CHICAGO RED STARS - UNITING THE SOCCER COMMUNITY
The Chicago Red Stars were born as “Chicago Professional Women’s Soccer” September 4, 2007 along with six other charter franchises of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS). The gestation period for CPWS was more than two years as it began as an idea of FC Indiana owners Gary and Dale Weaver and Shek Borkowski.
The FC Indiana owners brought in long time Chicago Fire President and General Manager Peter Wilt in early 2006 to lead their efforts to establish a Chicago team in the new fully professional league. The group spent the next six months assembling a broad based ownership group that included a unique partnership with the Illinois Women’s Soccer League, so the team would represent the entire Chicago soccer community.
INVESTOR AND PARTNER GROUP
The Chicago Professional Women's Soccer, LLC investor and partner group includes a cross section of the area's soccer and business leadership. The team’s management group consists of Gary Weaver, Jim Willett, Arnim Whisler and Red Stars President/CEO Peter Wilt. The 20,000 member Illinois Women's Soccer League (IWSL) has signed on as a partner that will provide many of the benefits of ownership to the many young girls and women who play soccer in the state. In addition to the IWSL, the team's leadership includes shareholders John (Jack) Cummins, Robert and Susan Morrison, Jim and Kathi Willett, Dale Weaver, Gary Weaver, Pin Ni, Dong Li, Arnim Whisler, Dean Egerter, Stephen Ritchie and Peter Wilt.
HOME FIELD
The 20,000 seat TOYOTA PARK is the home of the Chicago Red Stars as well as the Chicago Fire Major League Soccer team.
THE ORGANIZATION
Peter Wilt, who served as the founding General Manager of the Chicago Fire and led them to an MLS Cup and three US Open Cup Championships in his eight seasons with the MLS club was hired as the team's founding President and CEO. The team's General Manager, Marcia McDermott, was hired January 8, 2007 and in turn hired the Red Stars first Head Coach, Emma Hayes May 15, 2008.
THE NAMING OF THE RED STARS
The team name and logo unveiling occurred at a ceremony at Toyota Park June 4, 2008. The choice of Red Stars supported the popular vote of a two-month Name-the-Team Sweepstakes that saw the fans lobby overwhelmingly for Red Stars from ten nominated names, all of which incorporated the city of Chicago's civic lore.
As a part of the fabric of Chicago and its diverse soccer community, it is appropriate that the team takes its name, colors and logo from the City of Chicago’s Municipal Flag. The flag elements in the logo include the four six-pointed red stars, which each represent a landmark event in Chicago history: Fort Dearborn, the Great Chicago Fire and the World’s Fairs hosted by Chicago in 1893 and 1933.
THE FIRST RED STARS
The Red Stars first player rights were acquired in the USWNT allocation September 16th that gave the team the WPS rights to Carli Lloyd, Lindsay Tarpley and Kate Markgraf. The Red Stars then added five players from the international draft September 24: Brazilian Cristiane, England’s Karen Carney, Australia’s Heather Garriock and Sweden’s Carre Jonsson.
IWSL PARTNERSHIP
The Red Stars partnership with the Illinois Women's Soccer League provides the youth and adult soccer league all the benefits of an equity partner in the team. The team will provide a complimentary ticket voucher to two games of their choice to each IWSL member, which, when combined with projected companion ticket purchases, will provide a solid support base for the Red Stars ten game home schedule at TOYOTA PARK.
The team’s goal is to create a community based team that reflects the values and goals of the Illinois women's soccer community. The team will commit to using Illinois players, hosting clinics statewide and partnering with essentially 20,000 young owners to make Illinois' pro women's team truly ILLINOIS' team.
Having IWSL as a partner and member of our advisory board will provide the team with an ear into the youth soccer community. It will also allow the IWSL to provide guidance to the team, which will keep the soccer community's best interests in mind, when making major decisions involving the club. The team’s goal is to use the strength of a community based team to become the premier team in the League and the premier women's team in the world.
Having professional women's soccer in Chicago for the first time provides aspirational heroes for tens of thousands of girls throughout the Midwest. The IWSL players are able to interact up close with professional soccer players in a variety of unique opportunities allowing them to become better players. IWSL currently represents more than 20,000 girls and women of all ages playing across the state in 135 soccer clubs.
Following are some of the benefits of the partnership with the IWSL:
- IWSL will be granted many of the benefits of ownership in the team representing the first time a youth soccer organization has been involved in a partnership with the ownership of a professional women's team.
- IWSL will have representation on the team's Advisory Board
- IWSL will receive promotional benefits from the Red Stars.
- Each IWSL member across the state will receive two ticket vouchers each season to see the Red Stars play.
- IWSL will promote group, individual and season tickets within its membership.
- The Red Stars will serve as IWSL's sponsorship agency of record and designate IWSL youth programs as beneficiaries of the Chicago Red Stars Charitable Foundation.
- Annual statewide coaching and youth clinics for IWSL members.
- The Red Stars will include a minimum of two players on its roster who have played previously on an IWSL member club during their youth.
