Rodriguez Roundtable, Part 1

BRIDGEVIEW, IL—On Wednesday, Fire President and General Manager Nelson Rodriguez held the first of three media roundtables at Toyota Park. This was the first since Rodriguez added the title of President to that of general manager and introduced a three-year strategic plan for the club as a whole in addition to the three-year plan to build the Fire into a championship program. While the biggest barometer of the club is the record, Rodrgiuez insists that’s not the only one to measure the club on.

“I understand that the primary window into a club is the performance of the first team,” said Rodriguez. “This is natural in a high-performance industry. The team’s record is the most important indicator of a clubs current position, but it’s neither the only consideration, nor is it necessarily indicative of its future setting.

“Recently, I brought the entire club together (front offices, juniors staff, first team, operations), and the purpose of this meeting is to try to re-establish why we exist. We came out that as simple as possible. Let’s not overthink it. We’re a soccer club. We’re here to win and specifically, to try to win championships and trophies. Second, we’re a contributing member of Chicago, and so need to serve our community when asked or when needed. And lastly, this is a business, and we should endeavor to try to earn profits when we can.”

Rodriguez mentioned that season ticket renewal was in the top ten in the league and was the best since moving to Toyota Park. Merchandise sales was in the top five in the league and the best in club history.

“I understand that we have our own way of evaluating the things that I’ve mentioned and someone else may have their own opinion, but there is one thing that is very clear and undeniable:  We are a club with a lot of positive momentum and we are quickly becoming a club of choice for people who want to be associated with the best.”

Rodriguez admitted that results have not been as we expected or as hoped, but remains optimistic that they were going to get things together and he likes the team’s chances to turn things around. Rodriguez cited the example of Seattle in 2016 when they went from bottom of the Western Conference to MLS Cup champions shortly after the addition of Nicolas Lodiero.

Rodriguez wants to keep head coach Veljko Paunovic after his initial three-year contract which expires after this season and they will find the right moment to discuss an extension.

“I’m going to say this one time:  Pauno is our coach and I’ll never the question again because there’s no answer that will satisfy everyone.”

Asked about the potential USL team coming into the city in 2021, Rodriguez said that he hasn’t thought much of it.

“The first thing I would say is I don’t think about it much and I don’t think much about it. I’ve trained myself over the years to not get too caught up in hypotheticals. The USL agreement has a contingency, so it is not even definite. As for the stadium, I’ve seen lovely illustration, but I’m not aware that anything has happened beyond that. Alderman Hopkins just recently came out and said that no one has spoken to him or his constituents. I don’t know how to respond to something that’s ‘out there.’

“I do know this. I know that Chicago is a fantastically great sports market. I know that Chicago fans appreciate all sports and all entities. If a fan wants to see a hockey game, they could go see the Wolves. If they want to see the best in hockey, they go see the Blackhawks. If a fan wants to see a baseball game, he can go see the new Chicago Dogs. If they wants to see Major League Baseball, he goes and sees the White Sox. And the same is true for us. If someone wants to see the best soccer, they’re going to see Chicago Fire Soccer Club.

“It’s the reason that Forbes valueed our club at $240 million. A minor league expansion fee is $3-5 million. It’s Chicago Fire that plays Manchester United at Soldier Field in front of a sold out crowd. It’s Chicago Fire that hosts the best All-Star Game in the history of MLS. It’s the reason why groups like CONCACAF contact us and ask us to participate in the Gold Cup announcement last week with the Gold Cup returning to Chicago next year. One ne is minor league.

“As for the distance issue, we play at Toyota Park. This is our current home. We’ll do our best to defend it with pride, win our games here, give our fans the best experience. Don’t forget that in 2016, in a year where a 108-year old curse was vanquished. The best fan experience in Chicago as determined by JD Power was Chicago Fire. And we were terrible that year.”

Rodriguez does acknowledge that seeing the empty seats for recent home games “is hard”.

“I feel the responsibility to deliver a winner and to deliver joy,” said Rodriguez. “You invest a lot of time and you would like to see us win because it would make writing easier and happier for you. Our fans are incredibly passionate and I don’t ask for their patience and I simply ask them to judge them on what they see.”

In regards to a certain Spanish international and former Liverpool and former Atletico Madrid player:

“Fernando Torres has a lot of the qualities that we admire. Man of value, family man, winner and champion. Still a heck of a player. We would always have interest in people and players like that.”

Rodriguez has said that he has had “no restriction” on how much the club can invest on players and that owner Andrew Hauptman has been “pressing him” to deliver that winner.

Here is a link to the roundtable if you would like to watch it.

THOUGHTS:  No one is going to dispute that the biggest barometer is the performance of the club on the pitch. Right now, it’s not good. Yes, the Fire have rallied from behind five times to either draw or take the lead, but they have won none of those matches. They have not won any match so far this season where they were in a trailing position at any time (and just once last season). Rodriguez does acknowledge the fan frustration and is essentially asking fans to “trust the process”.

There are also these things:  The club is better off than they were at the end of the 2015 season. Toyota Park was built at a time where MLS thought it’s base lived in the suburbs and no one could have forecast at the time the likes of the Seattle Sounders, Toronto  FC, Portland Timbers, or Atlanta United FC. LA Galaxy, FC Dallas, Philadelphia Union, New England Revolution, Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake, and New York Red Bulls all play in suburban locales. Much like the White Sox, the complaints of the stadium by fans tends to be inversely proportional to the team winning.

Rodriguez admits that converting fans who will watch the World Cup this year to being Fire fans will not be easy (nor is bringing back fans who feel the bridges have been burned). Rodriguez also insists that adding on President duties has not adversely affected his role as general manager, but waiting until almost the season starts to announce the ESPN+ deal and a failure to add sufficient depth in the winter does not send the right message to the fan base. The Fire can make it up part way by adding depth in July, but the Fire definitely need to do something big and something to return to winning ways to placate an increasingly disgruntled fan base.