It’s difficult to remember a time when the rivalry between the LA Galaxy and the Chicago Fire wasn’t lopsided. The Galaxy’s stumbles this season notwithstanding, they’ve come closer to realizing Alexi Lalas’ oft-mocked goal of ‘superclub status’ than they had any business doing. Meanwhile, the Fire have stagnated commercially and competitively, staggering downward steadily since the ‘Aughts until they’d gathered consecutive Wooden Spoons.
But it wasn’t always so. In the league’s formative years, the rivalry between the co-owned clubs in Los Angeles and Chicago was one of MLS’ first driven both by on-field outcomes and off-field factors.