Alyse LaHue (second from left) was an intern who rose to become General Manager of the Chicago Red Stars (NWSL photo)

Alyse Lahue, the General Manager of the Chicago Red Stars, has been with the women's professional soccer league since its inception in 2007. Studying under former Chicago Fire Executive Peter Wilt, LaHue learned the secrets of building a successful franchise. Last year, the Red Stars earned their first berth in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) playoffs.

In 2016, the team moves back to its original home, Toyota Park in Bridgeview, also the home of the Chicago Fire. The only soccer-exclusive stadium in the country, the stadium seats 20,000. Token Female spoke with LaHue recently regarding the team's plans, and how to capitalize on the success of last year's Women's World Cup and breakout season.

1) What brought about these conversations to return to Toyota Park? The Chicago Red Stars were drawing well at Benedictine University, which was at about 3,000-4,000 capacity Benedictine University is a great, intimate-sized venue that suited our needs in the first years of the league as we regained our footing playing professionally. Fans had unrivaled access to players there, which is something you won’t see in any other venue in our league, let alone any other pro sports experience. But as part of a professional league, we have grown in each year, and always had on our horizon a move to an actual soccer-specific pitch. Toyota Park is obviously the best in Chicagoland, so they were our primary target. 2) What brought you back, ultimately? What made this deal right? Mayor Landek, Toyota Park General Manager Deb Augle, and the rest of the Toyota Park staff really made us feel welcome at the end of the 2015 season when we played our last two home matches there. They were really conducive in helping us make sure it was the right fit this time around to be able to make the leap. And obviously it has to be cost-effective, which they’ve taken great strides to make work for us. With the ongoing turf discussion happening in the women’s game right now, it really was the perfect time and it’s the right choice for our club and our league.

3) There are 20,000 seats to fill at Toyota Park. How are you planning to fill them? As in 2009 and 2010 when we played at Toyota Park, we won’t be utilizing the entire stadium. We plan to use just half, which will accommodate around 7,000 fans. Obviously that is a major leap from our 4k average this past season, but part of the reason for moving was to hopefully expose our club to new fans, more traditional fans that want that pro experience, and even folks from the city who will have an easier time getting to Bridgeview. Game in and game out fans have an opportunity to see our USWNT World Cup champions at the most cost-effective rate a pro experience can provide in a world class venue, along with free parking, and there’s always players that stay postgame to sign autographs. So for the experience vs the cost, there just isn’t a comparison.

4) You've had some pretty heavy retirements over the past season....goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc, Shannon Boxx, and particularly, Captain Lori Chalupny, who just made it official this week. Who will be stepping up in 2016, and where will you be looking for leadership? I think that’s a wait-and-see question! We’ve had some losses to retirement and made some big changes this off-season, but we have a core of players that have still been with us for many years like Michelle Lomnicki and Alyssa Mautz. We’ll see our ’next generation' of players start to step up into leadership roles, like third-year pro, and Naperville-native, Vanessa DiBernardo.