On Wednesday, the Chicago Fire announced that owner and CEO Joe Mansueto had purchased a second team—FC Lugano, an 113-year-old club from the Italian-speaking portion of Switzerland that currently sits third in the Swiss Super League table.
Mansueto and Fire Sporting Director Georg Heitz, who will now oversee both clubs, talked at length with reporters in Chicago on Thursday about what the purchase will mean for the Fire, and what we can expect going forward.
“The basic premise is that we could combine and leverage our sporting resources with partner clubs,” Mansueto explained. “Maybe there’s some front office synergies, but that’s not really front of mind.