Chicago Fire FC Break Ground On $750M MLS Stadium To Anchor $8B Downtown Mixed-Use Project

The Chicago Fire FC have broken ground on a whopper of a new stadium, a $750-million home of the Major League Soccer franchise and anchor of a $7 billion mixed-use development in the city’s South Loop, set to open in 2028 as the first major stadium project in Chi-Town in about 30 years.

This story is part of Pollstar’s Chicago Market Focus that was included in Pollstar’s April print edition that printed in early March and can be purchased here.

“This is a historic day for Chicago Fire FC and for the city we are proud to call home,” said Joe Mansueto, owner and chairman of Chicago Fire FC, at the March 5 groundbreaking that took the shovel and city leaders photo-op to a new level with pyrotechnics and other fanfare celebrating the milestone. “This stadium is about investing in Chicago and creating a world-class home for our fans, players, and community. We are fully committed to delivering a venue that reflects the passion of the city and the ambition of this Club.” Mansueto, who acquired full ownership of the Chicago Fire FC in 2019, was joined by team president of business operations Dave Baldwin, city leaders, project planners and others for the occasion.

Designed by Gensler, the open-air, privately financed stadium will seat more than 22,000 fans, feature a natural grass playing surface, 360-degree viewing, a dedicated supporters’ section, and premium hospitality offerings aiming to rival the best venues in global sports.

Gensler is lead architect, with a three-way construction partnership between Chicago-based Pepper Construction, GMA Construction Group, and All Construction Group.

The team, which currently plays in the more-than-100-year-old Soldier Field that is home to the NFL’s Chicago Bears, has been riding a wave of momentum in recent years.

“It’s a new era for the club and really capitalizing on a lot of tailwinds,” says Ted Glick, Chief Ticketing Officer and SVP of Stadium Programming and Events for the Chicago Fire. “We’ve tripled our season ticket base and corporate partner base over the last couple of years. We just opened a best-in-class training facility in the Near West Side, a $100 million, privately financed facility. And we really look at the stadium as the final piece of the puzzle to get us to where we know that we can be as the third-largest city in the U.S., in the world’s game, a sport that’s rapidly growing here in the U.S. So we’ve got an exciting journey ahead.”

As home for the Major League Soccer team, whose season timeframe is switching in 2027 to run from July to May, in line with most of the world’s leagues, the stadium is clearly built for soccer. That means a more intimate environment than the 61,500-seat Soldier Field, with steeper viewing angles ensuring good sightlines for fans. It also has concerts in mind, says Glick, who joined the team last April and whose recent experience includes SVP of global sales for Legends, involved with high-profile venue openings for FC Barcelona’s Spotify Camp Nou.

“It’s a soccer-specific venue, but one that is built with entertainment in mind,” says Glick. “We’re investing in a lot of upfront infrastructure, from staged overhead, speaker rigging and a number of other elements. We want to be the go-to destination in the Midwest for every global tour to come in. We know there’s acts that will go to the NFL venues, but we think we’re going to fill a really great spot right beneath that. It’s a great location, incredibly accessible and built with artists in mind.”

With a prime location along the Chicago River, the stadium anchors a $7 billion-plus mixed-use development named “The 78” — to be Chicago’s 78th neighborhood — which will also feature a half-mile riverwalk expansion, 10 million square feet of residential/office space including affordable housing, a new CTA Red Line station and seven acres of green space. The 78 is led by master developer Related Midwest.

“We love playing at the iconic Soldier Field, and it’s been a great home since coming out of COVID when we moved from Bridgeview back into the city, but we feel really strongly that we represent the city of Chicago, in our crest and our chest, and we need to play within the city limits,” says Glick. “So it was important to us to build this in downtown Chicago. Currently, as tenants of Soldier Field, we just don’t have the control of the fan experience that a club of our magnitude would want. This new stadium is going to allow us to deliver an exceptional match-day experience for fans and incredible sight lines in an intimate environment. It’s going to be, in our opinion, the best stadium in MLS and an amazing concert venue.”

Other features include five club spaces, including two event-level or field club experiences including some field suites “that will have some of the best seats in global soccer,” Glick says. “Our supporter section will be the steepest in MLS, and will create the heartbeat and atmosphere for the stadium, really creating a fortress effect when we’re playing here for home matches.”

The supporter section is actually removable, “and that’s where our permanent-built stage is, for events with an end-stage capacity. The high brick facade and canopy is really built with the Chicago climate and schedule shift in mind for the natural pitch.”

With a permanent, purpose-built stage at the ready, Glick and team ownership have more than just occasional concerts and special events in mind down on the field.

“Obviously, Chicago’s a very crowded entertainment market and we knew that not just to compete, but to set the standard, we had to invest in a lot of those production and stage elements upfront,” says Glick, who has concert experience producing an annual Summer Concert Series at Soldier Field with artists including Jason Derulo and Chance the Rapper. “We learned that from our friends at LAFC and in Austin, Gensler certainly advised us on that as we’re designing the building and we wanted to make sure that we’re building this for soccer first, but major events in mind as well.”