Owner and Chairman Joe Mansueto Introduces Gregg Berhalter as Chicago Fire FC Director of Football a

And it's a super exciting day for the Chicago Fire, a historic day as we introduce Gregg Berhalter as our new Director of Football and Head Coach. As mentioned, Gregg is the 10th coach in Chicago Fire history, and you all know Gregg. He's a very accomplished person in the world of soccer. I think he's one of the most talented sporting leaders, head coaches in North American soccer, and we're just honored and delighted to have Gregg join us. And I have no doubt that he will take our organization to the next level in terms of performance. And he's just been a pleasure to work with, and I couldn't be more excited to have Gregg join us.

I thought I'd do a couple things in my few minutes before I turn it over to Gregg. I want to just give you a little background on the search process, how we came to find Gregg. And so the way it began was in August, Georg Heitz, now our former sporting head, came to me and said he wanted to head back to Europe at the end of the year. And this was no surprise. Georg, as soon as he started five years ago, he said his eventual plan was to get back to Europe, so it was kind of not a total surprise to me. But we immediately went to work, and we knew we didn't have much time. The preseason starts in January. We wanted to give whoever we brought in enough time to be able to work on the roster, look at the organization, make changes. So we wanted to get somebody in as quickly as possible.

So three of us, Georg Heitz, Eddie Rock, who is our head of football operations at the Fire, and myself, put together a list of candidates. And we came up with a list of 80 candidates who we thought would be good for the role. That's both inbound people, we had just tremendous interest around the world for this role, so inbound from overseas, throughout MLS, and then we proactively identified a large number of candidates. So we had a pool of 80 candidates, and then we narrowed that pretty quickly to three. We didn't want to have a huge interviewing process. We wanted to aim really high, get our three best candidates. If that didn't work, we'd go back to the well and start again. But let's start with three. And we set a goal to ideally get somebody in by October 1st, again, give them plenty of time to work on the roster.

Gregg was on that list. We brought him into the office and interviewed him. We spent three hours with Gregg, and he just did a phenomenal job. I think after the interview, we all walked out of there and said, 'That's our guy.' So very impressive in the interview. Subsequently, we spent a couple of hours at my house. Gregg came over. I think he interviewed me as much as I interviewed him. He said it was a no-brainer in the video to join the Fire, but believe me, he had a lot of questions. And so we spent a lot of time. We made Gregg an offer. Fortunately, he accepted. That was on a Friday a couple weeks ago. Saturday, he came over to my house, spent a couple hours working on the roster. So as soon as he signed, he was over at my house working on the roster. This guy is all in. So it was super exciting to see the drive and the commitment.

So why did we choose Gregg? So I've known Gregg for three to four years now. And as soon as I bought into the Fire five years ago, Gregg was kind enough to reach out to me and suggest lunch. And we got together for lunch. And even on that first lunch, I was super impressed with his knowledge of the game. And I got to know Gregg over the subsequent few years. We'd have lunch occasionally, get together. He's got just such a deep background in the sport, as you know, over 30 years experience both as a player and as a coach. So he's played in Europe, the Bundesliga, the Premier League, ended his career at the LA Galaxy. He's played in MLS, so wide variety of experience as a player. And then as a coach, he coached in Sweden, and he coached in MLS with the Columbus Crew for five years. Four out of those five years, he got to the playoffs. One year was a runner-up in the playoffs for the MLS Cup. And then he's best known for his work with the US Men's National Team, where I thought he just did exemplary work getting the US to qualify for the World Cup out of the group stage. I thought he just did a phenomenal job with the US Men's National Team.

So super impressed with his background. And all of that, you can just see in terms of his knowledge of the game, his understanding of the game. He just operates at a different level. He's also super analytical, very process-oriented, very methodical. He doesn't shoot from the hip. He's very careful in his decision-making, does his research, and then is very decisive. He also has a very large network, you know, having played the game and coached the game in Europe, in the US. He's seen the game from multiple perspectives and has built up a large number of contacts around the world, which I think will be beneficial to the Fire. He literally has a global brand, which is, you know, very impressive. He's also a strong leader and communicator, gives very clear instructions. And I like the way he leads. He does things, for example, with the Men's National Team, I was impressed where he took the team out to California, trained with the Navy SEALs. To do things like that, I think is a real sign of a great leader, trying to learn from other leaders and how you can always get better. And I think will help galvanize our team.

He also has deep ties to Chicago. He's raised his family here, so he's, you know, connected to the club more than a lot of other candidates. He knows the city, he loves the city, and I think will represent the city very well. And then finally, and hugely important to me, was I wanted somebody who wanted this job as much as we wanted them. That they weren't doing it just for the money or for any vacation in the US. That they really wanted this opportunity, that they saw the potential in the Fire. We're often called the sleeping giant in MLS. We're a top three market. We should be up at the top. And we wanted somebody who had real heart for that. And Gregg really exemplified that.

So a couple just quick things before I turn it over to Gregg. One, I want to thank Georg Heitz, who's been our sporting director for five years. I know we've had mixed results on the field, but Georg is leaving the organization much stronger than he found it five years ago. He's built up our academy, we've added the reserve team, he's helped with the performance center that we're about to, the Endeavor Health Performance Center that we're about to bring online. You know, a number of key signings: Hugo Cuypers, Carlos Terán, Jhon Durán, who's not with us, well, is already one of the highest transfers ever in MLS. And if Aston Villa sells him, as they plan to soon at the number they want, he'll be the highest transfer ever in MLS. So he's done a lot of good. He'll continue to be in the Fire family with Lugano, on the board of directors of Lugano. So a heartfelt thank you to Georg for all that he's done for this organization.

I also want to thank Frank Klopas. Frank has been fantastic. If there's anyone who loves the Fire more than Frank, I've not met this person. Frank is just so enthusiastic about the club, loves the club. And as soon as we mentioned to Frank the possibility of bringing Gregg on, he got behind it 100%. And he said, 'You got to get this guy. You got to get this guy. I'll step aside.' I still want to be part of the organization, which he will. And he was very active and a key part in helping to recruit Gregg of the club. So a huge thank you to Frank for all he's done. He'll remain Vice President of Football Operations and work developing talent across all of our teams, being a bridge to Lugano, helping acquire new talent, developing talent. So we didn't want a ceremonial role for Frank. We wanted a very meaty, important role, and that's what we came up with.

And then so just a couple quick things. One is just reflections on this season. I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't address that. And obviously very, very disappointed in the outcome with the season. It did not at all meet our expectations, which was at a minimum is to make the playoffs and then to have a deep run and contend for championships. So we did not make that goal. So just a lot of disappointment. And it wasn't due to a lack of hard work. The guys worked very hard, coaching staff worked very hard, but for whatever reason, did not yield for us on the pitch. And it's a collective responsibility, me more than anyone. You know, the buck stops here, as Harry Truman said. But it's all of us. It's not one person. But just very disappointed with the outcome in the season.

But at the same time, I'm very excited for next season. It's not far away. Preseason in January. You know, a lot of things to be excited about. We'll have Gregg on board to lead the sporting organization. We have the new Endeavor Health Performance Center coming online in December, which I think will be a game changer. Five and a half soccer fields in the heart of Chicago, Roosevelt and Ashland. So you can imagine from a player perspective, it'll feel like a new club. Instead of going out to Bridgeview, you go to our own performance center, the first time the club has owned its own performance center. Brand new skyline in the background, the heart of Chicago, new leadership. So it's going to feel like a new club to players, which I think will give us a boost.

Our academies, if you look at the talent we're developing, Gregg and I are both excited about developing talent. We're in a very rich market here in Chicago. But our academies are doing well. Our U-15s won the national championship last year. We have four U-15s on the national team. I think the next club is two. So we've got a lot of young talent coming up through our academies. Gary Lewis does a terrific job there. Chicago Fire 2 in the playoffs, come out Sunday, see them play Orlando in their first playoff game. So the reserve team is doing well. So there's a lot of up-and-coming talent. And you've seen we want to promote talent: Chris Brady, Brian Gutiérrez. So we want to make sure that's a key part of our future.

And then finally, finally, I'm confident we're on a path to have a team that represents the city of Chicago, that reflects our values. We aspire to be a world-class soccer organization, and I think with all of these things, new leadership, we're definitely on a path to get there. And I have a high degree of confidence you'll see a new, re-energized Fire come 2025. So with that, let me turn it over to Gregg. Thanks.

Thank you, that's a good question. Thank you, Joe. You know, we initially were looking to just fill Georg's spot, sporting head spot, and that's the path we went down. As I mentioned, we had three candidates, one from abroad, two we invited from the US. But we were just thinking of the sporting role. When we came across Gregg, he expressed a desire to do both, sporting head and head coach. While that was not initially our intention, because of who Gregg is and he succeeded in this dual role before, we were confident that it would work under Gregg's leadership. And from my perspective, what I wanted to do, what I try to do, is create an environment where people can do their best work. And if he can do his best work as Director of Football and Head Coach, so there's this seamless connection, I'm fine with it. And he'll build underneath him an organization to offload the things, obviously you can't do two full-time jobs, but he'll build an organization around him. And I have every confidence he can do that.

Why don't you take this?

But I'll give you a little other perspective. As I mentioned, he came over to my house the day after we signed to work on the roster. So he's at it right now. I know January 15th is not far away, but he's got targets in mind. You know, it's happening right now. So stay tuned. I think you'll hear more in the offseason. We want to be active in the transfer market. So more to come.

We're glad you live in Chicago. That worked out. Thank you for doing this, gentlemen.

Thanks. Yeah, I've really enjoyed my five years in MLS. The league has changed dramatically since I came in in 2019. It's grown like this, you can't see my hand maybe Brian, but you know, up and to the right. It's been strongly growing. You know, the arrival of Messi, the Apple deal, Leagues Cup, a loosening of the roster rules to allow more spend. I'm super excited about MLS. You know, I've learned that success on the sporting side doesn't come overnight. It's a journey. I think we're laying the foundation. I wish it would come sooner. I hope it's in our near future. But you know, building the performance center, getting the right leadership, all of these things take time. And there is no magic playbook. There's no book you follow these 10 steps and you're going to win the MLS Cup. You know, there's an art to all of this. You can look at a roster individually, the players look terrific. When you put together, you know, there's an art to that. And does it gel or does it not gel? And even when you evaluate acquisitions, you look back and, you know, a player may have performed in a certain way in a certain environment with other players around that player, your target. And you know, that coach, that league is different. And you know, cultural change as you move people, it's a real art, you know, to identify talent, bring them here. And you know, it takes really experienced people who can try and weigh all these things. And it's a batting average game. No one bats 100% on their acquisitions. And so what you want is a high batting average. And every time you sign a player, you see the positive and you don't know what really could go wrong. And so again, it's been, I guess I've learned it's taken a little longer than I thought. I think we're on the right path. The business side is more in my wheelhouse. I think there we're doing a great job. Dave Baldwin, our president, is in the back there on his phone, I can see, doing deals. But the business side is humming under Dave's leadership. You know, now I think we've got great sporting leadership, we've got the performance center coming online. And so I think we're getting there. But I think I've learned it's a journey. It's nothing you can snap your fingers and you've got overnight success.

You want to start? Sure. So on our stadium situation, as you know, we play in Soldier Field, an iconic stadium, a wonderful stadium. I know there's some folks from Soldier Field here today. But at the same time, it has limitations. We have to be honest. We share the stadium with the Bears, concerts, and so the warm summer days and fall days are really precious, and we'd love to have as many of those days as possible. But we often get conflicted out with the Bears and concerts. And so we prefer not to have to play on the bookends when it's cold in Chicago in the winter, early spring, or late in the fall. And so the scheduling, you know, is certainly an issue with Soldier Field. Certain sponsorship categories are blocked out. You know, non-game day access to the pitch is sometimes an issue. So those are the limitations. And so we are active and looking for a stadium, a soccer-specific stadium for the Fire. So we've been doing site tours, we're looking around. And to me, it's the last piece of the puzzle with this club. You know, when I came in five years ago, we revamped, you know, well, we moved first to Soldier Field, which was a good move. You know, we've revamped the business side under Dave Baldwin. Now we have new sporting leadership. We have the Endeavor Health Performance Center coming online. The last piece is the stadium, and we don't have the optimal solution there because of the limitations I referenced. And so having our own soccer-specific stadium is what we'd like to see. And so we're actively pursuing that. And if we can find the right parcel in Chicago, I think we'll move forward on it.