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“The roar in here ain’t just from the crowd. Something else screams when the lights go low and the organ hits that last, wrong note.”

Location: Near West Side, Madison Street
Established: 1929
Access: Public (ticketed)
Connected Factions: Outfit fixers (bookmaking), Veil-watchers in the maintenance crew, CPD (event security and surveillance)

Description - Exterior

Massive and proud, the Stadium looms like a concrete fortress along Madison. Its limestone facade is stained with decades of soot, and every arch looks like a gate to something bigger than sport. Lines of people wrap around the block on game nights, but no one lingers too long after the final whistle.

Description - Interior

Inside, it’s all brass, concrete, and adrenaline. The seats rattle. The lights buzz. The great Barton organ wheezes through heavy dust. Beneath the floorboards, the air is colder than it should be—people say the pipes hum when no one’s in the booth. There are tunnels that don’t appear on blueprints and a door behind the visitor’s locker room that’s been welded shut since 1943.

Public Face

Officially, the Stadium is Chicago’s home for hockey, boxing, and political rallies. It’s a crown jewel of the Near West, a place where common folks cheer, sweat, and gamble under one roof. Families come for sports. Punks come for fights. Politicians come for photo ops.

What's Really Going On

There’s something beneath the Stadium—something that feeds on noise, motion, and emotion. Every cheer, every punch, every body hitting the boards is a pulse. Some say the foundation was poured on a burial ground, others claim the arena was built to contain a breach in the Veil. Either way, Veil-sensitives report dizziness, déjà vu, and memory gaps after major events.

Notables

"Knuckle" Garvey – Bookie with a press pass. Keeps a ledger in braille no one’s ever seen him read.
Officer Letty Bell – CPD security who watches the crowd more than the rink. Secretly tracks arcane signatures.
Frankie LaRue – The organist. Blind. Claims he’s not the one choosing the songs anymore.
"Slick" Dominic – Fixer for the Outfit who sells floor-level seats and Veil-tainted adrenaline ampules.

Rumors & Hooks:

• A boxer dropped dead in the ring last year—and stood back up ten minutes later, eyes empty.
• Frankie plays a song that makes Veil-marked listeners bleed from the ears. He doesn't know he's doing it.
• Someone found a brick in the foundation carved with a Veil sigil and a date that hasn’t come yet.
• Beneath the penalty box is a room filled with bones—and not all of them are human.
• CPD’s Arcane Division has a sensor rig under section 206. It’s been spiking every game night since March.
• There’s a door in the visiting team locker room that people dream about before they ever see it.
• A masked man in 1933 vanished mid-bout. His name never appeared on any roster. His locker’s still padlocked.
• A spectral audience appears in the upper gallery during eclipses—cheering plays that haven’t happened yet.
• A PC could trace a haunted ticket stub back to the night of a Veil breach—or forward to one about to happen.