For whatever reason my son is a BIG FAN of soccer. Not my doing, but whatever. Kids don't turn out the way you hope. Anyway, took him down to the game last week, and low and behold, the game was pretty good. They won a 1-0 nail biter.

So this is the first time my son has seen a Chicago professional sports team actually WIN a game.

0-6 at Sox
0-2 at Bulls

Other than $20 to park in a muddy field, no complaints. eveyone was very nice.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

It’s not a bad experience. Depending on the mood of the supporter’s groups it can be pretty lively. You get a great view facing the city from the upper deck at night and a good view of the field most everywhere. Traffic sucks when people actually go, but that’s hardly specific to the Fire. Concessions aren’t amazing and never try to get them at halftime.

It was fucking miserable weather. maybe 5000 in attendance. Does this league make any money? You have to have ESPN+ to watch the games, so I'd need to buy some sort of hardware to stream on to my TV.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

It's great if you never watch real soccer like La Liga or the Premiere League.

Took the Austrian exchange student last year, and like the Spaniards, he was surprised at the low quality of play.

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I don't understand how MLS keeps expanding and expanding. I thought FIFA capped leagues at 20 teams, but here MLS is, already well behind at least three other leagues, expanding to Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Nashville, Austin -- it's turning into the NHL where they cover their losses with expansion fees.

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This should be the league motto of the MLS.

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The Cincinnati team was part of the "MLS 2" "minor" league, and somehow got HUGELY successful. They have sellout or near-sellout crowds every game at home. For a while, they may have been where the Columbus Crew fans would have drifted to if the Crew had been moved to Austin as threatened by previous ownership.

Having said all that, I still have to wonder how this league is surviving. For all of the hand-wringing the last year over "#savethecrew", they don't seem to get crowds of much more than half capacity, and when I stumble across a MLS game on TV, that seems to be the case everywhere. Plus, some of these players with any name recognition have to be getting paid decently, so...?

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Not a mult.

It's a good enough league and it's here so might as well support it when you can. Fuck Bridgeview for that horrible stadium deal though. I've watched and enjoyed the EPL forever since MLS wasn't an option when I was a kid, but the euro snobbery I see is laughable.

If I'm going to spend the time watching games, I want them to be good. That's why I don't watch the MLS, Golf, or the NBA. I waste enough time watching the Blackhawks and White Sox...

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Yep, the quality of play in MLS is pretty sub-par. I've got a friend who used to have season tickets to the Fire and he would always be trying to convince me to go to a game. These games are snoozefests. Some games that were enjoyable were when La Liga or EPL teams would come there and play exhibitions against the Fire or other EPL or La Liga teams. The hardcore fans would come out which would make for a fun atmosphere, and these teams would literally run circles around the Fire.

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Well that's the thing, obviously you can watch shitty Chicago teams just fine. You don't switch to Red Sox and the Lightning when your teams suck.

Euro snobbery= MANY board members have better things to do than watch an MLS team that would lose to a Spanish High School team.

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Yep...but I'm sure it's okay because I'm assuming everyone gets orange slices and juice boxes after the game, and there's participation trophies for all...

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I'm not saying people shouldn't support the league, I'm just wondering how much of their revenue comes from expansion fees (I saw they're adding a team in Miami/Lauderdale now, too!), and where they find the talent to stock a league of 26+ teams that's already not that high on the totem pole.

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They pay the non-stars shit, that helps . The minimum salary is like 59k a year.

Guess what? They are moving.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH the grass at Soldier Field is going to be fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked by October HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAhA!

Go Cubs go ?!?

Basti Schweinsteiger retired today. Kind of sad. He was fun to watch. Not worth $6MM, but still... a legit world-famous soccer star in Chicago is not going to happen too often.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

He must have called some ex-Bear wide receivers to get a review of the mud at Soldier Field.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal