Red Stars break NWSL attendance record with packed Wrigley Field

Wrigley Field was the site of NWSL history on Saturday, via a match between the Chicago Red Stars and Bay FC

The Red Stars’ home game broke the NWSL’s single-game attendance record with 35,038 fans in the 110-year-old stadium, the team announced in the second half. The previous record was 34,130, held by the Seattle Reign before the final game of Megan Rapinoe’s career.

Although Wrigley Field typically has a capacity of 41,649, the modifications needed to turn it into a football field dropped that number by a few stadiums. Still, the stadium was fairly full, even as rain poured down on the Chicago fans.

The competition also yielded the little things. Maybelle Blair, a pitcher for the Peoria Redwings of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, provided the game ball. One person also noted that whoever maintains Wrigley Field’s iconic flags had replaced the MLB teams with the NWSL standings.

In the clubhouse, Red Stars star Mallory Pugh was surprised with flowers in her locker from her husband, Chicago Cubs star Dansby Swanson.

Equipping Wrigley Field for football was no small undertaking. A time-lapse shows that a sizable grounds crew had covered much of the infield dirt and foul area with grass the previous day:

The Red Stars and Cubs have a connection through their ownership, as Red Stars owner Laura Ricketts is a member of the Ricketts family that has controlled the Cubs since 2009.