Fire president of business operations Dave Baldwin was busy in the leadup to Wednesday’s match against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami.
His phone was, too.
“There has been just a massive outpouring of support and interest,” Baldwin told the Sun-Times on Wednesday morning, hours before the Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane led the pregame Sound the Alarm tradition. “The best example I can give you is my cell phone has been ringing off the hook for the last 24 hours, from local athletes and celebrities who want to sit down by the field today.”
The celebrity players mostly delivered.
The Fire’s Robert Lewandowski scored in the 10th minute and Inter Miami’s Casemiro converted a pinpoint Messi corner kick in the 48th during the 1-1 tie. In front of a franchise-record crowd of 63,094, Messi and Lewandowski both played the full 90 minutes and showed why the Fire and Major League Soccer have invested so heavily in marquee players.
As they proved, both Messi and Lewandowski can still play despite their advanced ages.
Messi (39) started slowly but got into the match late in the first half, eventually mustering four shots on target. He did have a chance for a dramatic winner in second-half stoppage time, but his free kick hit the Fire wall. Lewandowski (38) was generally held in check, but that was after he stuck out his right leg to turn in a precise Andrew Gutman cross for his sixth goal in nine MLS games.
“The assist, it was nice to get on it, but the finish was amazing,” Gutman said. “It’s kind of easy when you just put it in a spot and [Lewandowski] does the rest.”
And then there’s the other benefits, even though neither spoke to the media after the game.
With Lewandowski on the roster, the Fire are averaging 41,815 in three league matches at Soldier Field. Before Lewandowski, the Fire were drawing 19,668 over eight dates.
Wednesday was Messi’s second MLS game at Soldier Field. His first appearance — a 0-0 draw on April 13, 2025 — attracted 62,538. In 2023, Messi was injured and missed the Fire’s 4-1 win, but the event still drew 62,124 after an intense team marketing campaign.
On Wednesday, Messi was still quite the attraction but not the choice of most of the fans. Unlike last year’s Chicago game between the teams, the Fire had a slight majority of the customer support, many of whom booed Messi and chanted Lewandowski’s name. Lewandowski’s applause during pregame introductions was louder than Messi’s, and Inter Miami’s pink and black or Argentina’s light blue were easy to spot but didn’t overwhelm the Fire’s red or other home team paraphernalia.
The fan response Wednesday is one example of why it made sense for the Fire to go after Lewandowski during an already-strong season. Beyond his scoring, Lewandowski’s presence has given the Fire the type of figure to draw eyeballs from around the world.
It also presents logistical challenges similar to what Miami has dealt with during the Messi era. The Fire have had to handle increased ticket demand, the need for extra security and more media requests. Those are good problems to have.
Baldwin said MLS does well to share its best practices for these obstacles during regular calls between team presidents and quarterly Board of Governors meetings.
“Thankfully, this isn’t something that caught us flat-footed, as we had been recruiting Robert for a while,” Baldwin said. “That’s really exciting. It has lived up to the hype. There are a lot of fans who are very excited for Robert and for the club to be having the success we are.”