The Chicago Fire will enter 2020 not just in a different home venue, but also with different ownership. On Friday afternoon, the club announced that minority owner Joe Mansueto has purchased controlling interest in the club from Andrew Hauptman. Mansueto, the founder and executive chairman of Chicago-based investment research firm Morningstar, will take over sole control as chairman of the Fire effective immediately.



The purchase ends Hauptman’s 12-year tenure as owner of the Fire and comes at an already-transformational time for the franchise. The Fire recently finalized an agreement to amend their lease with the Village of Bridgeview to allow them to leave SeatGeek Stadium in the Chicago suburbs and return to the city, and the club’s original home of Soldier Field. The Bridgeview exit deal will cost the Fire $65 million over the next two decades, including a $10 million payment up front and installments due through 2037.



“What the Fire has...