The Chicago Red Stars had a scheduled game bumped from their own home stadium for a punk rock music festival — and they are ticked off about it.
Wednesday, Riot Fest announced that it was moving its annual September festival from Douglass Park, a location inside Chicago city limits, to SeatGeek Stadium in suburban Bridgeview, Il.
The Red Stars, who play in the NWSL, immediately lashed out about their scheduled game against the San Diego Wave on Sept. 21 getting usurped.
“It is unfair and unfortunate to have our club put in this situation, shining a light on the vast discrepancies in the treatment of women’s professional sports versus men’s professional sports,” Red Stars president Karen Leetzow said in a statement.
“We are committed to ensuring our players and fans have a first-rate experience on and off pitch, and we are working diligently to find a solution that will ensure our September 21st game is a success.”
The Red Stars are majority owned by Laura Ricketts, who co-owns the Cubs with her brother, Tom Ricketts.
The Red Stars just played a game at Wrigley Field this past weekend, but the iconic venue is unavailable as the Cubs are hosting the Nationals that weekend.
Soldier Field, the home of the Bears, is hosting the HBCU Chicago Football Classic, which will feature Morehouse versus Kentucky State, that day.
The White Sox stadium Guaranteed Rate Field is a theoretical option.
The Red Stars already have logistical issues at SeatGeek Stadium: it is an inconvenient commute for people who live on the north side of Chicago and for those in the northern suburbs, which are the areas in the region with more affluent families that the team would presumably covet as fans.
Laura Ricketts has already been vocal about wanting to find a new venue.
“We knew right from the beginning — like, rewind back almost a year and a half ago when we started considering acquiring the Red Stars — we knew that the current [stadium] situation was not the ultimate long-term solution,” she told ESPN before the latest snafu. “And really, the key to unlocking the door for this organization would be to solve that.”
The Chicago Tribune reported that the Red Stars may seek legal action over the Riot Fest conflict.