SeatGeek Stadium
 | |
| Former names | None |
|---|---|
| Location | 71st Street and Harlem Avenue, Bridgeview, Illinois (15 min. SW of Chicago Loop) |
| Owner | Village of Bridgeview |
| Operator | Anschutz Entertainment Group |
| Capacity | 20,000 (2006) |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 2004 |
| Opened | 2006 |
| Closed | Open |
| Demolished | N/A |
| Construction cost | +$95 million USD |
| Architect | Rossetti |
| Tenants | |
| Chicago Fire (MLS) (2006-Present) Chicago Fire Premier (PDL) (2006-Present) | |
Bridgeview Stadium will be the home stadium for the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer beginning in the 2006 season. It will be a world-class soccer-specific stadium and concert venue developed at a cost of more than $100 million.
Bridgeview Stadium will become only the nation's fourth modern soccer-specific stadium after the Home Depot Center, Columbus Crew Stadium, and Pizza Hut Park. Designed to incorporate more traditional stadium features from both American and European facilities, Bridgeview Stadium will include mostly covered seating, a brick façade and stone entry archway, first rows that are less than three yards from the field, 42 luxury suites, and club offices in the stadium along with a large stadium club facility measuring some 9000 square feet. Practice facilities with two fields for the club and its youth programs are being constructed adjacent to the stadium. According to the design plan, seating can be expanded for both concerts and games that are expected to go over the nearly 20,000 permanent seating capacity, up to a total of 28,000 seats.
The concert stage was incorporated into the stadium design to allow the Fire to gain revenue from hosting concerts as well as being able to conveniently stage such concerts (with the concert stage in the stadium, Fire games can be hosted in as little as 24 hours after a major concert)-ESPN interview with John Guppy.
According to statements by Fire President John Guppy, the stadium is designed to be easily expandable should demand outstrip seating capacity for home games. He officially noted that the stadium can be expanded by 10,000 permanent seats with no renovation issues. That would be a 50% increase in permanent seating capacity (from 20,000 to 30,000) from the original design capacity, and would most likely be achieved by adding a covered second tier from the southern end of the executive suites to the southwest corner next to the western stands. Other possible stadium expansion points includes a north end (to either side of concert stage) second tier of seating and an extension of the west stands around the northwest corner.
The possible stadium expansion would allow the Fire to claim the biggest stadium title of the MLS (the current holder of that title is the LA Galaxy's Home Depot Center at 27,000 seats. While no stadium expansion plans are being considered for the next few seasons, Fire management has made certain the stadium has the ability to be easily expanded without great cost in anticipation of future attendance growth.
While there were confirmed reports via local press and the United States Patent and Trademark Office, as well as website registration that indicate stadium naming rights would be sold to Bridgeview Bancorp to name the facility Bridgeview Bank Stadium; recent press and statements to fans by club leadership suggest that deal has fallen through and point toward a new global name partner, probably Toyota Motor Coroporation or Hitachi with a deal to be announced in the near future.
On April 18, 2006, MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced that Bridgeview will host the 2006 MLS All-Star Game.