By Dan Gaichas of Windy City Soccer
The long-rumored return of the Chicago Sting could be a little closer to reality. Dave Martinez of EmpireofSoccer.com is reporting that an ownership group is aiming to revive the Sting in the second-tier North American Soccer League in time for the 2017 season.
The group, Club 9 Sports, is spearheading the effort to bring back the Sting. According to the report, it is a joint-venture between Tobacco Road Capitalists, LLC , a self-described “sports management and sports media advisory company” and Prometheus Capital Partners, LLC, a middle market merchant bank. Jon L. Pritchett, the former CEO of AstroTurf USA, John Prutch, the founder of MERCAP in Chicago and three-time NBA executive of the year Carl Scheer are the driving forces behind the venture capitalist group.
Club 9 Sports have made unsuccessful attempts in the past to acquire Sheffield Wednesday and Glasgow Rangers.
Current Indy Eleven and former Chicago Fire President Peter Wilt is on board as a unpaid consultant to the group, similar to a position he held prior to the formation of Indy Eleven before the 2014 season. The group hopes to secure a home within Chicago city limits and are looking at Soldier Field as an initial home while they find a more permanent home in the future.
The Sting Supporters Trust will continue to aim to have a portion of a new Sting team to be supporter-owned.
THOUGHTS: The Sting are still fondly remembered in Chicago. They were the team that broke Chicago’s dry spell in professional sports championships back in 1981. Names like Karl-Heinz Granitza, Pato Margetic, Arno Steffenhagen, Lee Stern, and Willy Roy are still revered among soccer fans of a certain age in this town.
A case was made back in June for the Sting’s revival in the NASL and mentioned the importance of playing within the city limits, service and diversity, that the metro area is large enough to support two teams, and respect for the Fire and perhaps staging friendlies with the MLS side.
Of course, ever since rumors of the Sting returning began, it has brought about conflicted feelings from current Fire fans who remember the Sting. While the Sting will gain fans nostalgic of the name and disgruntled Fire fans given the current state of the Fire, it will be a bit of a tough sell for a new Sting team given the crowded sports landscape in Chicago and the fact that the NASL is still considered Division Two in the US.
The NASL has aspirations of being granted Division One status and has other classic names like the New York Cosmos, Tampa Bay Rowdies, and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers; but it also currently lacks a team in the Pacific time zone, two teams in Atlanta and Carolina under league ownership, and Minnesota United FC set to jump to MLS in 2018. It also had failed attempts to expand to Northern Virginia and Oklahoma City (which eventually landed a USL franchise).
On the other hand, it will be expanding to Miami and Puerto Rico in 2016 and is currently drawing respectable crowds in Indianapolis, Minnesota, Jacksonville, and San Antonio.
As for the Sting vs. Fire debate, if there are Red Bulls and/or NYCFC fans that also support the Cosmos, I’d like to see them. Like I said, the Sting will attract soccer fans nostalgic of the name, disgruntled Fire fans who have had enough of Andrew Hauptman’s mismanagement of the club, and fans who would rather see a team in the city than make the journey to Bridgeview. In fact, some would contend that it would finally (no pun intended) light a spark in the Fire to build a better, more competitive team. But the Fire should really not wait around for that to happen. Frankly, all Chicago soccer fans should ask themselves this question (and I’m interested in responses on Twitter (@windycitysoccer) and Facebook (facebook.com/windycitysoccer)
For now we reserve judgement and wait to see what happens.
