Toyota Park (Bridgeview)

Toyota Park
Former names	Bridgeview Stadium
Location	7000 South Harlem Avenue Bridgeview, Illinois 60455
Coordinates	41°45′53″N 87°48′22″W / 41.76472°N 87.80611°W / 41.76472; -87.80611Coordinates: 41°45′53″N 87°48′22″W / 41.76472°N 87.80611°W / 41.76472; -87.80611
Broke ground	November 30, 2004
Opened	June 11, 2006
Owner	Village of Bridgeview
Operator	Andell Holdings
Surface	Natural grass
Construction cost	$98 million ($107 million in 2011 dollars[1])
Architect	Rossetti Architects
Project Manager	ICON Venue Group[2]
General Contractor	Turner Construction[3]
Capacity	Soccer: 22,000[4] Concerts: 28,000
Field dimensions	120 x 75 yards
Tenants
Chicago Fire (MLS) (2006-present) Chicago Bliss (LFL) (2011-Present) Chicago Machine (MLL) (2007-2009) Chicago Red Stars (WPS) (2009-2010)

Toyota Park is a soccer-specific stadium located at 71st Street and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview, Illinois. It is the home stadium of the Chicago Fire Soccer Club, members of Major League Soccer (MLS). Toyota Park was developed at a cost of around $100 million. The facility opened June 11, 2006. It also previously hosted the Chicago Machine of Major League Lacrosse and the Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer. Starting in the fall of 2011, the Chicago Bliss of the Lingerie Football League will call Toyota Park home.

The stadium hosted its first competitive international with a 2010 World Cup qualifying match on September 10, 2008 between USA and Trinidad and Tobago.

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 artificial 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.^[5]

Also in 2006, it hosted its first international rugby match, USA vs Munster. In 2009, it hosted USA vs Wales.

The concert stage at Toyota Park, as seen during the 2010 B96 Pepsi Summer Bash

Since 2006,^[6] it has been the host venue for Chicago radio station B96's annual summer concert, The B96 Pepsi Summer Bash, and will also be the host in 2011.^[7]

Accessibility

Pace operates the #387 Toyota Park Express nonstop from the Midway Orange Line Station for Chicago Fire matches and special events.^[8]

See also

• Toyota Center (Houston)
• Toyota Center (Kennewick)

References

1. ^ Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–2008. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
2. ^ http://iconvenue.com/portfolio/toyota-park
3. ^ http://iconvenue.com/portfolio/toyota-park
4. ^ http://www.toyotapark.com/venue/facts.aspx
5. ^ "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 2006-06-09. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/55386/b96-announces-summer-bash-lineup-in-chicago
7. ^ "B96 Pepsi SummerBash". b96.radio.com. http://b96.radio.com/events/2011/06/11/b96-pepsi-summerbash/. Retrieved 2011-02-21. 
8. ^ "Toyota Park Express Bus Service". pacebus.com. http://www.pacebus.com/sub/espd/toyota_park_express.asp. Retrieved 2009-05-07. 

External links

Chicago portal

• Toyota Park official website
• Stadium Site at chicago-fire.com
• Atmosphere at Toyota Park

Preceded by Soldier Field

Home of Chicago Fire 2006 – present

Succeeded by current home