Home Away From Home – The Debate

Word out of Chicago this week is that the Fire are looking at playing the US Open Cup qualifying match they are slated to host versus the MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids in a home away from home. That would mean at least three teams will playing their designated home match outside of their normal home stadium with DC United playing yet again at the Maryland Soccerplex and the Portland Timbers at a site to be determined due to remaining PGE Park renovations.

This report, a recap of a meeting with Section 8 fan group members, said that the Fire has looked at playing the match at five different facilities in the region, three of which were a no-go and that the final two options appear to be Bradley University (Peoria) and North Central College (Naperville).

The fan site Hot Time in Old Town weighed in with its thoughts on the matter, though seemed undecided in the end if the decision was good or not. The writer Mark Rogers brought up many good points along the way about the priorities of the club and its relationship to the loyal fans.

The decision to play ‘home away from home’ has long been a hot topic, particularly in the US Open Cup where MLS teams have routinely chosen to play at alternate venues with inconsequential gains at what is arguably a major loss of opportunity to lower division opponents that could benefit greatly from hosting a match.

Rogers, a loyalist Fire fan, surprisingly notes that he would “rather see us let Colorado host this game if they're willing to play it in their home park. We obviously don't care about the game, so let's at least give the hosting opportunity to someone who might care a bit more.”

If your loyal fans are saying this, what does it say about a club’s relationship with its supporters. When it comes to competition, you should never want your fans to side with the opposition, yet the club appears to be creating an atmosphere with its fans that not every game is important. That is a slippery slope. If you send that message for an Open Cup qualifier, then what’s to say in the future fans won’t decide, ‘ah, this regular season match in May is not that important, and neither is this one in June.’ And if your loyal supporters don’t have the Every Game Matters mindset, what do you expect casual fans to think?

I understand it is expensive to open a stadium for smaller crowds. But when I worked for a club that played in a facility bigger than its fans support, it was all about managing the event in a manner that made operational and fiscal sense. If you don’t expect fans to fill a decent amount of the whole facility, don’t open the whole building. Save staffing costs by opening only the applicable sections which, by the way, also brings the fans closer together and creates a better atmosphere instead of being spread out everywhere. With all the effort made to find an alternate venue, was as much effort put into looking into alternate operational options for Toyota Park itself?

The other rationale for playing at an alternate venue is the opportunity to expand exposure of the club. But does that really work? Are the fans in Peoria or Naperville going to be more likely to travel to Bridgeview for a family weekend if you have now given them a match in their own hometown? Probably not, especially in this economy. Meanwhile, this is what your loyal fans, like Rogers, are saying: “I love my Fire, and I want to see all of our home games. I'm disappointed that the Open Cup is being scoffed at.” These are the people that have made a financial and physical commitment to your team and now you are taking their beloved team away from them or forcing them to sacrifice even greater to travel to these games. If they are spending money on gas and other costs to go to these games, that’s less money they have to spend on merchandise, concessions and quite possibly… tickets.

And if all that debate is not enough, let’s wrap it up with the competition side. Whether they are going to Bridgeview, Peoria or Naperville it is a road game for the Rapids. But now, it is also a road game for the Fire. You always hear players say they like to stay with a routine, but jumping in a bus to trek away from where they usually play and practice on a regular basis is definitely a break in that routine.