When I was a kid I didn't live in city, but my grandpa had Bears season tickets, so my earliest memories of coming into Chicago involved Soldier Field, being very cold, and not a lot of winning. Now, I commute right past the stadium twice a day. It looks a lot different these days, but I'll always remember it the way it looked in the early 90s, through a child's wide eyes.
The event that actually prompted me to create this cache, however, was a Bears-themed trackable (h/t to Xyval) that we discovered in Hong Kong of all places. It was quite a surprise to find anything related to the Bears so far from home. I was dismayed to find that the TB had made it halfway around the world, but had never visited Soldier Field. I took it upon myself to correct that.
In addition to being the home of the Chicago Bears, Soldier Field plays host to concerts, soccer and rugby matches, the occasional hockey game, and other assorted sporting events and spectacles. Though it lost its designation as a National Historic Landmark in 2006 following a major renovation, Soldier Field continues to serve as one of the most recognizable structures along the Chicago lakefront.
It goes without saying that this is often a HIGHLY trafficked area, with significant security presence during events, so use all appropriate stealth. You are looking for a magnetic container large enough to hold smaller trackables. If you have a physical ticket stub (do those still exist) from an event you attend, consider leaving it as a memento for future cachers. Photos of events encouraged!
From Wikipedia:
History
Soldier Field was designed in 1919 and opened on October 9, 1924, as Municipal Grant Park Stadium. The name was changed to Soldier Field on November 11, 1925, as a memorial to U.S. soldiers who had died in combat. Its formal dedication as Soldier Field was on Saturday, November 27, 1926, during the 29th annual playing of the Army–Navy Game. Its design is in the Neoclassical style, with Doriccolumns rising above the East and West entrances. The stadium cost $13 million to construct ($182 million in 2015 dollars), a very large sum for a sporting venue at that time (in comparison, L.A. Memorial Coliseum had cost less than $1 million in 1923 dollars).
Early configuration
In its earliest configuration, Soldier Field was capable of seating 74,280 spectators and was in the shape of a U. Additional seating could be added along the interior field, upper promenades and on the large, open field and terrace beyond the north endzone, bringing the seating capacity to over 100,000.[18]
Chicago Bears move in
Soldier Field was used as a site for many sporting events and exhibitions. The Chicago Cardinals used it as their home field for their final season in Chicago in 1959. A dozen years later in September 1971, the Chicago Bears moved in, originally with a three-year commitment. They previously played at Wrigley Field, best known as the home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, but were forced to move to a larger venue due to post-AFL–NFL merger policies requiring that stadium capacities seat over 50,000 spectators. They had intended to build a stadium in Arlington Heights. In 1978, the Bears and the Chicago Park District agreed to a 20-year lease and renovation of the stadium. Both parties pooled their resources for the renovation. The playing surface was AstroTurf from 1971 through 1987, replaced with natural grass in 1988.