The Roaming Photographer: Soldier Field

Soldier Field Before Renovation

Photo Credit:

https://www.greatbigcanvas.com/view/aerial-
view-of-a-stadium-soldier-field-lake-shore-drive-

chicago-cook-county-illinois,67204/

Soldier Stadium After Renovations
Photo Credit:

https://www.dronegenuity.com/

projects/soldier-field-chicago-il/

1. Former Names: Municipal Grant Park Stadium
(1924 – 1925).
2. Location: Chicago, Illinois.
3. Coordinates: 41.8634o N 87.6167o W(1).

4. Owner: Chicago Park District.

5. Capacity: 66,944 (1994 – 2003).

6. 62,500 (2003 – Present)(2).

7. Acreage: 7 acres (2.8 ha)(3).

8. Surface: Bermuda grass (2022 – Present).

9. Kentucky Bluegrass (1924 – 1970, 1988 – 2022).
10. Astro Turf (1971 – 1987).

11. Broke Ground: August 11th, 1922.

12. Built: 1922 – 1924.

13. Opened: October 9th, 1924.

14. Renovated: 2002 – 2003.

15. Closed: January 19th 2002 – September 26th,
2003 (renovations).

16. Reopened: September 29th, 2003
(renovations).

17. Construction cost: US$13 million (original(3);
$231 million in 2015 dollars)(4).

18. US$632 million (renovations;(5) $1.05 billion

in 2015 dollars(4)).

19. General Contractor: Turner/Barton Malow/
Kenny (renovations)(6).

Tenants:

1. Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football (NCAA)
(1929)(7)(8).

2. Chicago Rockets/Hornets (AAFC 1946 –
1949).

3. Chicago Circle Chikas football (NCAA)
(1966 – 1973)(9)(10).

4. Chicago Cardinals (NFL) (1959).

5. Chicago Spurs (NPSL) (1967).

6. Chicago Owls (CFL) (1968 – 1969).

7. Chicago Bears (NFL) (1971 – 2001, 2003
– present(a).

8. Chicago Sting (NASL) (1975 – 1976).

9. Chicago Fire (WFL) (1974).

10. Chicago Blitz (USFL) (1983 – 1984).

11. Chicago Fire FC (MLS) (1974).

12. Chicago Winds (WFL) (1975).

13. Chicago Fire (AFA) (1981).

14. Chicago Blitz (USFL) (1983 – 1984).

15. Chicago Fire FC (MLS) (1998 – 2005,
2020 – present)(b).

16. Chicago Enforcers (XFL) (2001).

17. Former U.S. National Historic
Landmark.

18. Designated: February 27th, 1987.

19. Delisted: February 17th, 2006.

History

On December 3rd, 1919, Chicago-based architectural firm Holabird & Roche was chosen to design the stadium,(11) which broke ground on August 11th, 1922(12). The stadium cost $13 million to construct (equivalent to $232 million in 2023), a large sum for a sporting venue at the time (in comparison, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum had cost less than US$1 million in 1923 dollars). On October 9th, 1924, the 53rd anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire, the stadium was officially dedicated as “Grant Park Stadium”,(13) although it had hosted a few events before then, including a field day for Chicago police officers on September 6th, and the stadium’s first football game, between the Louisville Male High School and Austin Community Academy High School, on October 4th(11). On November 22nd, the stadium hosted its first college football game, in which Notre Dame defeated Northwestern University 13 – 6(11).

On November 11th, 1925, the stadium’s name was changed to Soldier Field, in dedication to U.S. soldiers who had died in combat during World War I. Its formal rededication as Soldier Field was held during the 29th annual Army-Navy Game playing on November 27th, 1926(14)(15). Several months earlier, in June 1926, the stadium hosted several events during the 28th International Eucharistic Congress.

The stadium’s design is Neoclassical, with Doric columns rising above the East and West entrances(16). In its earliest configuration, Soldier Field was capable of seating 74,280 spectators and was in the shape of a U. Additional seating could be added along the interior field, upper promenades, and on the large, open field and terrace beyond the north endzone(17), bringing the seating capacity to over 100,000.(18)

Chicago Bears move in:

Before they moved into the stadium, the Chicago Bears had played select charity games at Soldier Field as early as 1926, when they played their former crosstown rivals, the Chicago Cardinals(11). The Cardinals also used the stadium as their home field in their final season in the city in 1959.

In 1971, the Bears moved into Soldier Field full-time, originally with a three-year commitment(19)(20). the team previously played at Wrigley Field, the home stadium of the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB), but were forced to move to a larger venue due to post-AFL-NFL merger policies requiring that stadium capacities seat at least 50,000 spectators as well as lighting for potential night games. The Bears had initially intended to build a stadium in Arlington Heights, but the property did not fit the league’s specifications(21).

On September 19th, 1971, the Bears played their first home game at Soldier Field, defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers 17 – 15. In 1978, the Bears and the Chicago Park District agreed to a 20-year lease and renovation of the stadium; both parties pooled their resources for the renovation(22). The playing surface was AstroTurf from 1971 until 1987 and was replaced with natural grass in 1988(23). On February 27th, 1987, Soldier Field was designated a National Historic Landmark. (24)

Replacement talks

In 1989, Soldier Field’s future was in jeopardy after a proposal was created for a “McDome”, which was intended to be a domed stadium for the Bears but was rejected by the Illinois Legislature in 1990. Because of this, Bears president Michael McCaskey announced that he and Northwest Indiana developers agreed to the construction of an entertainment complex called “Planet Park”, which would also include a new stadium. However, the plan was rejected by the Lake County Council, and in 1998, then-Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley proposed that the Bears share Comiskey Park with the Chicago White Sox. (25).

Renovations:

Beginning in 1978, the plank seating was replaced by individual seats with backs and armrests. In 1982, a new press box, as well as 60 skyboxes, were added to the stadium, boosting its capacity to 66,030. In 1988, 56 more skyboxes were added, increasing capacity to 66,946. Capacity was slightly increased to 66,944. During the renovation, seating capacity was reduced to 55,701 by building a grandstand in the open end of the U shape. This moved the field closer to both ends to move the fans closer to the field, at the expense of seating capacity(14). The front row 50-yard line seats were only 55 feet (17 m) away from the sidelines, the shortest distance of all NFL stadiums until MetLife Stadium opened in 2010 with a distance of 46 feet (14 m).

2002 – 2003 renovation and landmark delisting

In 2001, the Chicago Park District, which owns the structure, faced substantial criticism when it announced plans to alter the stadium design by Benjamin T. Wood and Carlos Zapata of Wood + Zapata in Boston. The stadium grounds were reconfigured by local architecture firm Lohan Associate, led by architect Dirk Lohan, grandson of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The stadium’s interior would be demolished and reconstructed while the exterior would be preserved in an example of facadism. A similar endeavor of constructing a new stadium within the confines of a historic stadium’s exterior was done with Leipzig’s Red Bull Arena, which similarly built a modern stadium while preserving the exterior of the original Zentralstadion. Fans and radio hosts, such as WSCR’s Mike North, criticized the small seating capacity of the new venue, and others have criticized the Park District’s lack of care for the field surface after the first seasonal freeze and a refusal to consider a new-generation artificial surface, leaving the Bears to play on dead grass.

On January 19th, 2002, the night of the Bears’ playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, demolition began as tailgate fires still burned in trash cans in the parking lots. The removal of 24,000 stadium seats in 36 hours by Archer Seating Clearinghouse, was the first step in building the new Soldier Field. Nostalgic Bears fans recalling the team’s glory seasons (especially 1985), as well as some retired players, picked up their seats in the south parking lot. The foreman on the job was Grant Wedding, who installed the seats himself in 1979, and Mark Wretschko, an executive for the factory who made the new seats. As Soldier Field underwent renovation, the Bears spent the 2002 NFL season playing their home games at Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois. On September 29th, 2003, the Bears played their first game at the renovated Soldier Field, in which they were defeated by the Green Bay Packers, 38 – 23. The total funding for the renovation cost $632 million; taxpayers were responsible for $432 million while the Chicago Bears and the NFL contributed $200 million(26)(27).

Several writers and columnists attacked the Soldier Field renovation project as an aesthetic, political, and financial nightmare. The project received mixed reviews within the architecture community, with criticism from civic and preservation groups(28). Prominent architect and native Chicagoan Stanley Tigerman called it “a fiasco”(29). Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin dubbed it the “Eyesore on the Lake Shore,”(30)(31)(32) while others called it “Monstrosity on the Midway” or “Mistake by the Lake”(33). The renovation was described by some as if “a spaceship landed on the stadium”(34)(35). Lohan responded:

I would never say that Soldier Field is an architectural landmark. Nobody has copied it; nobody has learned from it. People like it for nostalgic reasons. They remember the games and parades and tractor pulls and veterans’ affairs they’ve seen there over the years. I wouldn’t do this if it were the Parthenon. But this isn’t the Parthenon(29).

Proponents of the renovation argued it was direly needed because of the aging and cramped facilities. The New York Times named the renovated Soldier Field one of the five best new buildings of 2003(36). Soldier Field was given an award for design excellence by the American Institute of Architects in 2004(37).

On September 23rd, 2004, as a result of the renovation, a 10-member federal advisory committee unanimously recommended that Soldier Field be delisted as a National Historic Landmark(38)(39). The recommendation to delist was prepared by Carol Ahlgren, an architectural historian at the National Park Service’s Midwest Regional Office in Omaha, Nebraska, who was quoted in Preservation Online stating “If we had let this stand, I believe it would have lowered the standard of National Historic Landmarks throughout the country. … If we want to keep the integrity of the program, let alone the landmarks, we really had no other recourse.” The stadium lost the landmark designation on February 17th, 2006(40).

Subsequent developments:

On July 9th, 2019, the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer (MLS) announced an agreement with the Village of Bridgeview to release the team from their lease with SeatGeek Stadium, where they had played since 2006. As a result, the Fire returned to Soldier Field for the 2020 MLS season(42).

On June 17th, 2021, the Chicago Bears submitted a bid for the Arlington Park Racetrack property, making a move from Soldier Field to a new venue more possible(43). On September 29th, the Bears and Churchill Downs Incorporated announced that they had reached an agreement for the property(44).

On September 5th, 2022, the Kentucky bluegrass was replaced with Bermuda grass after poor field conditions were noted in an August 13th preseason game(45).

Links and Citations:

1. The Bears temporarily played at Memorial

Stadium at the University of Illinois for the

2002 NFL season while Soldier Field was

undergoing renovations.

2. Jump up to:a b The Fire temporarily played

at Cardinal Stadium (now Benedetti–Wehrli

Stadium) in Naperville,Illinois, from 2002

to 2003, while Soldier Field was being

renovated.

References

1. "Soldier Field". Geographic Names Information

System. United States Geological Survey,