Chicago Fire FC Owner Joe Mansueto Sits Down with Kylen Mills

It's great to be here. Thank you, Kylin.

Well, our current sporting director, Georg Heitz, came to me in August and said he wanted to head back to Europe. So as soon as that happened, we kicked off a search. We had a tremendous amount of interest in the role. It's a very desirable role. We heard from people all over the world, and we had a pool of about 80, a little over 80 candidates. Some that we sourced, and many that came inbound from people across the league, people globally, all super well qualified. Then what we did is we narrowed that to a short list of three candidates that were extremely well qualified, and we invited those three candidates for interviews. And one of those candidates was the person who succeeded in the interview process: Greg Berhalter. I had known Greg for a long time, and so as soon as the role opened up, I immediately texted Greg and said, 'Hey, I know you're available. We'd love to have you come interview.' And he responded right away. We got him into the pool, and then he made it to that short list. And that's how it began.

It was not easy, Kylin. There were 80 very well-qualified candidates. And so we wanted really someone who had a demonstrated record of success as a manager, somebody who knew MLS but at the same time was plugged into the global soccer world, because that's a big part of recruiting talent. Somebody who was a good leader, who had good leadership skills, could motivate and excite an organization. And then somebody who had heart for Chicago in some way, that this just wasn't another job that they were taking or doing it for the money or vacation, but had heart for Chicago, saw the potential in what we're doing, and really wanted us as much as we wanted them. And so we went through the list, we narrowed it to three. It was hard. And we invited three candidates back, as I mentioned. But another factor was just the time pressure. You know, we wanted to get somebody in early because preseason starts next January, mid-January. So it's not a long time. We have to make a lot of roster decisions, and we've got to recruit talent. All of that takes time. So the sooner somebody can get in here, the better they're going to do next year.

I think it was mainly the interview process. You know, we asked them, 'What's your vision for the Fire? Why does this role appeal to you?' What was critical for me was somebody who really wanted this project, they really had heart for Chicago, the potential that this club has, and really wanted to be all in on the project.

Well, as I mentioned, I've known Greg for a number of years. As soon as I bought into the Fire in 2019, shortly thereafter Greg reached out, wanted to have lunch. And so I had lunch with him. We kept up the relationship, would have lunch every so often. And from the very beginning, I was super impressed with Greg, just his deep knowledge of the game. He's got over 30 years of experience both as a player and a coach. So he played in Europe in the Bundesliga and the Premier League, ended his career with the Galaxy in LA. And then as a coach, he coached in Europe in Sweden, he coached in the US at the Columbus Crew, where for four out of the five seasons the Crew made the playoffs under his leadership. So demonstrated record of success. And then the US Men's National Team, what he's probably best known for. So we've seen the world of soccer from outside us, inside us perspective, just multiple perspectives. And then he's just got again such a deep knowledge of the game. He's super analytical, very process oriented, methodical, a high level of drive. The guy works super hard. Then he's got great leadership skills. He's a student of leadership. He's always looking at great leaders, what he can learn from them. I was impressed, for example, he took the US Men's National Team out to California and they trained with the Navy SEALs, doing things like that to really kind of uplift the players. I thought that's a great leader doing things like that. That's a guy, if I were a player, I'd want to have someone like that as a coach. And then finally, he's a Chicagoan. You know, he's raised his family here. He has deep ties to the city. He sees the potential in the club and really wants to take us to one of the top clubs in North America.

Our visions for the club are very much aligned. I mean, that was a key thing in bringing him on. The way he articulates it, and I agree with, is we want to have one of the top clubs in North America. You know, there's no reason we can't be up there with all the other top clubs in MLS and in North America. We have all the building blocks to do that. And he thinks we've got a strong foundation to build on. We've got the new Endeavor Health Performance Center coming online soon, so he's super excited about that. We've got our Academy, which is performing very well. Our U15s won the national championship last year. We have four U15s on the national team. I think the next club only has two. So a really strong Academy, and all the other age groups are doing well. Our reserve team, Chicago Fire II, just made the playoffs. And we both believe in developing homegrown talent and building that up. You can see with our current squad, Chris Brady, Brian Gutierrez, homegrown players. We have a very rich market here in Chicago for talent. And Greg is very good at identifying that talent and developing that talent. And so our visions for where we want to take the club are very much aligned.

For me, being a top club in North America means you're consistently making the playoffs and competing for the MLS Cup every year. And not only the MLS Cup, but we actually compete for four trophies in MLS. So it's the MLS Cup, it's the Leagues Cup, Supporters' Shield, and Open Cup. So you want to be vying for those four trophies year in, year out. And then even more broadly, beyond MLS, within North America, the CONCACAF region, so the CONCACAF Champions Cup, competing for that. Being seen as a desired club to be at for players in North America and around the world, that they can come here and thrive and play their best soccer. And then finally, to have a great connection between our club and the fan base. And you see that in some clubs where there's a really tight connection, and the fans come out, lift the club up, and it's truly a club where people feel as one with the team. And so really building that type of tight connection with all of Chicago to support the club.

We were thinking of replacing Georg Heitz, the sporting director. So in our minds, we were replacing the sporting director. When we came across Greg, his preference was to do both roles. And so we called an audible. And we had such belief in Greg. And the way I look at it is, I want to create an environment where he can do his best work. And if he can do his best work doing both roles, then I think that's a structure we ought to consider. And we went then explored that and got comfortable with it. Frank was super excited about the prospect of bringing Greg aboard, was willing to step aside. Not only that, he went and helped recruit Greg to the role. They've been friends for a long time. And so I think everybody quickly got behind that. For this person, we'd make an exception to what is the norm across MLS, as you noted, of separating these roles and having a dual sporting director, head of football, and head coach. And so I think it's more because of who Greg is, rather than we set down that path initially.

Yeah, that's one thing he said to me right away. He said, 'If I'm going to do both roles, I can't work 24 hours a day. I need a staff under me.' You know, it's two full-time jobs. And so the key is surrounding yourself with talent, and he can offload a lot of those duties. But he is the decision maker. And as you pointed out, it removes that friction potentially between a head coach and a sporting director about what players to sign and movement of players. And so I can see advantages to the role. And he made a strong case for it, and we got comfortable with it.

I think he was excited about Chicago as a market. We're a top three market. We're often referred to as the sleeping giant in MLS. New York has two teams, LA has two teams. Chicago's got one team, one of the biggest soccer markets in the country. So the potential in this market is huge. So that's a foundation. He sees our fan base as a huge asset. We've got a big, committed, engaged fan base. But then the other things, you know, we've touched on some of these: the Endeavor Health Performance Center, it's coming online at the end of the year. Five and a half grass fields, just a beautiful facility at Roosevelt and Ashland, so right in the heart of Chicago. So it's pretty rare for an MLS club to train right in a city. Talking to players around the league, they're usually far out, and then you might play downtown. And having both your stadium and your training center right in the heart of Chicago, I think is going to be a huge advantage in attracting players and making this club a world-class club. And then of course the Academy again, I think is performing well under Gary Lewis. I think Greg will do more to have a consistent style of play up and down the various teams, from the earliest Academy team to Chicago Fire II to the first team. And I think he'll do more driving that consistency, so then players can have more fluidity moving up and down between the teams. So he sees a lot of building blocks, and he sees the ambition of this whole organization, and he's excited about that. So a nice alignment of vision, and he sees a lot he can build on, and he's all in. It's so interesting: when we signed him on a Friday, he signed his employment agreement Friday afternoon. Saturday he was over at my house for two hours working on the roster. This guy is all in.

You know, we're going to come back better, stronger, more competitive. This year obviously was a disappointment. You know, we have high standards. We always want to make the playoffs at a minimum and be vying for championships. So next year we'll come back bigger, stronger. You know, we'll continue to build out the whole organization. You'll see us active in the transfer market in the offseason. One of Greg's advantages is he's got a very broad network globally, in the US. He knows a lot of players. He's had a lot of inbound already because he's here from players. And so I think you'll see us very active to strengthen the squad, both offensively and defensively. We hope to do more with homegrown, so you know, watch on that front as well. But he's eager to get in, kind of look at every facet of the organization and drive excellence in it. He's all about excellence. So he'll do a total review of the organization: performance, analytics, scouting, all of these areas. And if they're not up to his standards, he's going to raise them up. And this guy, he's got an intensity about him. And so I think everyone is going to have to really double down, and he'll lift the performance of this whole organization.

That's our aspiration, Kylin. We play, as you know, in an iconic stadium today, Soldier Field. It's a wonderful stadium, but it has its limitations. The main limitation is getting enough summer dates. We conflict in the late summer, early fall with the Chicago Bears. We have concerts in the summer. Those are our prime days, nice warm days. And so conflicts with concerts and the Bears. And then also certain sponsorship categories are blocked out. So it's got its limitations. And so we aspire to have our own soccer-specific stadium. So we're searching now for if we can find the right parcel of land. With our interest level, it's very high at having our own stadium. So hopefully you'll see news on that front in the coming year or two.

I want to thank our fans. You guys have been phenomenal, and we really appreciate all of the support, coming out in the cold weather, the hot weather, the rain, the snow. You've been so committed to the club, and you've been phenomenal. So just a heartfelt thank you. We know we've fallen short this season. We take that very personally. I do, this coaching staff, all of the players. You know, it's a collective responsibility, me more than anyone. And so my pledge to you is we're going to double down. We're going to come back. We're going to work harder in the offseason to have a much more competitive club, an exciting club that we can all be proud of, that reflects the city's values, reflects this great city of Chicago, and then is consistently vying for championships and certainly making the playoffs. And so we want to get on a path to get there as soon as we can. And as Greg puts it, to have one of the top clubs in North America. So we're going to be pushing as hard as we can to get there next year. So watch us in the offseason. I think you'll see a lot of news come out from the club that'll be exciting. And then we look forward to seeing everyone at Soldier Field in 2025.

It'll be fun. Yes, I'm looking forward to it.