Coming on the heels of our debut 2013 webcast (and having worked out a few cobwebs in the process), we’re happy to announce that Wednesday’s preseason friendly vs. the Columbus Crew will be live streamed once again on Chicago-Fire.com beginning at 10:30am CT.

The club always has the desire to live stream preseason games if the venue has the capabilities. Luckily for us, the fine folks in Ave Maria made this possible on Sunday and IMG Soccer Academy in Bradenton, Fla. will do the same for us Wednesday.

Having said that, some venues don’t always have a hardwire connection, making it very difficult to carry a strong webcast. If you have a moment, please take the time to read Jason Dalrymple’s entry on the New England Revolution’s official blog “The Post” regarding this very subject.

Going forward, the likelihood is that the team’s games during phase two of preseason out in California will not have a live video stream but Chicago-Fire.com will at least carry audio of the first team matches vs. Chivas USA (February 5) and San Jose Earthquakes (February 9).

For phase three in Charleston, we’ve confirmed that all three of the Fire’s games at the Carolina Challenge Cup will be carried with the production assistance from our hosts the Charleston Battery.

This means that five of seven 2013 Chicago Fire preseason matches will be carried with live video and all seven will have live coverage here on Chicago-Fire.com.

Happy preseason!

Jeff Crandall

Editor, Chicago-Fire.com