Northwestern's 2024 football home schedule is starting to come into focus. @lou v kicked things off by reporting that Dr. Gragg told alumni in NYC that a game will be played at Lambeau Field next season, presumably against Wisconsin on Oct. 19.
A few more details have emerged, some old and some new, after talking to sources:
The Lambeau connection is an outgoing favor from a sympathetic Mark Murphy, former NU AD and current president of the Green Bay Packers. A source close to the scheduling process told me that there are next to no Chicagoland options other than SeatGeek Stadium for the early games. For example, Lambeau and SeatGeek are the only two available options for Oct. 19. Murphy offered two games, one in 2024 and one in 2025, to Northwestern.
Outside of a game at Lambeau, Northwestern is committed to keeping games in the Chicago area this year, said the source.
The Indiana game on Oct. 5 will be at SeatGeek. It’s very likely that Eastern Illinois and Duke will be there, as well. There is talk of moving the Miami (OH) game a day back to Sunday, Sept. 1, in order to be able to play at Soldier Field, which hosts the Chicago Fire and Inter Miami (and Lionel Messi) the day before.
Even with the increased expenses to rent the facilities and how difficult it will be to fill them to capacity, NU wants to make games more convenient and require the longer travel to SeatGeek as little as possible, said the source.
This part has been talked about for a long time, but Ohio State and Illinois are down to Wrigley Field or Soldier Field. It will most likely be Wrigley for both, but Soldier Field hasn't been ruled out. Soldier is trickier to arrange as NFL scheduling doesn't come out for a while, while Wrigley is guaranteed to be open for those mid-to-late November dates, once the baseball season is over.
The Big Ten has been supportive of Northwestern as they work their way through the scheduling process, but the league doesn't have infinite patience. The impetus is to get locations set so tickets can start going out.
Guaranteed Rate Field was mentioned as an option if Wrigley and Soldier do not work, but that would be a surprise, as Wrigley has been a program partner over the past few years.
A few more details have emerged, some old and some new, after talking to sources:
The Lambeau connection is an outgoing favor from a sympathetic Mark Murphy, former NU AD and current president of the Green Bay Packers. A source close to the scheduling process told me that there are next to no Chicagoland options other than SeatGeek Stadium for the early games. For example, Lambeau and SeatGeek are the only two available options for Oct. 19. Murphy offered two games, one in 2024 and one in 2025, to Northwestern.
Outside of a game at Lambeau, Northwestern is committed to keeping games in the Chicago area this year, said the source.
The Indiana game on Oct. 5 will be at SeatGeek. It’s very likely that Eastern Illinois and Duke will be there, as well. There is talk of moving the Miami (OH) game a day back to Sunday, Sept. 1, in order to be able to play at Soldier Field, which hosts the Chicago Fire and Inter Miami (and Lionel Messi) the day before.
Even with the increased expenses to rent the facilities and how difficult it will be to fill them to capacity, NU wants to make games more convenient and require the longer travel to SeatGeek as little as possible, said the source.
This part has been talked about for a long time, but Ohio State and Illinois are down to Wrigley Field or Soldier Field. It will most likely be Wrigley for both, but Soldier Field hasn't been ruled out. Soldier is trickier to arrange as NFL scheduling doesn't come out for a while, while Wrigley is guaranteed to be open for those mid-to-late November dates, once the baseball season is over.
The Big Ten has been supportive of Northwestern as they work their way through the scheduling process, but the league doesn't have infinite patience. The impetus is to get locations set so tickets can start going out.
Guaranteed Rate Field was mentioned as an option if Wrigley and Soldier do not work, but that would be a surprise, as Wrigley has been a program partner over the past few years.
