What is the biggest threat to a sports team’s legacy? Often the answer can involve things like cheating scandals or rumors of widespread performance-enhancing drugs. The answer is usually not “long-running heavy metal bands” — and yet, after a recent concert at Chicago’s United Center, that’s precisely what happened to the Chicago Bulls.
It’s worth stating here that the damage to the Bulls’ legacy is, in this case, very literal. As is the case for many teams’ home venues, the rafters of the United Center abound with banners celebrating the Bulls’ triumphs over the years. And when you’re the team that Michael Jordan played for for over a decade, you’re going to have a lot of victories to show for it. Even if, for the time being, the banners commemorating those victories are being repaired.
As Julia Poe reported for The Chicago Tribune, the heavy metal band Disturbed headlined a concert at the United Center last weekend. As large-scale concerts often do, this one featured pyrotechnics — and a few days later, United Center staff noticed that some of the banners had been damaged as a result.
Poe writes that the banners honoring the Bulls’ six championship wins showed “significant heat damage” and have been temporarily removed for repairs. Unfortunately for Bulls fans, the timetable for those repairs means that the banners won’t be back until after the current NBA season ends.
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“While the banners will not be in place for the remainder of this season, we do anticipate them being back in place next season,” a representative from United Center told the Tribune.
As Consequence’s Spencer Kaufman pointed out in a report on the aftermath of the banners’ removal, Disturbed’s frontman donned a Bulls jersey at one point during the fateful concert. The band also described the United Center as “a bucket-list venue” in a post on social media, which makes the whole thing that much more awkward.
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