Toyota Park

There are not enough bad things to say about Toyota Park.  I came here to see a concert (Carnival of Madness as written about by another user on August 27th).  To give the refresh, there was a concert advertised as rain or shine, that was cancelled after people paid ridiculous rates for parking, the doors opened late, thousands of people were funneled through two ticket takers and a single bag checker and the show started late.  The bands performed admirably in the weather and tried to play on until they got cut off for safety reasons.  

That's fine.  I understand with an outdoor venue where you have laid down metal flooring that a storm would make you end the show early for the safety of the bands and the people.  It's everything outside of that.  The complete lack of professionalism before and after the show and the employees treated you like crap.  It's the mess of a situation they call parking.  And above all else, it's the way they have not communicated with anyone even a month later to say if they are planning to refund of reschedule.  There was an initial announcement made on their website shortly after the show saying they were working on it, but that's the last anyone has heard.  There hasn't been any answer to anyone and on the Facebook page they've actually been deleting comments.

I will NEVER see anything at this place again, and will actively discourage people from going in the future (an act that only Toyota Park and maybe 3-5 other places have ever gotten out of me).

Also, from the complaints I've read on Facebook, this place has failed to be ADA compliant and could face a fine up to $50,000.  Nice job TP.  This place is a black hole of awful.

In terms of sightlines and closeness to the field, Toyota Park is a great soccer park.
In terms of ease of access, it kind of makes me want to scream.

I'm in Milwaukee and often Chicago is the closest place to host international soccer matches - as was recently the case with the USWNT. So we're already talking having to head to the far side of the city to get there - that's fine, I know that when I decide to make the trek.

But it's once you get off the freeway that it's a problem. The two lane state highway is so not equipped to handle the volume of cars. There really aren't other ways to access the stadium due to some canals, especially if you're coming from the interstate. It's 2+ miles of backed up stoplights and people that live in and frequent the area being shocked that 20,000 people are in the middle of their attempt to run errands. It took at least 45 minutes from exiting the freeway (where cars were backed up all the way down the off ramp) to entering the parking lot.

Once you enter the grounds, it's always a little chaotic as to where they're going to send you - this last time we parked on gravel and it had rained recently - it was soft and sloppy and kind of difficult to walk on to get to the stadium itself. It also prevented kids from playing ball and enjoying the pre-game atmosphere.
The stadium itself is surrounded by a chain-link fence and they only allow you in and out in a few select spots, which leads to a pretty big bottleneck. A few more gates should be opened after the game for easier flow of leaving.

Lastly, the entrance you use when you get your tickets from the box office is essentially only for big wigs - if you're not in a suite, you get funneled up a smallish staircase and then bottlenecked right into the middle of a concourse. It's kind of poorly thought-out considering the amount of folks would be using that particular entrance.

But once you're inside, there's really not a bad seat. The stadium feels small and intimate and close and there's no comparison to watching a game there vs. at say Solider Field.

Love it here. Stand in 'Section 8' and yell for 90+ minutes for the Chicago Fire!! Food is always good and beers are as expensive as any other stadium.