Hot Take: Wrigley Is Awesome

[ParisCat]

Had a blast down at Wrigley yesterday. Sure, it sucked to lose a heartbreaker, but the experience was great:

1. Wrigleyville instantly becomes the best pre-game party in the country. I hit the Holy Triumvirate of Wrigley bars — Murphy’s, Cubby Bear, and Yak-zies — and despite being outnumbered 90-10 by Iowa fans, everyone was there to have a good time and soak up a college football game day.

2. Game attendance was more like 80-20 Hawkeyes. We can’t help it that we have a sh!tty fan base. So what if we “give up a home game”? That would have been true at Ryan Field yesterday too. Make Wrigley our second home, and if we’re outnumbered, bring a Cats Against The World attitude.

3. Sight lines at Wrigley are fine if you know where to sit. The 300 level on the first base line, and even the 400 level if you avoid the posts, offer fantastic views. And there are few more beautiful and historic venues than Wrigley itself.

4. NU does a good job of branding it a home game despite the numbers. The field looked great (other than the 4th quarter sinkhole on the goal line). The video boards featured nonstop NU content, including some fun Cubs/Wildcats mashups. And the NU kids in the bleachers got a lot of quality big screen time — they were having fun out there.

5. Wrigley is easy to get to. CTA isn’t perfect to say the least, but hard to complain about door to door service to Addison. You get the usual sights and smells on the Red Line, but train cars packed with college football fans are actually kind of fun.

6. Look, I live a mile from Ryan Field, and there’s no place I’d rather be, but for a once-a-year experience, and for a home away from home the next two years when the Cubs schedule permits it, Wrigley is the answer.

 

[thewildcat2011]

Bob Stoops was there!

 

[its_the_sauce]

I agree. I never understood the Wrigley bashing. While we're 0-3 I've had a blast at every game. The bars were jammed. Every Iowa fan I spoke to was in town for two nights so that's also great for the hotels/restaurants. I was quite impressed with the Iowa fans who filled up G Man and were regularly ordering Malort. The sight lines are fantastic. Granted it would be a crappy view far down the left field line but no NU fans would have to worry about that. My seats were on the 50 in the upper deck.

Not sure what the future Wrigley plans are with the redo of RF but a Wisconsin game would be an equal hit.

 

[Eurocat]

I think we should play at least ONE game at Comiskey too.

 

[hdhntr1]

Had a blast down at Wrigley yesterday. Sure, it sucked to lose a heartbreaker, but the experience was great:

1. Wrigleyville instantly becomes the best pre-game party in the country. I hit the Holy Triumvirate of Wrigley bars — Murphy’s, Cubby Bear, and Yak-zies — and despite being outnumbered 90-10 by Iowa fans, everyone was there to have a good time and soak up a college football game day.

2. Game attendance was more like 80-20 Hawkeyes. We can’t help it that we have a sh!tty fan base. So what if we “give up a home game”? That would have been true at Ryan Field yesterday too. Make Wrigley our second home, and if we’re outnumbered, bring a Cats Against The World attitude.

3. Sight lines at Wrigley are fine if you know where to sit. The 300 level on the first base line, and even the 400 level if you avoid the posts, offer fantastic views. And there are few more beautiful and historic venues than Wrigley itself.

4. NU does a good job of branding it a home game despite the numbers. The field looked great (other than the 4th quarter sinkhole on the goal line). The video boards featured nonstop NU content, including some fun Cubs/Wildcats mashups. And the NU kids in the bleachers got a lot of quality big screen time — they were having fun out there.

5. Wrigley is easy to get to. CTA isn’t perfect to say the least, but hard to complain about door to door service to Addison. You get the usual sights and smells on the Red Line, but train cars packed with college football fans are actually kind of fun.

6. Look, I live a mile from Ryan Field, and there’s no place I’d rather be, but for a once-a-year experience, and for a home away from home the next two years when the Cubs schedule permits it, Wrigley is the answer.

Sorry but Wrigley sucks for a FB game I have been to all three and only about 10-15% of the seats have any kind of sightlines. Heck over half of the seats are in the endzones.(Ryan Field by comparison has descent sightlines for about 80% of the seats with only about 15% in the endzones The first time was an event, second time did not even have that and was pretty bad all the way around, This one was better attended and had a couple of things going for it but if I never see another Wrigley game it will be too soon

 

[hdhntr1]

I think we should play at least ONE game at Comiskey too.

So we can have another sucky place to play?

 

[Catreporter]

So we can have another sucky place to play?

We know what you are against. What are you for as a venue for the next two years?

 

[hdhntr1]

We know what you are against. What are you for as a venue for the next two years?

First one of the problems with White Sox park is it won't be available till Nov either. It does have parking and tailgating would be an option so better for that but you have some of the same sightline issues. Wile the bars and stuff aren't really there, there is tailgating. With tailgating and descent parking it would be better than Wrigley but that is about it and it would be for same games as they would want to put in Wrigley

I would suggest NIU at Dekalb. At present it seats about 24K but in the past it held up to about 31K. The 24k is about right for most game. Probably not adequate for an OSU, Mich, WIS, IA game (though it might be a home field advantage as there could not be 30K opposing fans. Those games might be at Soldier field. but any other Dekalb would be adequate. It is at least designed for FB. Dekalb serviced by I88 and back roads to it as well. Takes me about the same amoutn of time to get there as to Evanston. Be more of a treack for NS fans but just about anywhere suggested would be, Have to imagine they have reasonable parking there and again tailgating an option. And they are used to having FB games there, It is a lot closer than the thoughts of Lambeu or Indi pro stadiums. I dont know about the seat Geak or whateve it is called in Berwyn but I have to imagine it would at least have better sightlines. If I am going to go to the effort to go to a game I at least want to be able to see the game

 

[its_the_sauce]

Never understood the Wrigley game bashing. Without question there are some seats down the third base line with crappy sight lines but no regulars on this board would have to sit there.

 

[Catreporter]

DeKalb? Are you serious? Not gonna happen

 

[hdhntr1]

DeKalb? Are you serious? Not gonna happen

It is a better option than stuff I have seen posted here. It is an actual FB stadium, It is sized appropriately for what our crowds will likely be for most games, It has parking and tailgating and it is the only such FB stadium withing 100 miles of Evanston (Soldier Field is way to big for most of our games and between the park district and Bears, not really an option other than for maybe a game per year)

 

[Deeringfish]

First one of the problems with White Sox park is it won't be available till Nov either. It does have parking and tailgating would be an option so better for that but you have some of the same sightline issues. Wile the bars and stuff aren't really there, there is tailgating. With tailgating and descent parking it would be better than Wrigley but that is about it and it would be for same games as they would want to put in Wrigley

I would suggest NIU at Dekalb. At present it seats about 24K but in the past it held up to about 31K. The 24k is about right for most game. Probably not adequate for an OSU, Mich, WIS, IA game (though it might be a home field advantage as there could not be 30K opposing fans. Those games might be at Soldier field. but any other Dekalb would be adequate. It is at least designed for FB. Dekalb serviced by I88 and back roads to it as well. Takes me about the same amoutn of time to get there as to Evanston. Be more of a treack for NS fans but just about anywhere suggested would be, Have to imagine they have reasonable parking there and again tailgating an option. And they are used to having FB games there, It is a lot closer than the thoughts of Lambeu or Indi pro stadiums. I dont know about the seat Geak or whateve it is called in Berwyn but I have to imagine it would at least have better sightlines. If I am going to go to the effort to go to a game I at least want to be able to see the game

Actually, I think Lambeau would be good for any game not against Wisconsin. It's an iconic stadium. Players would love to play there ( it could even be a draw for transfers) and students could be bused there in 3 hours. (Shortest road trip after Wisconsin)
On top of all that, Wisconsinites love football and would come out in droves to cheer The Cats on against the likes of OSU or UM. It could be the greatest home advantage of the season.

 

[hdhntr1]

Actually, I think Lambeau would be good for any game not against Wisconsin. It's an iconic stadium. Players would love to play there ( it could even be a draw for transfers) and students could be bused there in 3 hours. (Shortest road trip after Wisconsin)
On top of all that, Wisconsinites love football and would come out in droves to cheer The Cats on against the likes of OSU or UM. It could be the greatest home advantage of the season.

Sorry but it is over 200 miles from Chicago. Every game would have to have hotel room for one to two nights for every game as it is more like 4 hrs plus each way. High cost and time to attend two to three days every time. And that stadium is even larger than Soldier Field so the crowd that would attend more most games would be pretty low (think Ryan Field looked empty this year, Lambeau would look far more empty.) It is a FB stadium but as a ST Holder, doesn't make a lot of sense. One game maybe but sure would not want to see more

 

[phatcat]

The thing about Wrigley is, it sucks

 

[hdhntr1]

The thing about Wrigley is, it sucks

Well it does for football

 

[phatcat]

Thinking about this - notwithstanding the leadership of Tweedledum and Tweedledumber, this should be nearly complete because we already know the home schedule. It's not like we can call these guys a week before and just show up

 

[diblakley]

Comiskey would be better for football than Wrigley. No posts and better sightlines.

 

[hdhntr1]

Comiskey would be better for football than Wrigley. No posts and better sightlines.

Low bar. Also better parking but still a lousy place to watch a game