Illinois-Northwestern at Wrigley Field

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Jike Spingleton

Jike Spingleton

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ESPN will be broadcasting College GameDay from Wrigley Field in advance of Saturday's Illinois-Northwestern game.

While this is a fun idea, especially with all the football history at Wrigley, the field alignment is very poorly done, resulting in literally NO room between the back of the end zone and the outfield wall, which seems to have padding (with lame fake ivy), but still, they had to hang the goal post from the wall:

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The field alignment, compared to Yankee Stadium for this Saturday's Army-Notre Dame game:

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I don't know if the addition of seats closer to the field prevents it, but for safety reasons, it seems they should've stuck to the football dimensions the Bears used when they played at Wrigley:

wrigley-field-chicago-bears-football.jpg
 

Left field is closer now and permanent.
 

Wow, that is a tight squeeze. I'd hate to be running along the back end zone right to left and have to go high for a ball. You could literally have to be scraped off the fence. Ouch.

That said, I think that would be a fun game to go see. I love Wrigley Field.
 


The least they could have done would have been not to put the Allstate logo on the fake ivy. It just highlights that the ivy is fake. Either go with plain pads with ads or fake ivy without ads.

Having the wall right on the back of the end zone is going to get in the way of passes to the back of the end zone. If you have to catch a pass at the back of the end zone, you're hitting that wall hard. And someone could easilly brush the pads, and thus be out of bounds.
 


Wrigley is a complete crap hole, I would never go there to watch a football game.
 

the field fits a little better that way perhaps. the notch in right is a little further out than the notch in left

i think the brick walls have been in place since the 1930s, with renovations happening behind the walls. can't tell when the picture was taken of the bears field. could have been in the 1920s through the 1960s. hard to tell, but looks more like a 1960 photo. if it is, the field dimensions should be the same as today

don't know why the bears used this config. the posts were on the goal line back then, maybe it was easier to add seating along the sidelines when configured like that or maybe end zones weren't that important?
 

I hate having football games in baseball stadiums. The layout for the game at Yankee stadium isn't much better. The fans are so far away from the action.

FootballField3blog.jpg
 

Ski U Master said:
Wrigley is a complete crap hole, I would never go there to watch a football game.
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It's nicer than Ryan Field.

I'm just excited to have Big Ten football in my neighborhood for a day, and even more excited that it's on the Gopher bye week.

Tickets aren't going for cheap so might just soak up the festivities in the bars.
 




Is it still possible for the Cubs to choke this game away?
 

NateDawgUM said:
It's nicer than Ryan Field.

I'm just excited to have Big Ten football in my neighborhood for a day, and even more excited that it's on the Gopher bye week.

Tickets aren't going for cheap so might just soak up the festivities in the bars.
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Is the Red Ivy still the Gopher bar on Clark? Also wondering if the Skate at Wrigley is going to be open again this year. Wondering if its worth skating there with the rink outside the ballpark.
 

The Bears played at Wrigley for about 50 years.

Old Met Stadium was the only field used for NFL games that had the benches for both teams on the same side of the field.

To the point at hand, I, too, think this is stupid.
 



Isn't ESPN Gameday going to be there? Thought I read that earlier.
 

Soldier Field

Why isn't this being played at Soldier Field. The only way I could see a game at Wrigley Field would be if Northwestern and Illinois had hockey teams. BTW, what happened to the hockey games at the Bank? It has been 2 years now and nothing.
 


maroonfive said:
Why isn't this being played at Soldier Field. The only way I could see a game at Wrigley Field would be if Northwestern and Illinois had hockey teams. BTW, what happened to the hockey games at the Bank? It has been 2 years now and nothing.
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Because Northwestern is using the hoopla surrounding the event to build buzz and interest in their program. Play it in Soldier Field and you might sell it out, but A) it'll be full of Illinois fans not Northwestern fans and B) it'll be just another college game in a sterile pro environment.

Northwestern increased their season ticket base by 50% off this game. You had to have season tickets to get a ticket to this game (exceptions being the Illinois visitor allotment and a small allotment for Cubs ticket holders). They then used the game to get coverage and buzz from the Chicago media since the day it was announced. And now they get a free infomercial for the school in GameDay coming to town. The other great thing about increasing their season ticket base like this is the fact that people actually started coming to games at Ryan Field too. They aren't packing the joint, but their improved play is growing their base in a way they haven't seen recently.

Plus, this fits their new marketing scheme of being "Chicago's Big Ten Team". Wrigley, one of the classic icons of Chicago, is purple for this weekend. They even repainted the iconic red sign purple. This game has been a huge boon for Northwestern. All in all its a great move by Northwestern.
 

tikited said:
Is it still possible for the Cubs to choke this game away?
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As a Cubs fan that is a low but ok blow. Persa's already hurt. It wouldn't surprise me if something else happened though
 

vinko bogataj said:
Is the Red Ivy still the Gopher bar on Clark? Also wondering if the Skate at Wrigley is going to be open again this year. Wondering if its worth skating there with the rink outside the ballpark.
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The Curse Bar http://www.thecursechicago.com/ is the current Gopher bar. It's next door to Red Ivy, same owners, same kitchen, more or less the same staff, cheaper, more intimate and much better tvs.
 

maroonfive said:
Why isn't this being played at Soldier Field. The only way I could see a game at Wrigley Field would be if Northwestern and Illinois had hockey teams. BTW, what happened to the hockey games at the Bank? It has been 2 years now and nothing.
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From what I have heard, watch for an announcement in early 2011 for at least a Gopher game to be held early 2012
 

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this just doesn't look right

looks like they've removed the basket
 

Good luck on any sort of jump ball in the back of the end zone. It's too bad they made this decision, because it's squarely about money and marketing.

The game will obviously be impacted by the lack of end zone space -- which is obscene in this day and age considering they have $500 million taxpayer-funded monoliths to deliver the "perfect experience" -- and it's not better for most of the fans, who will have absolutely awful sight lines. The end zone seats would probably be cool just for the proximity, every other seat in the building? Not so much.

Another reason why I hate the Cubs and Wrigley.
 

Good grief! I don't care if the field has a hill on the northeast side of one of the 20 yard lines and a creek running through around the 40. Both teams play the same field. Football is the one sport where people shouldn't be crying about 'imperfect' conditions. I fell on sandburs when I played football. SUCK IT UP AND PLAY BALL OR GO HOME!
 

bkrownd said:
Good grief! I don't care if the field has a hill on the northeast side of one of the 20 yard lines and a creek running through around the 40. Both teams play the same field. Football is the one sport where people shouldn't be crying about 'imperfect' conditions. I fell on sandburs when I played football. SUCK IT UP AND PLAY BALL OR GO HOME!
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This. Amazing how people on here can get so worked up about field conditions for a game the Gophers aren't even playing in.
 

emann said:
Another reason why I hate the Cubs and Wrigley.
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What on earth does this have to do with the Cubs? The Cubs aren't playing. They only offered the use of their ballpark.

And then you mention $500 million monoliths delivering perfect fan experience. This game was moved from RYAN FIELD.
 

I hate the Cubs because people act like they are "lovable losers" and the fair weather fans that follow them act like it's "torture" to follow them, yet they all seem to have willingly started to follow them as high schoolers even though they have no idea what "the L" is and have lived miles from Chicago or Illinois for their entire lives.

Instead of cheering for the team because they like their players, they like the idea of being part of something, part of a group that deserves everyone's sympathy because their players *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!# the bed every few years. Wrigley falls in line with that. It's more of an "event" than it is a baseball game. But anyway that's off topic.

Ryan Field, for all of its well, lack of appeal, still offers a perfect field to play football on. No one can look at those pictures above and say that moving a game to Wrigley is in the best interest of athletics. Here's hoping someone doesn't get a severe concussion in one of the end zones.

The fans certainly aren't winning with this alignment -- check the seating chart and prices at StubHub: http://www.stubhub.com/northwestern-football-tickets/northwestern-vs-illinois-11-20-2010-964464/
 

emann said:
I hate the Cubs because people act like they are "lovable losers" and the fair weather fans that follow them act like it's "torture" to follow them, yet they all seem to have willingly started to follow them as high schoolers even though they have no idea what "the L" is and have lived miles from Chicago or Illinois for their entire lives.
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No, by definition they are not fair weather fans. Cubs fans are the exact opposite of fair weather fans, as they are fans whether or not the team is winning. A fair weather fan is someone who is a fan only when the team is doing well. And why should they have to be from Chicago to be allowed to be a fan?

Instead of cheering for the team because they like their players, they like the idea of being part of something, part of a group that deserves everyone's sympathy because their players *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!# the bed every few years. Wrigley falls in line with that. It's more of an "event" than it is a baseball game. But anyway that's off topic.
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Being a fan because you like the players is one of the worst reason to be a fan that there is. I'm a Gophers fan. There are better players out there, if I was a fan because of the players, I would probably be a fan of some other team. I like the Gopher players because I am a fan of the Gophers, not the other way around.

A huge part of being a fan of any team is the desire to be part of something. There's no rational reason to be a fan, it doesn't really do anything tangible for you. I can watch a game between two random teams and be interested, but it's not the same if it isn't the Gophers.

A game should be an event. Badmitton: just a sport, not an event. But any time tens of thousands show up for a game, it's because it is an event.
 

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