Building the Fire - Bring Guest Services In-House

There are a number of administrative layers working behind the scenes for any Fire game.  Toyota Park Guest Services, Monterrey Security, and the Chicago Fire Soccer Club have representatives working in various areas of customer support and safety.  Guest Services typically plays the liason role, acting as the first responder when issues arise, and escalates issues to security or the club depending on the situation.  Currently, this creates a disconnect in customer service, with many complaints about inconsistent enforcement of policies and varying degrees of overall satisfaction.  It would be in the club's best interests to bring all of these functions under in-house in the interests of consistent policy enforcement as well as customer service. 

Outsourced security only has one focused motivation: minimize liability.  Keep the event safe and no one gets hurt.  With a CYA mentality, security quickly develops a policing posture, and this is exactly what is occuring.  While fans are known to misbehave at times, there are always numerous complaints of over-zealous or outright rude security personnel.  By bringing these functions in-house, the club can exert more control over hiring and cultivate a better quality experience, focusing on full-time staff with soccer experience.  Guest Services and Security are on the front lines of customer service, and their interactions with fans are too frequent and too important to be left to an outside company.