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Northwestern's new home field
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<blockquote data-quote="Fighter of the Nightman" data-source="post: 2068071" data-attributes="member: 590800"><p>I will say this, I really hope NU moves our game to Wrigley Field rather than Solider Field. If we fast forward a few years and we have strung together a few more winning seasons (and not to mention the Bears potentially have an awesome new indoor facility for a freezing cold November game...), sure ... don't play it at a baseball stadium. But having the game at Wrigley adds a sense of novelty, it's way easier for any city residents to get to, it's surrounded by countless bar/restaurant options and it is just in general way more of an event. This isn't a CFP game, and the fact the field is wonky or it "isn't a real football stadium, damn it!" is just not as relevant as many think for an Illini/Northwestern football game, haha.</p><p></p><p>I believe I saw once that our 60,670 sellout vs. UNC in 2016 actually only scanned about 49,000 tickets, which is 80% ... So comparing our last two Soldier Field games...</p><p></p><p>- 2015 vs. Northwestern drew about 33,500. If you watched that game or attended, there is no way more than 70% of those showed up. Let's be generous and say we got 23,000 in the stands ... I would guess that would be about 15,000 Illini fans and 8,000 NU fans, from what I remember.</p><p>- Then in 2017 for our own game vs. USF , we drew just over 35,000 on a beautiful September day. Assuming 80% showed up due to the awesome weather, that's about 28,000 - the vast majority of whom were Illini fans.</p><p></p><p>So our cold weather floor was about 15,000 Illini fans at Soldier Field, and our warm weather ceiling was about 28,000. While fan enthusiasm has improved significantly, it's worth remembering that it will still be an end-of-year matchup in the cold when we MIGHT not still be in bowl contention. Compare that to our 2010 game at Wrigley ... I was there, and there were every bit of 40,000 fans at that game, plus every rooftop full and thousands just hanging out in Wrigleyville without a ticket. And I would wager 50% were Illini fans, and WAY more would have showed up if we weren't pushed out by NU's efforts to restrict sales to NU season ticket holders. Yes, it was the novelty of the first game there, but Wrigley still makes it more of a party/event.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: rgb(243, 121, 52)"><span style="font-size: 22px">TL;DR</span></span></strong></p><p></p><p>If we play them at Soldier Field in November, I bet there will be about 20,000 people there (15k Illini and 5k Northwestern), the tailgating atmosphere around the stadium will be completely dead and the stands will look empty. If we play them at Wrigley, I bet there will over 35,000 (25k Illini and 10k Northwestern) people there (depending on both teams' records), it will be an absolute party for several blocks around the stadium and the ballpark will look full.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fighter of the Nightman, post: 2068071, member: 590800"] I will say this, I really hope NU moves our game to Wrigley Field rather than Solider Field. If we fast forward a few years and we have strung together a few more winning seasons (and not to mention the Bears potentially have an awesome new indoor facility for a freezing cold November game...), sure ... don't play it at a baseball stadium. But having the game at Wrigley adds a sense of novelty, it's way easier for any city residents to get to, it's surrounded by countless bar/restaurant options and it is just in general way more of an event. This isn't a CFP game, and the fact the field is wonky or it "isn't a real football stadium, damn it!" is just not as relevant as many think for an Illini/Northwestern football game, haha. I believe I saw once that our 60,670 sellout vs. UNC in 2016 actually only scanned about 49,000 tickets, which is 80% ... So comparing our last two Soldier Field games... - 2015 vs. Northwestern drew about 33,500. If you watched that game or attended, there is no way more than 70% of those showed up. Let's be generous and say we got 23,000 in the stands ... I would guess that would be about 15,000 Illini fans and 8,000 NU fans, from what I remember. - Then in 2017 for our own game vs. USF , we drew just over 35,000 on a beautiful September day. Assuming 80% showed up due to the awesome weather, that's about 28,000 - the vast majority of whom were Illini fans. So our cold weather floor was about 15,000 Illini fans at Soldier Field, and our warm weather ceiling was about 28,000. While fan enthusiasm has improved significantly, it's worth remembering that it will still be an end-of-year matchup in the cold when we MIGHT not still be in bowl contention. Compare that to our 2010 game at Wrigley ... I was there, and there were every bit of 40,000 fans at that game, plus every rooftop full and thousands just hanging out in Wrigleyville without a ticket. And I would wager 50% were Illini fans, and WAY more would have showed up if we weren't pushed out by NU's efforts to restrict sales to NU season ticket holders. Yes, it was the novelty of the first game there, but Wrigley still makes it more of a party/event. [B][COLOR=rgb(243, 121, 52)][SIZE=6]TL;DR[/SIZE][/COLOR][/B] If we play them at Soldier Field in November, I bet there will be about 20,000 people there (15k Illini and 5k Northwestern), the tailgating atmosphere around the stadium will be completely dead and the stands will look empty. If we play them at Wrigley, I bet there will over 35,000 (25k Illini and 10k Northwestern) people there (depending on both teams' records), it will be an absolute party for several blocks around the stadium and the ballpark will look full. [/QUOTE]
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Northwestern's new home field
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