Chicago Cubs Want to Host College Football Bowl Game at Wrigley Field
The Chicago Cubs are reportedly looking to land a College Football Bowl game at Wrigley Field.
The Ricketts’ family and the Chicago Cubs are in the middle of a massive renovation to historic Wrigley Field. We have already seen a lot of improvement to the legendary stadium, with much more expected to be on the way.
These renovations are expected to be completed by 2020. According to Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune, the Cubs are already looking at possible events at Wrigley Field that off season. In particular, the return of college football.
“Football will return to Wrigley Field in November 2020,” Greenstein reports, citing Cubs’ president of Business Operations Crane Kenney. “Northwestern’s hosting multiple Big Ten games the team’s “first priority.””
Northwestern hosting multiple Big Ten games is undoubtedly exciting, but the bowl game aspect talked about next is a nice surprise.
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“Kenney said the Cubs “absolutely” intend to begin hosting an annual bowl game.”
Northwestern hosted Illinois in a Big Ten game at Wrigley Field in 2010. It brought in a full house of 41,058 fans and was a fun and exciting experience to see football at the Friendly Confides.
There was an issue with the playing field unexpectedly being a bit too small. The wall in the outfield was dangerously close to the end zone so all involved decided to only drive to one side of the field during the game. It was odd, but with time to adapt, I imagine that the Cubs would be able to get Wrigley Field ready for a normal college football contest.
“Concerts that may not sell out elsewhere sell out at Wrigley,” Kenney said, according to Greenstein. “It’s because of the ballpark, Wrigleyville, Chicago, the history. It gives us confidence that a bowl game will succeed here.”
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There is no doubt about it. No matter what teams would be involved, a bowl game played at Wrigley Field would generate a ton of interest. It would undoubtedly be more interesting than the Quick Lane Bowl, which is currently an option for a “lucky” Big Ten team.