All-State Arena will be our temporary home
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Northwestern Men’s Basketball to Play 2017-18 Season Home Games at Allstate Arena
Rosemont facility to serve as Wildcats’ home during Welsh-Ryan Arena renovation
EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern University Athletics and Allstate Arena have reached an agreement for the Rosemont, Illinois, venue to serve as the host of Northwestern men’s basketball home games during the 2017-18 season.
A venue is needed to host Wildcat men’s basketball games in 2017-18 due to a complete renovation of Welsh-Ryan Arena that will begin in the spring of 2017 and is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2018.
“We are excited to partner with Allstate Arena to host Northwestern men’s basketball games during the 2017-18 season while Welsh-Ryan Arena is undergoing its renovation,” Northwestern Vice President for Athletics and Recreation Jim Phillips said. “The venue has a rich college basketball tradition in the Chicagoland area. I know that our fans will enjoy cheering on our team at Allstate Arena during what will be an exciting season.”
Northwestern season ticket holders for the upcoming 2016-17 season will receive priority seat locations for season tickets purchased for 2017-18 games at Allstate Arena. They also will be guaranteed the opportunity to purchase season tickets for the 2018-19 season at the reopening of the state-of-the-art renovated Welsh-Ryan Arena.
To ensure all 2016-17 season ticket holders have the guaranteed right to buy in the newly renovated Welsh-Ryan Arena in 2018-19, a limited number of season tickets remain on sale for the upcoming campaign.
Season tickets for the 2017-18 season will go on sale in the spring of 2017. Pricing for the 2018-19 season will be finalized and announced in 2017.
To purchase Northwestern season tickets, call the Northwestern Athletic Ticket Office at 888-GO-PURPLE or visit NUsports.com.
I don't think there was any other realistic choice for NU, unfortunately. It's unfortunate because Allstate is one of the few venues that is categorically worse than Welsh-Ryan and because we will have basically zero student or fan support for what could be our best-ever shot to make the NCAAs.
What's the alternative? UIC Pavilion? (I actually think it's a better basketball venue, but not the best location...)
I suppose Loyola, but their arena isn't nearly large enough to accommodate the visiting Big Ten fans.
Supposedly the other option was to play the non conference games at Loyola and the Big Ten games at the United Center but in the end just playing them all in Rosemont made the most sense. It is only for one year and I am sure there was a little pressure from the B1G office being that their offices are in Rosemont
I'm amused by the idea floating around that NU is going to lose some stunning home court advantage with the move.
Who oh who will fill the void of fans sitting on their hands? How will NU replace the fans who leave their seats empty for 3/4 of the season?
However, my sympathy truly goes out to the students and band if they are behind the Allstate bucket. Wait until they see the difference between the WR view and the same seats at Allstate. Yuck.
Who oh who will fill the void of fans sitting on their hands? How will NU replace the fans who leave their seats empty for 3/4 of the season?
However, my sympathy truly goes out to the students and band if they are behind the Allstate bucket. Wait until they see the difference between the WR view and the same seats at Allstate. Yuck.
Last year we averaged 6914 fans per home game.
Our game at DePaul last year, which was of course in the Allstate Arena, and was drawing from two local fan bases, drew 6351, in a stadium twice the size of W-R.
I don't think that we have a "stunning home-court advantage" at W-R but playing in Rosemont is going to be like playing in a morgue.
Just to clarify, Styre, my comment wasn't aimed specifically at you. I've seen and heard the disappointment over home court advantage in many more places.
As for playing in the morgue, I'm sorry but I'm still going to have a hard time seeing a difference in November and December if the fanbase keeps its usual patterns.
If the Cats play well, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that NU breaks even on attendance. Lose a few "die hards" for a year. Gain a few from the NW 'burbs - especially those who were sick enough to stick with DePaul through all these years, but won't travel downtown.
If the team plays well and Dr. Jim targets his small market correctly, NU could make this work for a small uptick in the future.
As for playing in the morgue, I'm sorry but I'm still going to have a hard time seeing a difference in November and December if the fanbase keeps its usual patterns.
If the Cats play well, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that NU breaks even on attendance. Lose a few "die hards" for a year. Gain a few from the NW 'burbs - especially those who were sick enough to stick with DePaul through all these years, but won't travel downtown.
If the team plays well and Dr. Jim targets his small market correctly, NU could make this work for a small uptick in the future.
They'd be better off playing at New Trier! Just load it up with the 1600 NU fans and let all the rest of the other teams' fans watch on TV!!
Well, sure. Same applies if the program tries to lure us out there with even more games against MVSU and Houston Baptist.
But in Big Ten play? We averaged 95% of capacity in conference home games last year, and it actually wasn't because there were thousands of visiting fans in the building every night. Again, I know not all of those people actually showed up, but I just can't see us replicating that in Rosemont.
The smart scheduling move would be to sign 2-3 home-and-home deals that send us away from Allstate in 2017 and bring big names for the first season in the new and improved W-R.
This would be a good year to bring in a top 5 type program to Rosemont though (Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, or even Duke though I think k will not play his former assistants unless its a conference game) These schools love playing in Chicago because of recruiting and witht he bigger arena theymay bite on it. Also in 17-18 will it be our turn to host DePaul?? that would be ironic.
A reincarnation of DePaul's Alumni Hall would be nice.....
My DePaul fan friend say that every season, biggest mistake they ever made was not rehabbing that place
But parking will be expensive It is a much closer and quicker trip for me but you are sort of a captured audience for the parking. Will pay more for it than tickets.
Of course that has us with a stacked and difficult season to get through to get us to the dance. Of course we will be used to playing on the road.
Exactly. We will have a veteran team can handle the kind of schedule necessary for a Dance bid.
I wouldn't count on too many Saturday evening games. That's when the Wolves like to host Rockford (the Blackhawks' AHL affiliate) and pack the joint.
They all love WR the way it is and don't want any improvements that take more than 6 months to complete.
They did that when NU played there in the NIT years ago. Also had the entire NUMB there. Beat ND and lost to DePaul on last section shot.
Beat ND ... On St. Patrick's Day!
Kenny F'ing Patterson. I still hate that guy.
Not quite Keyshon-level hate. But close...
I was there for both.
Kenny F'ing Patterson. I still hate that guy.
Not quite Keyshon-level hate. But close...
I was there for both.
While they're in Rosemont, I wonder if they'll use the killer, old-school NIT ball?
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