Chicago Red Stars' stadium clash is solved - but it exposes the hurdles faced by NWSL (2024)

For the past couple of months, the Chicago Red Stars have been scrambling to find a replacement venue for their September 21 game, which was originally to be played at SeatGeek Stadium, their home venue in Bridgeview.

Chicago music festival Riot Fest announced in June that they would be using SeatGeek’s parking lots that weekend for their event, a move that would have disrupted the Red Stars’ ability to use the stadium, with tens of thousands of people expected to attend the concert.

But in a somewhat anticlimactic but welcome development, the conflict has disappeared on its own: Riot Fest will instead be moving back to the city of Chicago proper, leaving SeatGeek unimpeded for its originally scheduled event, a home game against the San Diego Wave.

Red Stars president Karen Leetzow was obviously pleased with the development, telling The Athletic that Riot Fest organizers had confirmed the move to her in writing on Monday, just as the club was preparing to announce its new emergency alternative venue.

That alternative venue? CPKC Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Current. Leetzow said KC Current president Raven Jemison had called her after hearing the initial report of Riot Fest moving to Bridgeview and offered CPKC as a backup, with KC a 90-minute flight from Chicago.

“We were eager to open the doors to CPKC Stadium for the Red Stars to show how powerful it can be when women’s sports come together to support one another,” said Jemison via e-mail. “At the same time, we are glad they are able to host the match in front of their fans at SeatGeek Stadium.

“This situation underscores the importance of having world-class facilities as an anchor to grow women’s sports. We look forward to the day these hurdles are removed across the women’s professional sports landscape.”

The Red Stars had wanted to exhaust every possibility in trying to keep the game in Chicago, or as close to Chicago as possible, and kept KC in their back pocket until it was clear there was no suitable local venue available. They knew the odds were slim due to the short timeline, but wanted the players to have a true home game if possible and avoid the logistical difficulties of an unplanned travel game.

“Actually, the city (of Chicago) was kind,” Leetzow said. “When they saw this exploding, they called us and said Soldier Field is booked. If something changes, we will let you know right away. We want you to know that we would offer that up to you first before anyone else.”

The Red Stars had just played a packed game at Wrigley Field in June, but everywhere they looked venues were already booked, the playing surface was unsuitable, or there wasn’t enough seating, so they took KC up on the offer. Then it was a whirlwind of preparation for the move — right up until Riot Fest announced their u-turn.

“We were well down the path of working with Kansas City,” said Leetzow. “All the different business units had been working together to coordinate. They were incredible. They were generous.”

In an official club statement, Leetzow also thanked United Airlines for offering to fly players, associates, and fans to KC to help mitigate the cost of changing venues.

Leetzow did note that Riot Fest’s organizers had been quite cooperative with the Red Stars and had apologized to them for the conflict. “I think they were really mortified by (the conflict),” Leetzow said. “They’ve been deeply sensitive to the fact that this is a lot for us. This is a really difficult lift and expensive thing for us to both pivot away and pivot back.”

In fact, Riot Fest and the Red Stars are now collaborating on cross-promotion, with a Red Stars booth at Riot Fest and a “Riot Fest Night” at the Red Stars’ November 3 game, which will feature co-branded merchandise. Leetzow said they’re working on further collaboration.

Longer term, the club is also continuing its work to move into the actual city of Chicago, as Bridgeview is a good half-hour to an hour’s drive from the city itself. “Every week, we’re meeting with influential people here in the city who can help us get this done,” said Leetzow. “I have a whole series of talking points I’ve been refining and honing throughout the summer and into the fall as the (state) legislators go back into session.”

Leetzow wants Chicago to commit public funding to a women’s soccer stadium like they committed public money to renovate Soldier Field in 2001. That might be a much bigger fight down the road — the Chicago Bears and White Sox also asked for public funding earlier this year and haven’t found political traction yet.

Leetzow said there’s resistance to public investment because the club has historically had low average attendances, including an average of 4,848 in 2023, the lowest in NWSL that year. But she pointed out that SeatGeek’s distance and lack of easy public transportation directly to the stadium has hindered their ability to grow in the Chicago market and that when the club has put on games in the city, they’ve been a success. Their Wrigley Field game brought in 35,038 fans and last year they played a doubleheader with the Chicago Fire at Soldier Field that drew 23,951.

Leetzow also pointed out that the club has only been under the stewardship of new owner Laura Ricketts since September 2023, which means less than a year in which to make sweeping changes. “Laura is very competitive,” Leetzow said, smiling. “She would like it to be the biggest, most beautiful women’s stadium in the country and blow past what Kansas City did. We love Kansas City, but she wants to do it better.”

Regardless of where the funding comes from, the Red Stars do eventually want a stadium and dedicated training facility in the city. “We’re well on our way on the stadium project,” said Leetzow. “We would love to build about a 14,000-person stadium with the ability to grow to about 20,000.”

There’s no concrete timeline yet. “I think best case is we find an interim solution that’s more, you know, a ‘now’ solution, then move to a stadium build over the next, I’m going to guess, three to five years,” Leetzow said. “Unless the city works with us and then we can do it much more quickly.”

For now, the nonstop sprint to find a backup is over and the Red Stars will play at SeatGeek as planned. “So many things have conspired to make this hard on us and it was particularly devastating post our Wrigley game, where we just had this massive success, to then find out that we are not going to have access to our stadium,” said Leetzow. “But all’s well that ends well and I’m a firm believer that we’re going to make lemonade here.”

(Top photo: SeatGeek Stadium; by Sebastian Frej/MB Media via Getty Images)

Steph Yang is a staff writer for The Athletic covering women’s soccer in the United States. Before joining The Athletic, she was a managing editor at All for XI and Stars & Stripes FC and a staff writer for The Bent Musket, as well as doing freelance work for other soccer sites. She has covered women’s soccer for over seven years and is based out of Boston, Mass.