueto said the team is considering building a soccer stadium in Chicago, calling it the “final piece of the puzzle for this club.” On Thursday, Mansueto said the club, which currently plays at Soldier Field, had begun viewing potential sites in the city.

After purchasing 100 percent ownership of the Fire in 2019, Mansueto moved the team from a football stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, back to Soldier Field, which it shares with the NFL's Chicago Bears. As a secondary tenant in the stadium, which is owned by the Chicago Park District, the Fire will lose dates for Bears games and concerts held at the venue.

“The warm summer and fall days are really precious, and we would like to have as many of these days as possible, but we often come into conflict with the Bears and concerts,” Mansueto said at the press conference in which he introduced Gregg Berhalter to the new one Football director and head coach of the team. “We'd rather not play on the bookends when it's cold in Chicago in the winter, early spring or late fall. And so scheduling at Soldier Field is certainly an issue. Certain sponsorship categories are blocked, access to the pitch outside of matchday is sometimes a problem.”

In an interview with The athlete After the press conference, Mansueto said the team toured three sites in Chicago: a lakefront site in the Bronzeville neighborhood, the former home of Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center; The 78, a project in the South Loop where the Chicago White Sox have proposed building a new stadium; and Lincoln Yards, a development along the North Branch of the Chicago River in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the city's north side.

“They all have their advantages and disadvantages,” Mansueto said. “We have engaged some consultants to do a physical feasibility analysis, but now that the Endeavor Health Performance Center is ready, we are turning our attention to the stadium. It’s still early days and I think we’ll see more of it in the next few years.”

The Fire will open a new training facility in the city this spring, the Endeavor Health Performance Center. The $100 million, privately funded facility is located on the city's west side near the Medical District, about a mile and a half south of the United Center, home of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks.

A stadium within city limits would be a potential game-changer for a club struggling to gain a foothold in the sports-rich Chicago market. Chicago, the third-largest television market in the United States with a rich soccer history, has long been considered a sleeping giant in MLS. But the team has struggled over the last decade and a half, reaching the playoffs just twice since 2009. A move to SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, a suburb 15 miles outside the city, in 2006 proved another obstacle to building a fan base. The stadium was difficult to reach by public transport and the agreement with the village limited financial options. The Chicago Red Stars of the NWSL still use the facility.

The Fire moved back to Soldier Field when Mansueto purchased majority ownership of the team from previous owner Andrew Hauptman. Mansueto paid $60.5 million to get the Fire out of its lease with the Village of Bridgeview early.

The fire moved back to Soldier Field in 2020. (Mike Dinovo, USA TODAY Sports)

A new venue would likely generate renewed excitement for a team that won the domestic double – MLS Cup and US Open Cup – in its first year of existence in 1998.

“A smaller venue I think would work well for us and help us reach our fan base more,” Mansueto said. “I think it would be another element to revitalize the club.”

The Fire are the third professional men's team from Chicago, joining the Bears and White Sox, to announce construction of a new stadium. The Bears have turned their focus back to Soldier Field, while the White Sox's plans remain in limbo. The athlete reported Thursday that owner Jerry Reinsdorf was open to selling the team. One of the biggest obstacles to these projects is that teams need public money to build stadiums. According to the Chicago Tribune, the White Sox reportedly requested more than $1 billion in public funds, while the Bears' stadium project cost taxpayers up to $2.4 billion of the project's total $4.75 billion cost, according to WTTW -dollars could cost.

Mansueto, the founder, CEO and chairman of Morningstar with a net worth of $7.1 billion, said the team would privately finance a new stadium.

“My personal opinion is that stadiums are not a great investment,” Mansueto said. “They are large, expensive to maintain and sit empty most of the time. So to the extent that they create value, most of it benefits the sports team, not the community. That's why I think it's fair that it belongs to the sports team. Additionally, our finances here in Illinois, in the city of Chicago, are strained. Teachers want more money, law enforcement needs money, pension obligations. To be honest, our city and our state lack the resources, and so I think we would fund it privately.”

(Top photo: Melissa Tamez / Imagn Images)