They would gladly play our game there, like Penn State played us in Rec Hall for their home game against the Illini. Just limit the seating to season ticket holders and students and tell everyone else to kiss off. It worked for Penn State.
Northwestern's new home field
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
well then they would hold all home games there , but they aren’t . it’s probably a 2 million dollar revenue difference to have a home game there vs at WF .
Why did the Big ten allow this to happen? Can't we play Penn St at Toyota Park or Wrigley Field in response to their bush league move?
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
The only way to make that equivalent would be restricting PSU fans from buying tickets either through ordinary ticket office, and restricting secondary market sales. The location, itself wasn't the issue. The restrictions were.
I think what happened is that season ticket holders were banned from reselling their tickets as long as regular season ticket holders wanted to use their own tickets to go to the game. It was it specifically banning Illini fans from the game but it effectively did.
And the actual reason for using Rec Hall instead of the Bryce Jordan Centee is because an event to raise money for children was in the BJC over the weekend, and they would have raised the basketball flor fire that and not have had the time to get it put back down. But they weren’t honest and open about it.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
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.
TL;DR
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.
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.
TL;DR
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.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
^ Relevant add-on to my rambling, lol ... I decided to look at the attendance for Illini/Northwestern games since 2000, as it looks like we are doomed to play them in November as our big rival in perpetuity. I looked at this by location to give some perspective, also. Attendance first with percentage of capacity and parentheses (and yes, I adjusted for our change in capacity by year and averaged it over the timespan).
CHAMPAIGN
Average: 41,569 (66%)
Maximum: 60,253 (96) in 2009 ... max for November game is 54,516 in 2007 (96% of capacity that year)
Minimum: 27,624 (46%) in 2021
NOTE: As noted above, this includes playing them twice during the warm weather months, where we drew 53k in 2011 (that awesome comeback!) and over 60k in 2009. Take those two out and only look at November, and the average goes down to 38,196 or 61% capacity...
EVANSTON
Average: 30,021 (64%)
Maximum: 40,658 (86%) in 2000
Minimum: 22,242 (47%) in 2006
CHICAGO: SOLDIER FIELD
Average: 33,514 (55%) in 2015
CHICAGO: WRIGLEY FIELD
Average: 41,058 (100%) in 2010
So, again ... my personal take is that this rivalry game on Thanksgiving Weekend is absolutely doomed and stupid if it remains a standard home and home. Northwestern will never carry attendance at their place (their genuinely great teams struggle to sell tickets), and Illinois is just in a unique situation to draw poor crowds in Champaign that weekend due to a variety of factors, one obvious one being over 70% of the student body heading back to Chicagoland several days before...
While we would all agree the 2015 showing at Soldier Field was pretty bad, it is still significantly better than the floor in Champaign or Evanston, both in terms of total attendance and as a percentage of capacity. It is difficult to compare Wrigley, as the 2010 was such a novelty with College Gameday attending and it being the first college game there in the modern era. However, it simply needs to be stated that people showed up.
CONCLUSION
I really am sympathetic to the idea of not giving up home games. When I was younger, I loved the idea of something like playing Mizzou in St. Louis, but I now appreciate the argument against it. However, I very much maintain that the Illini/Northwestern game on Thanksgiving Weekend played on campus is uniquely set up to fail in a way that many other rivalry games are not. There might be other schools that have a lot of students leave (e.g., Iowa), but they have a much more exciting rivalry setup (e.g., playing Nebraska on Black Friday). Other schools might have the same problem of struggling to find consistency in the last 30 years (e.g., Minnesota), but they are playing a bitter rival that their fans genuinely get excited for (e.g., Wisconsin).
SOMETHING has to be done to spice this up, and I personally think that if the Bears do build a dome on the Lakefront, this game has to go there every year via some deal that both Illinois and Northwestern agree to. While it will not reach the "event status" of something like Georgia/Florida in Jacksonville or Texas/Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl, it COULD genuinely develop into a cool holiday tradition. With so much of our student body and alumni base in Chicagoland, especially over holidays like Thanksgiving, and a proven track record of Champaign and Evanston having abnormally awful attendance for this game, I think it is a no-brainer to set up a neutral site rivalry event in an indoor setting (i.e., nobody is turned away due to the cold) that can develop into something Illini fans get excited for every year.
CHAMPAIGN
Average: 41,569 (66%)
Maximum: 60,253 (96) in 2009 ... max for November game is 54,516 in 2007 (96% of capacity that year)
Minimum: 27,624 (46%) in 2021
NOTE: As noted above, this includes playing them twice during the warm weather months, where we drew 53k in 2011 (that awesome comeback!) and over 60k in 2009. Take those two out and only look at November, and the average goes down to 38,196 or 61% capacity...
EVANSTON
Average: 30,021 (64%)
Maximum: 40,658 (86%) in 2000
Minimum: 22,242 (47%) in 2006
CHICAGO: SOLDIER FIELD
Average: 33,514 (55%) in 2015
CHICAGO: WRIGLEY FIELD
Average: 41,058 (100%) in 2010
So, again ... my personal take is that this rivalry game on Thanksgiving Weekend is absolutely doomed and stupid if it remains a standard home and home. Northwestern will never carry attendance at their place (their genuinely great teams struggle to sell tickets), and Illinois is just in a unique situation to draw poor crowds in Champaign that weekend due to a variety of factors, one obvious one being over 70% of the student body heading back to Chicagoland several days before...
While we would all agree the 2015 showing at Soldier Field was pretty bad, it is still significantly better than the floor in Champaign or Evanston, both in terms of total attendance and as a percentage of capacity. It is difficult to compare Wrigley, as the 2010 was such a novelty with College Gameday attending and it being the first college game there in the modern era. However, it simply needs to be stated that people showed up.
CONCLUSION
I really am sympathetic to the idea of not giving up home games. When I was younger, I loved the idea of something like playing Mizzou in St. Louis, but I now appreciate the argument against it. However, I very much maintain that the Illini/Northwestern game on Thanksgiving Weekend played on campus is uniquely set up to fail in a way that many other rivalry games are not. There might be other schools that have a lot of students leave (e.g., Iowa), but they have a much more exciting rivalry setup (e.g., playing Nebraska on Black Friday). Other schools might have the same problem of struggling to find consistency in the last 30 years (e.g., Minnesota), but they are playing a bitter rival that their fans genuinely get excited for (e.g., Wisconsin).
SOMETHING has to be done to spice this up, and I personally think that if the Bears do build a dome on the Lakefront, this game has to go there every year via some deal that both Illinois and Northwestern agree to. While it will not reach the "event status" of something like Georgia/Florida in Jacksonville or Texas/Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl, it COULD genuinely develop into a cool holiday tradition. With so much of our student body and alumni base in Chicagoland, especially over holidays like Thanksgiving, and a proven track record of Champaign and Evanston having abnormally awful attendance for this game, I think it is a no-brainer to set up a neutral site rivalry event in an indoor setting (i.e., nobody is turned away due to the cold) that can develop into something Illini fans get excited for every year.
LGIllini
- La Grange, IL
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OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
While I wish Northwestern wasn't designated as our conference rival (except for having a higher chance of being a win if we can ever get our program righted), the idea listed really isn't a bad idea at all. Something has to change, because what has been done isn't working. Given so many students and alumni are in the Chicago area, This seems like a good of an idea as any. I would imagine Northwestern would probably be on board as well, as they probably face many of the same issues (if not more).
If the Illinois-Northwestern game was basically a neutral site game every single season, I think both athletic departments could live with that. Maybe Wrigley can be the permanent location, or maybe the eventual new Bears stadium can be the location. Hell, maybe it goes to Guaranteed Rate. I don't know, but something needs to be done. I get it's Northwestern and they'll never really have a major stake in this, but you would think both programs would put their heads together and think of a way to make this a more enticing event on a holiday weekend if the Big Ten is deciding we're always going to play that weekend.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
This is exactly where I am at. It obviously would never reach Braggin' Rights levels where it is SUCH a fun event with so much history and intensity, but the point is we could at least establish SOMETHING that is good enough that both athletic departments see the value in keeping it at that neutral venue every year ... and for that, it only needs to be better than the current Champaign/Evanston setup that has been such a huge failure even when one (or both!!) of us is competitive.
I can at least see SOME arguments against Wrigley ("It's a baseball stadium!!") or Soldier Field ("We tried that, and it was a flop!") ... but if the Bears actually do build a stadium like this right on the lakefront...
... I think you clearly pull the trigger and move the game here every year and try to achieve even a fraction of what Florida/Georgia or Texas/Oklahoma have.
Worst Case: it's more interesting than Champaign/Evanston and plants the seed with the casual fan that the Illini play in Chicago after every Thanksgiving, so they obviously have SOME connection to the city.
Best Case: It is consistently filled with Illini fans every year and turns into a great holiday tradition that makes us wonder why we didn't do it sooner.
This might sound minor, but I think if it is actually an indoor stadium, that makes a huge difference. Our fans (and theirs) have proven they don't want to get sit in the cold in late November, but in a comfortable, new state-of-the-art facility for what could be as much of a party as a game?
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
Speaking only for myself here, I could easily see my family (with three siblings living in various Chicago-area locales) making it a weekend event. Maybe it's a Black Friday event along with the Iowa-Nebraska game, which would either give a TV partner a doubleheader or multiple partners exclusive games in successive broadcast windows. For example, Iowa-Nebraska has an early game on Fox and Illinois-Northwestern follows on NBC or Peacock or vice versa (I'm obviously aware that our game would have a better chance to be on Peacock as opposed to a major broadcast network on Black Friday if Iowa-Nebraska is the other game at the present time).This is exactly where I am at. It obviously would never reach Braggin' Rights levels where it is SUCH a fun event with so much history and intensity, but the point is we could at least establish SOMETHING that is good enough that both athletic departments see the value in keeping it at that neutral venue every year ... and for that, it only needs to be better than the current Champaign/Evanston setup that has been such a huge failure even when one (or both!!) of us is competitive.
I can at least see SOME arguments against Wrigley ("It's a baseball stadium!!") or Soldier Field ("We tried that, and it was a flop!") ... but if the Bears actually do build a stadium like this right on the lakefront...
... I think you clearly pull the trigger and move the game here every year and try to achieve even a fraction of what Florida/Georgia or Texas/Oklahoma have.
Worst Case: it's more interesting than Champaign/Evanston and plants the seed with the casual fan that the Illini play in Chicago after every Thanksgiving, so they obviously have SOME connection to the city.
Best Case: It is consistently filled with Illini fans every year and turns into a great holiday tradition that makes us wonder why we didn't do it sooner.
This might sound minor, but I think if it is actually an indoor stadium, that makes a huge difference. Our fans (and theirs) have proven they don't want to get sit in the cold in late November, but in a comfortable, new state-of-the-art facility for what could be as much of a party as a game?
But I know you and I both agree that something - anything - is worth trying compared to the current situation. The only problem I could potentially see is Northwestern saying "Why would we give up our home game in a sold-out stadium?" Yes, I know that sellout is only 35,000 or so, but as a MLS fan I do understand that even small crowds heavily weighted toward your fan base is still a big home-field advantage.
Northwestern will NEVER give up home-and-home series on Thanksgiving Weekend with us. Why? Because it prevents us from hosting the IHSA state football championships in Champaign every year. They are petty little jerks, even with the jerkiest of the bunch, Jim Phillips, no longer in Evanston.
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View attachment 33974
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Eh, do they really care about that? They are practically as tied to the state as Notre Dame is to Indiana or Duke is to North Carolina ... in other words, they are their own little world and barely "local" in feel.
I do however think a significant road block will be their new stadium ... doubt they want to move from one indoor Chicagoland stadium where they will have at least 50-60% of the crowd and keep all of the revenue to one where they will have closer to 20-30% of the crowd and split it.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
since they want to play one game every other year in Wrigley anyway, hard for me to imagine them not utilizing WF twice in the time period of 10/20 - 11/30, as WF requires a fair amount of infrastructure changes anyway to make football work
once the new home is built, look for the WF deal to end. No need anymore for that
NW home stadium in the new CFB24 game.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
ha ! looks like a Pop Warner game / field
that's the ugliest thing i've ever seen. if you want to learn how to build an indoor/coveredThis is exactly where I am at. It obviously would never reach Braggin' Rights levels where it is SUCH a fun event with so much history and intensity, but the point is we could at least establish SOMETHING that is good enough that both athletic departments see the value in keeping it at that neutral venue every year ... and for that, it only needs to be better than the current Champaign/Evanston setup that has been such a huge failure even when one (or both!!) of us is competitive.
I can at least see SOME arguments against Wrigley ("It's a baseball stadium!!") or Soldier Field ("We tried that, and it was a flop!") ... but if the Bears actually do build a stadium like this right on the lakefront...
... I think you clearly pull the trigger and move the game here every year and try to achieve even a fraction of what Florida/Georgia or Texas/Oklahoma have.
Worst Case: it's more interesting than Champaign/Evanston and plants the seed with the casual fan that the Illini play in Chicago after every Thanksgiving, so they obviously have SOME connection to the city.
Best Case: It is consistently filled with Illini fans every year and turns into a great holiday tradition that makes us wonder why we didn't do it sooner.
This might sound minor, but I think if it is actually an indoor stadium, that makes a huge difference. Our fans (and theirs) have proven they don't want to get sit in the cold in late November, but in a comfortable, new state-of-the-art facility for what could be as much of a party as a game?
stadium in this era, go to Minneapolis and look where the vikings play. this is truly obnoxious,
the existing Soldier field is better than this rendering. i know lets throw every cliche modern
sports venue element we can think of onto a single stadium.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I'm not defending the stadium design, FWIW, and I agree the Vikings' stadium would be a gold standard to model after. I am simply saying that any indoor stadium will draw a bigger crowd in Chicago than the current dud atmospheres in Champaign and Evanston.
Don't know if Arlington Heights is dead or not, haven't been following lately, but I think you'd have a better chance of filling a stadium there with Illini fans than on the lakefront.
It was many years ago, granted, but I went to the game in Soldier Field vs. WSU and turnout was not that great.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
yea
I went to that
early Sept game - maybe was 2/3 filled
I dont think AH is dead, and I think the Bears are keeping it alive in case they get denied building on the lakefront from Friends of Parks . But first choice of the Bears is to stay downtown. I just don't think there will be any state or city money to help out though. Same with White Sox.
Is that NCAA ‘98 practice mode? Looks like ‘98.
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Looks more like a low-res screenshot of NCAA 14 in the early stages of Road to Glory. Looks exactly like one of the high school stadiums from that game
Just searched for ncaa14 practice field, No specific source. Only making fun of the team up north
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
Hey, don’t knock Lake Bluff’s Big Ten Team!
