Northwestern Wildcats athletic director open to another game at Wrigley Field
Even though Saturday’s result didn’t go the way he had hoped, Northwestern University’s athletic director, Jim Phillips, stated that playing another football game at historic Wrigley Field isn’t out of the question.
“I can’t tell you that I would be committed right now to do another game, but I wouldn’t have much hesitation to jump back in,” Phillips said to the Associated Press on Monday. “That just means more vetting. I’ve got to think about it and talk with [coach Pat
Fitzgerald] and talk to the Cubs and all the rest of it.”
Last Saturday’s game between the Northwestern Wildcats and Illinois Fighting Illini marked the first time in 40 years that Wrigley Field, the home of Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs, played host to a gridiron match-up. Although the game remained close
throughout the first half, the Fighting Illini eventually pulled away in the latter stages of the contest, winning 48-27.
The Chicago Bears left Wrigley Field after the 1970 campaign and, as such, Phillips recognized the unique circumstances that surrounded last weekend’s match-up. The athletic director also noted that the Wildcats had talked of playing at (the Bears’ current
home) Soldier Field, as well as U.S. Cellular Field (home of the Chicago White Sox), but were “not close to making a commitment on doing anything at any of those places.”
Still, Phillips appears hesitant to host a home game at the historic ballpark on a regular basis, primarily because the Wildcats already have a beautiful facility on their Evanston, Illinois, campus.
“We’re really trying to drive more fans to come to Ryan Field in Evanston,” Phillips said. “I guess I wouldn’t be so quick to give up a home game every year to do it at Wrigley. I don’t know if for us it would make a lot of sense to do it on an annual basis,
but maybe semi-annual or every four, five years. I just think a lot of that’s premature because we haven’t gotten to the final closure of this game.”
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