For many sports fans around the country, mid-May is a time to look forward to, with the NFL releasing their schedule for the year. For the Fire, however, it's often been a time to dread. As the junior tenant at Soldier Field, they are forced to move previously-scheduled matchdays away from the lakefront venue.
The terms of the Bears lease at Soldier Field gives them exclusive rights to the venue for up to five days in advance home games.
Because the Bears are set to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers November 8th, the Fire announced that they have moved their home date against the Columbus Crew on November 7th to SeatGeek Stadium, the team's home from 2006-2019.
That matchup is Decision Day, the final day of the MLS regular season, when all 30 teams will be facing off against each other with kickoff scheduled for 3:00 PM for Eastern Conference home games and three hours later in the West.
Fortunately, however, that is the only date where the Fire will have to move due to the Bears during the regular season.
Looking ahead to the postseason, however, the Fire are not nearly as lucky.
The Bears set to play the New Orleans Saints on November 22nd at Soldier Field and then host the Jacksonville Jaguars at the venue on December 6th.
That makes the venue unavailable for hosting games for early playoff rounds, including MLS wild card matches (slated for Nov. 18), necessary if the finish 8th again, as well as the first and third games of the best-of-three first round, which the Fire will host if they finish fourth or higher in the conference.
The Bears' December 6th date against the Jaguars also means the Fire would not be host the conference semi matchup there, with those games slated for that day and the day prior.
After that, however, the schedule at Soldier Field clears up, and the Bears next home game is Christmas Day against the Green Bay Packers.
That means that if the Fire make it to the conference finals or MLS Cup ‒ a possibility that longer seems far-fetched even if it remains unlikely ‒ they would have their pick of venues around Chicago.
