Multi-year partnership marks soccer’s return to “Chicago’s Very Own”.
CHICAGO, IL–Chicago Fire FC cleared a major pain point–ability to watch the club on television–as it announced a multi-year broadcast agreement with WGN-TV. This season, 24 matches will air locally on WGN starting with the March 7th match at New England (12:30pm, WGN).
This deal will run in addition to matches streaming on ESPN+ who was the exclusive carrier of Fire matches for the last two seasons. The Fire are currently in their final year on the ESPN+ deal. The club will also be featured on WGN’s “GN Sports” nightly program that airs at 10:30pm CT.
“In this transformational year for our Club, we want to provide our fans with as many ways as possible to experience the Fire, both live at Soldier Field and on the broadcast,” said Fire Owner and Chairman Joe Mansueto. “We know WGN-TV’s powerful place on the City’s sports scene and we’re excited to be their new flagship sports property.”
“WGN-TV has a rich history of broadcasting live sports and we look forward to continuing and building on that tradition with Chicago Fire FC,” commented WGN-TV Vice President, General Manager Paul Rennie. “The Fire have found a new home at Soldier Field and now a new broadcast home at WGN-TV. We’re thrilled to bring the exciting action of Chicago Fire FC to our viewers and all of Chicago.”
It is the first time in over 35 years that soccer has aired on WGN when the Chicago Sting were playing in the old North American Soccer League. The Fire have had spells on what is now NBC Sports Chicago, WPWR-TV, WCIU-TV, and the now defunct NBC Chicago Nonstop (WMAQ-TV Ch. 5.2).
It also fills a void left by four of Chicago’s pro teams who until 2019 had games on WGN. The Cubs left WGN after 72 seasons to form their own network–Marquee–while the White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks all went exclusive to NBC Sports Chicago.
THOUGHTS: This is a major coup for the Fire to have games on WGN-TV after two years of having to go through the paywall of ESPN+ to watch them for the last two seasons. I was critical of the ESPN+ deal as I compared it to when the White Sox reached a deal to air games on SportsVision ON-TV in 1982 which had not nearly the reach of WGN where the Cubs continued to air at a time when it was going to become a superstation in the mold of WTBS in Atlanta and Chicago would not be totally wired to cable until the end of the 1980s. Many cite this as a major reason why the Cubs are far more popular than the White Sox to this day.
As for the Fire, being exclusive to ESPN+ may have netted a rights fee, but denied the club a presence on a local linear platform where they could carve out some identity. It felt just like another thing you could get with your ESPN+ subscription.
With the WGN deal, now the club can carve out a local identity in addition to what they have already done in moving back to Soldier Field and essentially reboot the franchise (though not everything has been met with grand approval). It’s all part of the plan for the Fire to finally become “Chicago’s Very Own”.
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