Major League Soccer’s Fire have taken close note of other pro stadium deliberations around Chicago, and they are determined to have a much smoother—and quicker—path from concept to reality.
The Fire began their formal effort to develop a $650 million, soccer-specific stadium near downtown Chicago, holding a community meeting Monday night with local alderman Pat Dowell about the club’s plan to anchor The 78, an undeveloped parcel on Chicago’s South Loop.
As the neighboring Bears, White Sox, and Stars have each faced numerous obstacles in their pursuits of new facilities, particularly around obtaining public financing, the Fire and owner Joe Mansueto are moving full steam ahead with a private financing plan designed in part to have a new facility open roughly 33 months from now.
“We’re completely focused on making sure we deliver,” Fire president of business operations Dave Baldwin tells Front Office Sports. “We see ourselves as something of a sleeping giant, particularly as the biggest MLS market with only one team, and we want to ensure that this world-class city has a soccer stadium to match.”
There is little time for any sort of delays, though, as the club intends to secure all its needed zoning and preliminary approvals in the coming months and have shovels in the ground by the end of the year, and perhaps sooner than that. Such a rapid timeline would allow the Fire to stay on schedule for the stadium’s planned spring 2028 opening in collaboration with Related Midwest, the developer that owns The 78 land.
There is no active consideration, meanwhile, to have the White Sox join the Fire at The 78, Baldwin says. The MLB club has actively studied the site as a potential ballpark location for more than a year, and said earlier this month they “remain confident” the site could still house two facilities, but nothing has progressed beyond that.
“We wish them well, but right now, there’s no plan for any other stadium at The 78,” Baldwin says.
‘Enduring Elegance’
The Fire, meanwhile, also unveiled initial designs late Monday for the 22,000-seat stadium. Working with Gensler, which designed several other MLS facilities, including ones in Los Angeles and Austin, the early drawings aim to reflect the grittier nature of Chicago with a heavy focus on brick and steel.
“We want this to be truly emblematic of Chicago and are working around a theme of ‘enduring elegance,’” Baldwin says. “The core idea is to have something that looks like it would have fit right into the landscape of Chicago from 50 years ago and will be just as appropriate 50 years from now.”
That said, the design also pulls some influences from other recently developed MLS stadiums, as well as soccer facilities in Europe.
“One of the first things we did after Joe got involved with the team was move downtown to Soldier Field,” Baldwin says. “We’ve loved being in the city, but we’re really looking forward to having a true home-field advantage and that level of intimacy with our supporters right on top of the pitch.”
