Toyota Park (Bridgeview)
From Toyota Wiki
  | |
| Former names | Bridgeview Stadium |
|---|---|
| Location | 7300 West 71st Street Bridgeview, Illinois 60455-3106 |
| Broke ground | November 30, 2004 |
| Opened | June 11, 2006 |
| Owner | Bridgeview, IL |
| Operator | Andell Holdings |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction cost | $98 million |
| Architect | Rossetti Architects |
| Capacity | 20,000 (soccer) 28,000 (concerts) |
| Tenants | |
| Chicago Fire Soccer Club (Major League Soccer) (2006-Present) Chicago Machine (Major League Lacrosse) (2007-Present) Chicago Red Stars (Women's Professional Soccer) (2009-Future) | |
Toyota Park is the home stadium for the Chicago Fire S.C., members of Major League Soccer (MLS). Located at 71st Street and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview, Illinois, it is a Soccer-specific stadium and concert venue developed at a cost of more than $100 million. The facility opened June 11, 2006.
The Village of Bridgeview recently approved development on 8 acres (32,000 m2) of the stadium site near the corner of 71st and Harlem for two mid-range hotels, an indoor water park, four to six restaurants, and other retail to begin construction in late 2007.[1] As of December 2008, no construction has yet occurred.
Toyota Park also hosts the Chicago Machine of Major League Lacrosse, and the Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer. Only the stadium's east end stands are used for these events.[2]
The stadium hosted its first competitive international with a 2010 World Cup qualifying match between United States men's national soccer team and Trinidad and Tobago national football team.
The stadium
Designed to incorporate traditional stadium features from both American and European facilities, Toyota Park includes mostly covered seating, a brick Facade and stone entry archway, and first rows that are less than three yards from the field. It also includes 42 executive suites, 6 larger party suites, the Illinois Soccer Hall of Fame, and the Fire club offices as well as a large stadium club/banquet room measuring over 9,000 square feet (840 m2).
A practice facility with two fields (one natural grass, one turf) for the Fire club and its youth programs is adjacent to the stadium. The stadium's design is expandable to 30,000 seats without great cost for future growth. The natural grass stadium field includes a $1.7 million turf management system including full heating, drainage, and aeration capabilities and measures 120 yards (110 m) long by 75 yards (69 m) wide.
A permanent stage was incorporated into the stadium design to not only facilitate hosting concerts but also to be able to quickly change from stage configuration to soccer configuration and vice-versa. A typical conversion takes less than 18 hours to complete, and an additional 8,000 chairback seats can be accommodated on the field for concerts and other stage events. One such happening was the Crossroads Guitar Festival which was held on July 28, 2007.
In 2006, Toyota announced that it had entered into a 10-year naming rights agreement and the stadium was renamed Toyota Park.[3]
References
- ↑ "First came the Fire, next comes the water". dailysouthtown.com. http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/122961,1NWS2-03.article. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.
- ↑ "Seating Chart". chicagomachine.com. http://www.chicagomachine.com/venue/seatingchart/. Retrieved on 2007-06-12.
- ↑ "Toyota Purchases Naming Rights For Stadium". mlsnet.com. http://www.mlsnet.com/MLS/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20060609&content_id=61865&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp. Retrieved on 2006-06-09.
External links
| Preceded by Soldier Field | Home of Chicago Fire S.C. 2006 – present | Succeeded by current home |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| |||||
| |||||
Geographic coordinate system:
