Tribesoft Scores with Launch of Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire Website

Chicago, IL, April 11, 2003 - Tribesoft, a full service marketing solutions agency, and the Chicago Fire jointly announced the re-launch of the Major League Soccer team's official website, chicago-fire.com.

The site, one of the premiere soccer portals within the United States, debuted today, the weekend before the Fire kick off their 2003 season. The site re-launch marks the sixth time Tribesoft has been chosen to design and develop the teams official web presence.

"We have been partners with the Chicago Fire since their inception into Major League Soccer, six years ago, which has provided us with an extensive insight and immeasurable experience in how best to meet their online marketing and communication goals," notes Tribesoft CEO Tony Passero. "We have tapped into this expertise to develop a showcase site for the Fire in 2003-a site that will continue to put forth innovative interactive offerings."

Features found within the site include match recaps, player rosters, player stats, man-of-match polls and unique streaming video content exclusive to the Fire site-such as highlight goals and post game interviews.

Tribesoft video team will provide continuous visual services through the Fire's 2003 campaign including post-game interviews and live match photography, which in turn will be used within the new site.

As part of the all-inclusive agreement, Tribesoft developed a suite of dynamic, custom content management tools, which allow Chicago Fire marketing and communications personnel to update content on the site in real time.

"The biggest challenge of the Chicago Fire Website lies in the time sensitivity of its content," said Tribesoft Technologist Jeremy Margaritondo. "Because soccer coverage in the U.S. on other mediums is so scarce, the web is the main source of information for Fire fans. From daily press releases to real-time game notes, everything needs to be live on the site in a minutes notice. The need for the timely delivery of this crucial information required us to build a series of real-time administrative tools for the site. The ultimate goal is to give the Fire staff the flexibility to update content directly on the web from anywhere in the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

"Tribesoft's dedicated and creative work allows us to interact with our fans at a world-class level," said Steve Pastorino, Senior Director of Marketing for the Fire. "We're excited this year to debut a new look and update some of our fans' favorite features. More than ever, it will remain the number one source for information about the Fire."

"Some of the challenges we faced in the redesign of the 2003 Chicago Fire Website involved coming up with a fresh and engaging design that properly complimented the vast amounts of information available on the site," said Tribesoft Creative Director Joseph Kaput. "Every year we challenge ourselves to 'out do' the site from the previous year. It is not purely an aesthetic challenge, but an information design challenge, as we continue to add features with each version of the site, such as the new dynamic events calendar and an automated man-of-match poll slated for this year. We want to excite and entice the new fans but also make it relevant and useful for the diehards."

"The growing popularity of Major League Soccer combined with the many achievements of the Chicago Fire and its dedicated online fan base makes this interactive partnership a perfect fit," states Shannon Kemp, VP of Tribesoft. "We are excited to continue our relationship with one of the league's premiere teams in order to deliver the website Chicago Fire fans turn to for information on their favorite team."