Illini Bars

[IlliniJim20]

A little help please. Friends and I are planning a Big Ten pub crawl. We did it several years ago, around when the PSU scandal hit, and Nebraska about to join big ten.

Anyway, we went up and down Clark Street near wrigley. and hit most if not all big ten school bars.

In planning this year's pub crawl, I am having trouble finding an Illini bar on Clark near Wrigley. It used to be Rebels, but am told that is now an FSU bar.

Any suggestions?

If not Clark Street, any ideas on where we can do the pub crawl without having to drive or Uber from bar to bar? Emphasis on the walk, maybe eventually the Pub Crawl. Lol

Thanks

 

[HisRoyalFrankness]

A little help please. Friends and I are planning a Big Ten pub crawl. We did it several years ago, around when the PSU scandal hit, and Nebraska about to join big ten.

Anyway, we went up and down Clark Street near wrigley. and hit most if not all big ten school bars.

In planning this year's pub crawl, I am having trouble finding an Illini bar on Clark near Wrigley. It used to be Rebels, but am told that is now an FSU bar.

Any suggestions?

If not Clark Street, any ideas on where we can do the pub crawl without having to drive or Uber from bar to bar? Emphasis on the walk, maybe eventually the Pub Crawl. Lol

Thanks

The closest Illini bar to Wrigley is Schoolyard Tavern on Southport and School. It's about a 10-15 minute walk from the south stretch of the Clark Street Wrigley bars. It's honestly been a rough decade for Illini bars in Chicago with Rebel, now The Country Club, switching to FSU and Durkin's switching to PSU

 

[TownieMatt]

A little help please. Friends and I are planning a Big Ten pub crawl. We did it several years ago, around when the PSU scandal hit, and Nebraska about to join big ten.

Anyway, we went up and down Clark Street near wrigley. and hit most if not all big ten school bars.

In planning this year's pub crawl, I am having trouble finding an Illini bar on Clark near Wrigley. It used to be Rebels, but am told that is now an FSU bar.

Any suggestions?

If not Clark Street, any ideas on where we can do the pub crawl without having to drive or Uber from bar to bar? Emphasis on the walk, maybe eventually the Pub Crawl. Lol

Thanks

This is a cool idea.

Most bars in Chicago seem to change their school affiliation at the drop of a hat, especially in the Wrigley area with bars constantly coming and going. These school affiliations are really nothing more than an attempt to get bodies in the door on Saturdays during the fall, so if one team stinks, a bar will pick a new team. I remember how many MSU bars there were in Chicago 2-3 years ago, but for some reason they seem to have gone away last year

Anywho, the Wrigley area is probably still your best bet, but to my knowledge there isn't a good Illini bar in that immediate area. Luckily Schoolyard (the best Illini bar I've found in the city) isn't too far away. You'll probably want to take an uber, but you could start or end there to make it more convenient.

 

[Dvick217]

Wish there was a Illini bar in San Diego. Thankfully I have my Cubs and Bears bar!

 

[Trakis]

yeah these days, Schoolyard is basically the only Illini bar. I've never heard of anyone going to Barn & Co for a game, and Joe's is primarily an IU bar.

 

[TownieMatt]

yeah these days, Schoolyard is basically the only Illini bar. I've never heard of anyone going to Barn & Co for a game, and Joe's is primarily an IU bar.

I go by Barn & Co on the train everyday. They used to have an Illini flag painted on the side of the building. Now it's gone and they have an Oklahoma flag out front.

 

[illinitrav]

Somewhat still on topic... anyone know of any Illini bars in Boston? I'll be there for the game against South Florida and would like to watch amongst fellow fans.

 

[FiveStar]

Somewhat still on topic... anyone know of any Illini bars in Boston? I'll be there for the game against South Florida and would like to watch amongst fellow fans.

Post appears to be completely on topic

 

[StateFarmCenter]

With the dumpster fire that became Illini sports, they've gone from about 20 awesome locations to 1. It's schoolyard or nothing in the city. Even barn and co has more or less ditched its affiliation. Schoolyard is great though .

 

[Illiini]

If you're an alum in the NYC area, join the NY alumni club. They get together regularly and if not at an "Illini bar," they at least have an orange corner.

 

[Deleted member 8213]

In planning this year's pub crawl, I am having trouble finding an Illini bar on Clark near Wrigley. It used to be Rebels, but am told that is now an FSU bar.

FSU as in Florida State University? Sorry I'm from way downstate but why does Chicago need one of those?

BTW in Alton we have DJs on College Ave always and still a bigtime Illini bar... not that its a destination, but just in case anyone is ever breaks down on their way through town during the game!

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

I know we often complain about a lack of loyalty from Chicagoland, but my friend who lives in Chicago said that there's kind of a prevailing attitude (among both Illini fans and fans of other Big Ten Schools) with people he's met that Illinois "doesn't need its own bar(s)" because it's assumed that any old Buffalo Wild Wings, et. al. will be playing an Illini game over anyone else's if the Illini are good. Now, obviously Illinois is not good ... but in a season like 2007 football or 2005 basketball, if you were a fan of a team playing the same time as Illinois, you're simply SOL. So, there's a huge market for grads of "out of town" teams to have a bar dedicated to their team no matter what time the game is or what other games might be on at the same time. Food for thought on the matter.

 

[TownieMatt]

With the dumpster fire that became Illini sports, they've gone from about 20 awesome locations to 1. It's schoolyard or nothing in the city. Even barn and co has more or less ditched its affiliation. Schoolyard is great though .

Yup. Schoolyard is like being back on campus.

I know we often complain about a lack of loyalty from Chicagoland, but my friend who lives in Chicago said that there's kind of a prevailing attitude (among both Illini fans and fans of other Big Ten Schools) with people he's met that Illinois "doesn't need its own bar(s)" because it's assumed that any old Buffalo Wild Wings, et. al. will be playing an Illini game over anyone else's if the Illini are good. Now, obviously Illinois is not good ... but in a season like 2007 football or 2005 basketball, if you were a fan of a team playing the same time as Illinois, you're simply SOL. So, there's a huge market for grads of "out of town" teams to have a bar dedicated to their team no matter what time the game is or what other games might be on at the same time. Food for thought on the matter.

Heard this argument as well. The problem is that when the Illini aren't so good (ya know, the last decade), it's hard to find the game on anywhere at all. Chicago is an amazingly bandwagon college sports town.

 

[IlliniJim20]

I know we often complain about a lack of loyalty from Chicagoland, but my friend who lives in Chicago said that there's kind of a prevailing attitude (among both Illini fans and fans of other Big Ten Schools) with people he's met that Illinois "doesn't need its own bar(s)" because it's assumed that any old Buffalo Wild Wings, et. al. will be playing an Illini game over anyone else's if the Illini are good. Now, obviously Illinois is not good ... but in a season like 2007 football or 2005 basketball, if you were a fan of a team playing the same time as Illinois, you're simply SOL. So, there's a huge market for grads of "out of town" teams to have a bar dedicated to their team no matter what time the game is or what other games might be on at the same time. Food for thought on the matter.

Makes sense.

Something else to consider, with the advancements in technology and flat screens being relatively cheap, any sports bar will have multiple tvs dedicated to multiple games. Therefore, you can get fans from multiple teams Esther than limiting yourself to one team.