Riot Fest announced Wednesday that it is moving to SeatGeek Stadium in the southwest suburb. The music festival will run from Sept. 20-22 — conflicting with the Sept. 21 Red Stars-San Diego Wave match. The decision drew ire from Red Stars leadership, which is now scrambling to find a new home for a nationally broadcast match in a whiplash moment only days after drawing a league-record crowd for a match at Wrigley Field.

“It’s devastating,” team President Karen Leetzow told the Tribune. “It’s devastating to have to go from that kind of a high to this kind of a low, to tell your staff and players that this is the level of respect we’ve gotten immediately after delivering that event.”

Bridgeview mayor Steven Landek first informed the Red Stars in early May of a potential need to vacate the stadium for the Sept. 21 game. Following an initial conversation, the Red Stars never received a follow-up or logistical support from the mayor’s office, even after reaching out for clarification, sources told the Tribune. The Red Stars found out Bridgeview was moving forward with plans to use the stadium on that date when a lawyer with Riot Fest reached out to the club earlier this month in regards to signing a contract with the village. The Tribune left a message for Landek seeking comment on the situation.

The current lease allows for SeatGeek and the city to host ancillary events at the same time as Red Stars games. However, the lease specifies that the stadium must be available for the specified use, which includes parking and accessibility to the stadium. The scope of Riot Fest raises other concerns — for instance, how noise pollution from a multistage festival could interfere with the ability of a referee to officiate the game as well as the safety of players, staff and fans coming and going to the stadium — that led the Red Stars to feel it would be impossible to host the previously scheduled game.

As of Wednesday, the Red Stars had not received any information on the logistics of how the events would be able to coexist on match day or even how Riot Fest planned to use the space.

The Red Stars have not located a new venue for the match and aren’t certain they will have an appropriate replacement on the same date. The Cubs play host to the Nationals on Sept. 21 at Wrigley Field while the White Sox will be on a six-game swing in California, leaving Guaranteed Rate Field unoccupied. Neither the Bears nor Fire plays at Soldier Field on that date, but sources told the Tribune that the Red Stars have been informed the stadium will not be available. Even if the Red Stars find an appropriate replacement venue, the cost could be prohibitively steep.

If the Red Stars are able to find a new location for the game, the club would want fees and costs to relocate and broadcast the match nationally to come from the involved parties forcing their game out of the stadium. But the club has not received any assurances that either party would contribute to mitigate these costs, sources told the Tribune.

The game holds heightened stakes for the Red Stars and the NWSL as it is slated for a national broadcast on Ion. This complicates the logistics for use of the parking lot amid the festival. Only five of the remaining Red Stars regular-season games are scheduled for a national broadcast.

“It is unfair and unfortunate to have our club put in this situation, shining a light on the vast discrepancies in the treatment of women’s professional sports versus men’s professional sports,” Leetzow said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring our players and fans have a first-rate experience on and off the pitch, and we are working diligently to find a solution that will ensure our September 21st game is a success.”

The conflict comes at a turning point for the Red Stars, who on Saturday drew a league-record 35,038 fans at Wrigley Field for a match against Bay FC.

Photos: Chicago Red Stars set NWSL attendance record at Wrigley Field

The Red Stars have played at SeatGeek since 2016. The stadium’s distance from the city center and lack of transit access have been key points of criticism for the franchise as the team continues to slip behind competitors in attendance. The Chicago Fire in 2019 paid more than $60 million to leave SeatGeek for Soldier Field.

The Red Stars’ SeatGeek lease will expire at the end of 2025. New ownership helmed by Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts has made it clear that relocating the franchise to a stadium inside the city limits is a driving goal for the organization.

Riot Fest — which will be headlined by Beck, Public Enemy, the Marley Brothers and Fall Out Boy — had been a source of contention for residents in North Lawndale since its relocation to Douglass Park in 2015, and before that with locals in Humboldt Park since 2012.

The event included a doubleheader with a WAAC softball game at 6 p.m. between teams from Fort Sheridan and Camp Grant near Rockford, followed by an all-star baseball game at 8:30 with players from the four original All-American Girls Professional Baseball League teams (the Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets, South Bend Blue Sox and Rockford Peaches).

To help light the field for the later game, three banks of temporary lights were installed on poles situated behind home plate, first base and third base.

Yes, in the first night game held at the North Side ballpark, it was women who took the field. They would play a second night game there the following year.

More than 80 years later, two professional women’s teams made history again.

Neither rain nor wind nor rapidly dropping temperatures could keep fans away from Wrigley Field on Saturday evening to see the Chicago Red Stars play Bay FC in a National Women’s Soccer League game. The 35,038 fans in attendance broke the league record of 34,130 set last October at Seattle’s Lumen Field for Megan Rapinoe’s final regular-season match.

Gallagher Way, the enclosed grassy area outside of Wrigley, was a festive scene. Families moved about excitedly while a DJ played tunes.

As I looked around, every other person was wearing a shirt or hoodie that read, “Everyone watches women’s sports” — a mantra and a call to action. The momentum of women’s sports is growing across leagues as college and professional sports see tremendous growth in viewership, attendance and interest.

Cheryl and Clair Rollman-Tinajero, along with their kid Rowan, traveled from Austin, Texas, to be part of the moment.

Photos: Chicago Red Stars set NWSL attendance record at Wrigley Field

The Rollman-Tinajeros’ love of women’s sports has taken them to San Jose, Calif., for Bay FC’s home opener, to Kansas City, Mo., for the opening of the KC Current’s CPKC Stadium and to Dublin to watch the Irish women’s national team play Sweden.

“Anytime we can be part of making history for women’s sports, we’re excited,” Cheryl said. “We’re excited every day that we get to wake up and support women in any industry, but to be part of something historic, we are absolutely excited.

“I really am going to cry. When you empower women, you change the world. There is no world that we know of without women. And we have had a really tough time for the last, oh, a couple centuries, getting the boot off of our necks. Anytime that the world can see how much women matter, it’s an important event. Anytime that we can personally contribute to empowering women, we contribute to changing the world and that is a huge thing.”

Decked out in denim vests covered in NWSL and soccer patches from their shop, Odd Colored Sheep, the Rollman-Tinajeros were all smiles as they handed out stickers and patches to other supporters and waited in line for their turn at the photo booth to commemorate the historic occasion.

“Part of what drew us to soccer and women’s soccer is the community is such a great, supportive group,” Clair said. “We travel around rooting for the home team. We don’t have a home team but would like NWSL to come to (Austin). Everywhere we go, though, everyone is just so open and welcoming to us, and that’s the coolest part.”

Though parts of the baseball field were still obvious along the first-base line, Wrigley Field had been transformed. The famous scoreboard displayed NWSL scores, and the flags on the outfield poles were those of the league’s teams. Shops throughout the ballpark were selling Red Stars apparel made for the once-in-a-lifetime game. No detail was spared.

When players from both teams took the field, they were met with raucous applause. Fans were a little damp and cold, but their enthusiasm was unaffected. Behind the Cubs dugout, Red Stars supporters held flags, sang and beat drums while hardly ever sitting down.

“Oh, when the Stars go marching in! Oh, when the Stars go marching in! Oh, lord, I want to be in that number, when the Stars go marching in!” they sang.

Defender Kiki Pickett scored in the 25th minute for Bay FC, with her shot from outside the box finding the bottom right corner of the net, and Joelle Anderson scored what became the deciding goal in the 79th minute as Bay FC earned a 2-1 victory.

Twenty-five years after her father, Denny Hocking, hit a home run at Wrigley Field as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Red Stars forward Penelope Hocking scored in the third minute of extra time. Fireworks went off behind the ballpark. Though the game had been decided, the crowd erupted. The home team lost, but the game was a victory for the NWSL, women’s soccer and women’s sports in general.

Pretty cool when your daughter @penelopehocking reps your MLB jersey to an @NWSL game at #WrigleyField @chicagoredstars pic.twitter.com/MKAoA9VBAu

— Denny Hocking (@bigleagueswings) June 9, 2024

“We taught (our kids) to be the ripple,” Cheryl Rollman-Tinajero said of the importance of showing up to support women’s sports. “You never know the impact you’re going to make when you throw a stone. We are the stones. We don’t know what the ripple is going to do when it hits the shore.”

As the crowd took to the streets after the game, fans sang, danced and took photos. A few told me they hope the Red Stars return to Chicago from suburban Bridgeview for good soon so they could enjoy more moments like that. For many in attendance, it was more than a game.

“Seeing women take up space that they absolutely deserve to show off and show how incredibly talented they are, it’s fantastic,” Rowan Rollman-Tinajero said. “I’m a little bit biased. I love (Red Stars goalkeeper) Alyssa Naeher with my entire being. She’s just such a badass.

“I don’t want to play soccer but it makes me feel like I could do anything. Seeing women coming into the spotlight now makes me feel like I can take up space and be important.”

Anderson’s shot from close range found the net to the bottom right corner past Red Stars goalie Alyssa Naeher as Bay FC took a 2-0 lead. Penelope Hocking scored in the third minute of extra time for Chicago, but Bay FC (4-0-8) held on and won for the second time in its last three games.

Defender Kiki Pickett scored in the 25th minute for Bay FC with her shot from outside the box finding the bottom right corner of the net.

Saturday’s announced attendance broke the former National Women’s Soccer League record of 34,130, set in October 2023 at Seattle’s Lumen Field for Megan Rapinoe’s final regular-season match.

The game also marked the first professional women’s sporting event at the ballpark since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League hosted the stadium’s first night game in 1943.

With the win, Bay FC avenged a 2-1 loss to the Fire on May 5. With 12 points, Bay is tied for 10th place in the 14-team league.

They came, they saw, they made history at Wrigley Field!

Red Stars vs. Bay FC highlights presented by @Nationwide pic.twitter.com/6CWN444McG

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) June 9, 2024

Photos: Chicago Red Stars set NWSL attendance record at Wrigley Field

The match drew 35,038 fans, setting a National Women’s Soccer League record. Seattle Reign FC held the previous record at 34,130 for Megan Rapinoe’s final regular-season appearance on Oct. 6, 2023.

The club hopes to set a National Women’s Soccer League attendance record — and, in the process, pave the way for women’s soccer to stay in the city for good.

The Red Stars announced Friday morning that they were “nearing” the NWSL attendance record, set by the Seattle Reign at 34,130 for Megan Rapinoe’s final regular-season appearance on Oct. 6, 2023. Wrigley Field could hold several thousand more, with a capacity of 37,000 seats after the stadium was reconfigured for the Saturday match against Bay FC. The team had sold 22,000 tickets when it provided its last official update May 23.

For longtime Red Stars players such as goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, the excitement surrounding the match feels like a sign of changing times under a new ownership group helmed by Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts.

“My first year here (in 2016) we were training in Oak Brook on polo fields,” Naeher said during a news conference Friday. “The trunk of my car was my locker room. So we’ve come a long way. To now have the opportunity to play here at Wrigley is certainly not something that I had on my bingo card of things that were going to happen in my time here in Chicago. But Laura (Ricketts) has come in and she’s worked hard and she’s tried to make a lot of changes — meaningful changes.”

Chicago is one of the longest-standing women’s soccer markets in the country, hosting the Red Stars since 2006 when the club was founded in the now-defunct Women’s Professional Soccer. But for the entirety of that tenure, the team’s home sat more than a half-hour outside the city at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.

The Red Stars have played in Chicago only once in their NWSL history — a 2022 match at Soldier Field that drew a club-record crowd of 23,951 for a doubleheader with the Chicago Fire. But that could change after the team’s lease with SeatGeek ends in 2025.

Establishing a venue within city limits is a crucial goal for Ricketts and team President Karen Leetzow, who told the Tribune in February that ownership has entered the initial stages of locating a new home for the team. And when the Bears and the White Sox this year rolled out proposals for publicly funded stadiums, the Red Stars pushed to join the conversation, a movement that since has earned interest from Illinois legislators.

“Women’s sports need to have a seat at the table,” Leetzow told the Tribune. “We need to be in the mix because otherwise we’re just going to end up chasing our tail around how to grow women’s sports. If you’re a politician, what better way for you to leave a lasting legacy in the state of Illinois or the city of Chicago than to do something that’s never been done, which is provide meaningful funding for women.”

Attendance has been a key issue for the Red Stars throughout their NWSL history. The team drew a franchise-best 5,863 fans per game in 2022, but that still was the fourth-lowest in the league. And as expansion franchises such as Angel City FC continue to lead the way, the Red Stars are only falling further behind, drawing the lowest average attendance in the league in 2021 (3,143) and 2023 (4,848).

The Chicago Fire have benefitted from such a move since the franchise paid more than $60 million to leave SeatGeek for Soldier Field in 2019, breaking a lease that was supposed to run through 2036.

While the pandemic limited the early gains of that move, average attendance jumped to a franchise record 18,170 in 2023 despite the fact the team finished 10-14-10 and missed the playoffs. The move also positioned the Fire for moments like last season’s match against Inter Miami, which drew 62,124 fans despite a no-show from international star Lionel Messi.

For the Red Stars, a potential move into the city is about more than just ticket sales. The team is still striving to establish a stronger foothold in Chicago. After attending Cubs and Bears games, Naeher cited simple differences — being able to take the red line, seeing fans flock to local bars and restaurants before and after games — from the experience the Red Stars currently offer in Bridgeview.

“As a player, it would be great to have a stadium in the city,” Naeher said. “You can feel the energy around the stadium even prior to the game. That’s what being in a city does. That’s what that energy does, that environment does. Just from that perspective, it would be amazing to be down in the city and just have it be more of an event rather than just a game.”

That stadium experience is still out of reach for the Red Stars — but Saturday will offer a glimpse at how the future could look with women’s soccer inside city limits.

Chicago (3-8-6) won for the first time since a 2-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo on April 6.

Gutiérrez intercepted a pass near midfield and raced toward the goal before he rolled a shot from 25 yards out that ricocheted off the post before rolling into the net to give the Fire a 2-1 lead in the 61st minute. The 20-year-old Gutiérrez, a homegrown in his fifth MLS campaign, has four goals this season, matching his career total coming into 2024.

LA (7-3-7) had its six-game unbeaten streak snapped and lost for the first time since a 2-0 loss to Austin FC on April 27.

Riqui Puig converted from the penalty spot in the seventh minute to give the Galaxy a 1-0 lead but Cuypers ran onto a failed clearance attempt and poked a sliding shot into the net from point-blank range to make it 1-1 in the 38th.

Chris Brady had three saves for Chicago.

Novak Micovic had two saves for LA in his second career start.

The U.S. squad steadily found its rhythm, with Davidson and the Chicago Red Stars’ Swanson breaking through in the first half and again in the second.

The international goals were Swanson’s first since returning from a knee injury that kept her out of the 2023 World Cup.

At times, Hayes paced along the coaching box as she looked on. She clapped on goals and near-misses. Sometimes, she retreated over to the bench to chat with assistant coach Twila Kilgore.

The 47-year-old Hayes was brought on board in November but joined the team this week in Colorado after finishing out the Women’s Super League season with Chelsea. She’s trying to quickly learn the roster before picking a team for the Paris Games this summer.

Hayes’ mission is simple: Restore the dominance of a U.S. team that’s coming off a disappointing finish in last year’s Women’s World Cup. The early exit led to coach Vlatko Andonovski resigning from the U.S. team.

A capacity crowd showed up at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to cheer on a lineup with an average age of 25.5 years, the youngest Starting XI for the USWNT in more than two years. One fan brought a sign that read, “In Emma We Trust.”

MALLORY SWANSON pic.twitter.com/DDXjDQ9tLO

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) June 1, 2024

The win improved the U.S. women’s national team to 12-0-4 in games against South Korea. The teams will meet again Tuesday in a friendly in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Captain Lindsey Horan nearly got the U.S. on the scoreboard midway through the first half. But the flag went up for offsides just before her shot went in.

It was a sign, though, that the team was getting on the same page.

Swanson scored in the 34th minute courtesy of a give-and-go with fellow Coloradan Sophia Smith. In the 38th minute, Davidson made it 2-0. The defender scored early in the second half and Swanson added another in the 74th minute.

South Korean goalkeeper Kim Jung-mi was kept busy all afternoon.

Earlier in the day at the stadium, the U.S. women’s deaf national team beat Australia 11-0 behind a six-goal performance from Emily Spreeman. It marked the first U.S. extended national team doubleheader with the senior national squad.

Hayes and the team are gradually getting to know one another. She’s meeting with all her players in 15-minute segments and hopes to have the chats finished up soon.

There’s not a lot of time before Hayes has to pick an 18-player roster for the Paris Games. She could select the team before a pair of friendlies leading into the Olympics, one against Mexico at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey on July 13, and another versus Costa Rica at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., on July 16.

DC Power Football Club, a Washington-based women’s team set to begin play this summer in the United Soccer League Super League, announced Reese as the first member of its ownership group on Tuesday.

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“I’ve always wanted to impact sports, not just women’s basketball,” Reese said Tuesday. “I’ve always said I wanted to have part ownership of something. Obviously, basketball is my main thing, but growing up in the DMV area, I’ve loved sports, always, so being able to be a part of the Power FC soccer (team) is going to be so cool. I’m invested in soccer. A lot of my friends play soccer as well. I’m super excited for this partnership, and a lot of young black women don’t have these opportunities.”

Reese, who grew up near Baltimore in Randallstown, Maryland, said talks to join the ownership group started around the time she decided to leave LSU for the WNBA. A three-time All-American, Reese led LSU to the 2023 NCAA championship and this year’s Elite Eight, after two seasons at Maryland.

Power FC is one of eight teams set to play in the USL Super League’s inaugural season, which opens in August. Eight more teams are scheduled to join in 2025 or later, pending the completion of stadium projects, according to the league’s website.

“I know a lot more women are going to start owning more things,” Reese said. “Hopefully, one day I can own my own team. That’s what I’m looking forward to. I want to own a WNBA team as well.”

An unorthodox proposal filed earlier this month, which faces long odds of passage before lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn the spring session on Friday, calls for the state to set aside an unspecified amount of funding for a women’s sports stadium if Illinois helps finance a new home for the Bears, the Chicago White Sox or any other men’s pro team.

While the legislation is ambiguous in parts and likely to change if it comes up for a legislative vote, it strikes on the issue of equity, politically popular among Democrats, that many Illinois elected officials have raised in recent months as the Bears and White Sox have come to the statehouse with their hands out.

It also comes amid a heightened interest in women’s sports and as owners of the Chicago Red Stars women’s soccer team, including Chicago Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts, have been steadily but quietly making a case that the public could help build a new stadium for the National Women’s Soccer League club.

“Anytime we talk about anything in this building, we talk about equity,” the bill’s main sponsor, Democratic state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado of Chicago, said during an interview in the state Capitol. “So if there were something that would come together in the future, if there was an appetite for it, we have to make sure we’re talking about it in terms of equity.”

Still, even supporters of the proposal say it is in its formative stages.

“This is, I think, a very nuanced situation,” said co-sponsoring Rep. Kam Buckner, a Chicago Democrat whose district includes both Soldier Field where the Bears play and the nearby land where the team wants to build a domed stadium and outdoor lakefront pavilion. “And so because there are still more questions than answers, because this is different, we’ve got to take our time and get it right.”

The most important part is for women’s sports to be a part of the conversation, he added.

In its current form, Delgado’s proposal would require the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority — which holds hundreds of millions of dollars of debt related to the construction of Guaranteed Rate Field three decades ago and the renovation of Soldier Field two decades ago — to issue “some bonds … to fund facilities for professional women’s sports” if any future bonds are issued for any men’s team.

If there was no ongoing women’s stadium project at the time, those funds would be reserved for future use, according to the proposed legislation.

Such an arrangement, including selling bonds for an unspecified purpose, is relatively untested, a bond expert said. It also likely would require even more tweaks to state law to become reality.

“I don’t recall seeing a provision like this with other entities we rate,” said Eric Kim, a senior director with Fitch Ratings who covers Illinois.

While the proposed structure wouldn’t necessarily have “direct credit implications” for ISFA or the state, there could be other issues at play, Kim said.

“There are IRS rules about how quickly tax-exempt bond proceeds must be spent so that might be a limiting factor here,” he said.

As for whether Gov. J.B. Pritzker would support Delgado’s proposal, the governor “believes everyone deserves a seat at the table and remains open to discussions about how to make that possible,” spokeswoman Olivia Kuncio said. “He will thoroughly review any bill the General Assembly sends to his desk.”

Pritzker has been highly skeptical of providing public assistance for the Bears’ nearly $5 billion plan for a domed stadium on a revamped lakefront south of Soldier Field — a proposal his office called a “non-starter” in its current form after a meeting earlier this month — and a new White Sox stadium on The 78 development south of Roosevelt Road along the Chicago River.

But the governor has taken a friendlier tone toward Chicago’s women’s soccer club while also remaining noncommittal.

When asked last month about the Bears’ request for more than $2 billion in public support for its stadium and related infrastructure improvements, Pritzker replied, “What about women’s sports?

“Very little has been talked about, about the Red Stars, for example, who have asked to be heard on this subject.”

In addition to getting a cold shoulder from Pritzker, the Bears’ plan also has received a cool reception from House and Senate leaders in Springfield after being unveiled last month with great fanfare and a ringing endorsement from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Though state legislation has yet to be introduced, the Bears’ plan calls for ISFA to issue $900 million in bonds for the lakefront stadium, refinance about $430 million in its existing debt for previous projects, and take out about $160 million more to set up a so-called liquidity fund. The fund is supposed to cushion the city of Chicago from future shortfalls in revenue from the 2% city hotel tax that was established when ISFA was created to cover the cost of the borrowing.

The Bears’ plan, which would require legislative approval, calls for the debt repayment to be stretched out over 40 years. Should that happen, the project could be paid for without raising the hotel tax, according to the Bears, who plan to contribute $2.3 billion in private financing for the stadium portion of the project.

All of that borrowing would leave little, if any, room for additional bonding to pay for a Red Stars or a White Sox stadium project. And that’s part of the issue Delgado’s proposal seeks to address.

“The intent here is to say, if at any point in the future there is a decision made to increase bonding, to put together any kind of stadium deal, that we are talking about equity as we move forward,” she said.

In response to questions about ISFA’s position on the proposal, CEO Frank Bilecki wrote in an email: “Throughout the United States, there is growing momentum to develop facilities specifically for women’s professional sports teams. The Chicago Red Stars presented a thoughtful presentation on their plans for a new stadium to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority and we look forward to further discussions with the Red Stars.”

In a statement, Red Stars President Karen Leetzow thanked Delgado and the proposal’s other supporters for “fighting for equity to ensure that women’s professional sports teams always have a seat at the table when there are discussions about public/private partnerships.”

“Over the last century, as local and state governments have invested in professional sports stadiums, women’s professional teams have never been included,” Leetzow said.

The Red Stars currently play at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, a publicly financed facility originally built for the Chicago Fire men’s soccer team.

Debt incurred for construction of the stadium, completed in 2006, has long strained the village of Bridgeview’s finances, though payments from the Fire to buy out its lease after the team decamped for Soldier Field ahead of the 2020 season have at least temporarily eased the burden.

The current state budget includes $4 million in capital funding for improvements to SeatGeek Stadium, though none of the money has been released to the village, according to the state comptroller’s office.

Chicago Tribune’s Olivia Olander contributed. Gorner reported from Springfield.

In the 57th minute, Jenna Nighswonger crossed the ball to Esther González at the far post. The forward volleyed it back across the goal for Williams, who headed in her record-setting goal and gave Gotham the lead.

Williams surpassed Sam Kerr’s record across all competitions.

The Red Stars (5-4-1) equalized in the 74th minute when Penelope Hocking pounced on a loose ball off a free kick, scoring for the third game in a row.

Ella Stevens headed in a 90th-minute corner kick to help Gotham (4-2-3) extend its unbeaten streak to five games.

Rose Lavelle, who missed the first four matches with a leg injury, started for the first time since signing with Gotham in the offseason and played 61 minutes.