Northwestern Football Game

ohioguy2

Member
May have missed it, but since Northwestern is demolishing their stadium, where is our game against them to be played?
 
Windy place and I don't see how they can be done in time, but whatever. Still think Nina might get them to come to Durham, it makes more sense.
 
Already been discussed in the Duke Football 2024 thread, starting here.

BigWayne even posted a nice image of what the field would look like.

Note that NU claims that the temporary facility will host MOST of their 2024 and 2025 home games. They won't even begin building it until "early summer" and the Duke game is September 7. I know it's only going to be a glorified high school stadium (for a lot of good reasons) but don't be shocked if the game gets moved to Durham. I think Duke and NU get along well enough to figure this out pretty easily.
 
NU is building a temporary stadium on campus, on the lake. Don't know if it will be done in time: https://www.insidenu.com/2024/4/10/...nd-2025-home-games-at-modified-martin-stadium

It’s actually augmenting an existing field (stadium is a generous description) on campus that is used for soccer, hockey and lacrosse. I’ve no idea how they’re going to add more seating but that’s the plan, and it sounds like this will be their home for two seasons. They will also likely use Wrigley and maybe even Soldier Field when they can, although the latter would infringe on Chicago Fire games.
 
I actually walked by the site yesterday to take a firsthand look and 1.) it's extremely windy, 2.) there's not much space... but 3.) it'd be really cool with the lake in the background. See below for a couple shots (I took it from the lake side so you don't see the lake in my shots). You'll notice on the far righthand side of the second one there are existing bleachers that look over the other athletic field (not the football practice field). I THINK that's the intended location for the "temporary football stadium" but there's not much space on any side...I think it's more of a "temporary bleachers" situation instead of a "temporary stadium". It's already a fenced off/secured area -- they just want to add stands like they did for NASCAR in Chicago in downtown Chicago or how they do it for the PGA for a specific hole. My guess is there's like 30 feet from the current sidelines to the fence. It's not a lot.

Ironically, for those calling it a "glorified High School stadium" there is a very large high school about a mile west of NU's campus that has A LOT more space on both ends where they could easily build up stands. But I don't think they want that as they don't think it's nice enough/iconic enough. But that would be very close to the campus and allow for more seating/parking. Selfishly, I'd love for the game to be in Evanston.

NU football 1.jpg

NU football 2.jpg

HS Stadium nearby:
ETHS field.jpg
 
I actually walked by the site yesterday to take a firsthand look and 1.) it's extremely windy, 2.) there's not much space... but 3.) it'd be really cool with the lake in the background. See below for a couple shots (I took it from the lake side so you don't see the lake in my shots). You'll notice on the far righthand side of the second one there are existing bleachers that look over the other athletic field (not the football practice field). I THINK that's the intended location for the "temporary football stadium" but there's not much space on any side...I think it's more of a "temporary bleachers" situation instead of a "temporary stadium". It's already a fenced off/secured area -- they just want to add stands like they did for NASCAR in Chicago in downtown Chicago or how they do it for the PGA for a specific hole. My guess is there's like 30 feet from the current sidelines to the fence. It's not a lot.

Ironically, for those calling it a "glorified High School stadium" there is a very large high school about a mile west of NU's campus that has A LOT more space on both ends where they could easily build up stands. But I don't think they want that as they don't think it's nice enough/iconic enough. But that would be very close to the campus and allow for more seating/parking. Selfishly, I'd love for the game to be in Evanston.

View attachment 17081

View attachment 17082

HS Stadium nearby:
View attachment 17083

good report. I'm still pretty optimistic they'll move the game....yeah, the wind, I could see NU liking that spot if they don't have a good QB this year.
 
If they want to pull it off, they can. Temporary bleachers are easy. Heck, you can rent temporary escalators.

-jk
 
If they want to pull it off, they can. Temporary bleachers are easy. Heck, you can rent temporary escalators.

-jk

true, but you also have to do things like park cars....I'd bet a nice tuna melt they won't be ready for the Duke game....
 
If they want to pull it off, they can. Temporary bleachers are easy. Heck, you can rent temporary escalators.

-jk

I lived a block away from Ryan Field for a decade.
Frankly the Duke game will be easy, I have no idea how NU expects to host a game against Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, or Wisconsin at this temporary lakefront location. The space just doesn’t exist for a large crowd.

Maybe the Big Ten will help by only sending Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Minnesota, and new West coast members to Evanston the next two seasons.
 
I lived a block away from Ryan Field for a decade.
Frankly the Duke game will be easy, I have no idea how NU expects to host a game against Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, or Wisconsin at this temporary lakefront location. The space just doesn’t exist for a large crowd.

Maybe the Big Ten will help by only sending Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Minnesota, and new West coast members to Evanston the next two seasons.

Well, that would suit Northwestern, because their own fans get outnumbered when OSU and Michigan (and others) come to town. Which is why they're reducing seating at Ryan Field as well. The fewer, the merrier.

Right now the new temporary spot essentially has no seats, and the renovation doesn't start until early summer...
 
Thanks. Too bad the game couldn’t be moved to the Bears place. Seems as if we will be playing in a glorified high school stadium, but with a great view.
Note that NU claims that the temporary facility will host MOST of their 2024 and 2025 home games.

We discussed this in the Duke Football thread a while back when they started demolishing the old stadium. They didn't plan very well.
This article explains a lot of the issues with trying to use other fields in Chicago.
https://northwestern.rivals.com/new...g-all-options-for-2024-home-football-schedule

That's what's driving them to make the on campus field. They will probably use it for the three non conference games and Indiana.

They will probably play Ohio State and Illinois at Wrigley Field in November after baseball season is over.

The big question for them is the Wisconsin game. They floated the idea of playing at Lambeau, but they got a lot of pushback from alums.


On the field construction issue, see my post in the other thread for the picture and discussion.
 
^Would be hard construction timeline wise but you never know. They can get those types of stands up in a hurry. What's interesting is that they start the 2024 with three home games against perhaps lower profile opponents (i.e. smaller crowds). Those being Miami (OH), Duke, and Eastern Illinois that happen on August 31, September 7, and September 14. But note that Northwestern's fall semester classes don't start until September 24. So does that incent them further to have it ready for those games? Probably. They'd be empty if went to Wrigley or something and I'm sure huge costs associated with renting out and preparing those other facilities. As it is, they're going to struggle to bring in a crowd for those because of the academic calendar.
 
^ so you think they'll be ready for the first games this Fall? I'm highly dubious...

Based on how poorly they planned so far, good chance it will not go smoothly.

The main thing they really need to do that I think they can handle is to move the field south to make room for bleachers at the north end.
That would allow them to get 2500-3000 seats at each end. There are multiple companies in the business of building up temporary seating like they need.

The harder part will be whatever they try to do on the east side of the field.
 
Based on how poorly they planned so far, good chance it will not go smoothly.

The main thing they really need to do that I think they can handle is to move the field south to make room for bleachers at the north end.
That would allow them to get 2500-3000 seats at each end. There are multiple companies in the business of building up temporary seating like they need.

The harder part will be whatever they try to do on the east side of the field.

I'm still hopeful they'll see the advantages of coming to Durham, we can trade them a future game. Solves a lot of problems...colleges don't tend to work at warp speed.
 
I'm still hopeful they'll see the advantages of coming to Durham, we can trade them a future game. Solves a lot of problems...colleges don't tend to work at warp speed.

Duke added 20,000 bleacher seats to Wade for the Rose Bowl with less than 3 weeks notice. NU can pull it off with 3 months - if they want to.

-jk
 
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