Chicago Fire Pondering Move Out Of Bridgeview

BRIDGEVIEW, IL — Officials from the Chicago Fire pro soccer team have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Village of Bridgeview to buy out the remaining years of its lease at SeatGeek Stadium (formerly Toyota Park). Under the proposed deal, the team would pay Bridgeview $65 million to get out of its SeatGeek stadium lease and possibly move to Soldier Field in Chicago.

The buyout was first hinted at last month in Soccer USA. The pro soccer team’s CEO John Urban attended the meeting Tuesday at Bridgeview Village Hall, where village officials approved the tentative deal. Urban first needs to seek the club’s approval, after which the negotiated buyout deal comes back before the village board for a vote.

"All the points in the memorandum of understanding were acknowledged suggesting that Chicago Fire would sign on,” said Ray Hanania, spokesman for the Village of Bridgeview. “Then it comes back to the village for final approval of an ordinance to change the lease.”

The Chicago Fire moved to Bridgeview in 2006 when construction on the stadium — then known as Toyota Park — was completed. The team signed a 30-year lease to play at the stadium through 2036. However, the revenue Bridgeview hoped to generate from sporting events and concerts never panned out, and the stadium has reportedly sunk the village into debt.

Part of the problem with the Fire as a lessor was that the team’s schedule couldn’t be firmed up until three or four months before the season started, and the village was unable to attract top entertainers, who schedule concerts a year in advance. Hanania said village officials always believed concerts and other entertainment events such as Monster Jam would be more successful.

“We didn’t know what days we could book concerts because the Fire had a lock on the summer,” Hanania added. “This opens the summer for us. These dates are now open because we have a lot of entertainers that wanted to play at the stadium, but we couldn’t give them dates.”

The village still owes $240 million on the 28,000-seat stadium, after which it will own the stadium outright.

“In the end it doesn’t change anything for the Bridgeview taxpayers,” Hanania said. “The money coming in is a little more than what we were getting from the Fire.”