Reinsdorf and Wirtz are joined at the hip because of their co-ownership of the United Center. I would find it highly unlikely that Wirtz would allow the Hawks to swear allegiance to Marquee and jeopardize his long term partnership with Jerry Reinsdorf. I also believe the Hawks are already locked in with NBC Sports Net for the foreseeable future.

The Cubs will be looking for many different products to fill airtime on the new network. I would think they will probably be more aggressive in tempting the Bears in house to produce all their pre and post game shows and weekly NFL analysis breakdowns. Since the Bears can't actually own a RSN, it makes sense for the Cubs to persue that relationship.

The Detroit angle you mention, that's more a rumor stemming from Sinclair buying up all of these Fox Sports RSN's around the Country. They may set them selves up so all these regional markets share programming. But they need to figure out a way around MLB's blackout rules first.

Any idea how Minor League Baseball or the Arizona Fall League fits into this station? Do the Cubs own those rights or do the individual Minor League affiliates?

I think MLB owns the rights to the AFL.

phew! it looks like the threatened name change is only to change "SC/soccer club" to "FC/football club". no big deal.

the new logo on the other hand, not a fan. i always liked the original florian cross logo as an homage to the fire department.

oh well, at least the "Fire" name is staying, and they'll be back in the city next season. losing the old logo is a small price to pay, i suppose.



original logo on the left, new one on the right.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/resiz...5NMJHR2AOU.jpg

I prefer the new logo myself. Someone worked hard on trying to pack a lot into a very simple form.

I see a minimalist fire symbol
A reflection of a skyline in the lake
6 points referencing the 6 pointed star from the city flag
a cross shape referencing the old cross logo

The new logo is kinda poopy but honestly what does a soccer club have to do with the fire department anyway? I think the Florian cross logo was pretty inappropriate from the start. The name is an hommage to a historical event not literal current day taxpayer funded fire fighters.

looks like a corporate logo designed out of town

ding

Under Consideration has a pretty good (and brief) critique:

Brand New / Chicago Fire

"One of the biggest social arguments against it is the use of a gold crown, a symbol associated with one of the most vicious gangs in the U.S., the Latin Kings, which originated in Chicago — so, yeah, that’s something that could and should have been avoided."

Exactly what I thought when I saw it... the majority of their fanbase are Latinos and they didn't consider this little problem? Out of touch

Is that for sure? I don't see how that can't be in the eye of the beholder and why it need have been one of the other. The Florian cross and name could come to represent either the event or former/current city firefighters without much contradiction.

But yea, the new emblem looks pretty weak.