(02-23-2024 08:50 PM)MattBrownEP Wrote:  

(01-29-2024 03:46 PM)MattBrownEP Wrote:  

(01-26-2024 01:35 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Hey! Here's an idea! Get someone credible like Matt Brown to just simply ask Northwestern officials.

Does anyone here honestly believe NU lifted Shovel 1 without a plan where to play games during construction? I mean, speculation is fun but let's get real here.

Okay, I'll call 'em tomorrow

FWIW, Northwestern tells me this stuff isn't going to get finalized for at LEAST another month, if not more. Playing everything at Solider isn't an option (and honestly, getting more than one game there isn't happening). I also would not say that the Ohio State/Wrigley game is a 1000% done deal.

The influx of Buckeye fans in Wrigleyville bars if that Ohio State-Northwestern happens at Wrigley will be like a Mad Max movie.

It's April 3rd, and Northwestern still hasn't announced a home for this season.

Wonder if pvk75 still thinks it's because "no one's asked them" -- LOL!
 

(01-26-2024 01:35 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Hey! Here's an idea! Get someone credible like Matt Brown to just simply ask Northwestern officials.

Does anyone here honestly believe NU lifted Shovel 1 without a plan where to play games during construction? I mean, speculation is fun but let's get real here.

(04-03-2024 02:27 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  It's April 3rd, and Northwestern still hasn't announced a home for this season.

Wonder if pvk75 still thinks it's because "no one's asked them" -- LOL!
 

(01-26-2024 01:35 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Hey! Here's an idea! Get someone credible like Matt Brown to just simply ask Northwestern officials.

Does anyone here honestly believe NU lifted Shovel 1 without a plan where to play games during construction? I mean, speculation is fun but let's get real here.

The AD is too busy looking for a fall guy for the inevitable next big scandal.

(04-03-2024 02:36 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(04-03-2024 02:27 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  It's April 3rd, and Northwestern still hasn't announced a home for this season.

Wonder if pvk75 still thinks it's because "no one's asked them" -- LOL!
 

(01-26-2024 01:35 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Hey! Here's an idea! Get someone credible like Matt Brown to just simply ask Northwestern officials.

Does anyone here honestly believe NU lifted Shovel 1 without a plan where to play games during construction? I mean, speculation is fun but let's get real here.

The AD is too busy looking for a fall guy for the inevitable next big scandal.

I have a hunch NW has a preliminary plan and backup plans worked out. They are probably just waiting for the Bears to announce their home schedule at Soldier field before NW announces the Soldier field games. They are also probably waiting for the Packers to announce their home schedule before NW confirms the game in Green Bay against Wisconsin. After that everything else will fall into place.

If I had to guess the location of the home games

Aug 31 - Miami-OH, this game will get moved to Sunday, Sep 1, and will be played at Soldier Field

Sep 7 - Duke, Seat Geek Stadium

Sep 14 - EIU, Seat Geek Stadium

Oct 5 - Indiana, Seat Geek Stadium (confirmed)

Oct 19, Wisconsin, Lambau Field, Green Bay, Wi

Nov 16 - Ohio State, Wrigley Field, Homecoming (confirmed?)

Nov 30 - Illinois, Wrigley Field

They should play Miami at the pro football hall of fame

(04-03-2024 03:26 PM)goofus Wrote:  If I had to guess the location of the home games

Aug 31 - Miami-OH, this game will get moved to Sunday, Sep 1, and will be played at Soldier Field

Sep 7 - Duke, Seat Geek Stadium

Sep 14 - EIU, Seat Geek Stadium

Oct 5 - Indiana, Seat Geek Stadium (confirmed)

Oct 19, Wisconsin, Lambau Field, Green Bay, Wi

Nov 16 - Ohio State, Wrigley Field, Homecoming (confirmed?)

Nov 30 - Illinois, Wrigley Field

That sounds about right.

Just play them all at SeatGeek Stadium.

I'm hearing that Northwestern is unlikely to announce anything formal until MAY. Folks in the NU world have told me the school wasn't able to meaningfully negotiate with Solider, Seakgeek, etc until late this winter, because they legit were not sure if the Evanston city council was going to let them build the stadium at ALL. They didnt know they weren't going to be able to play at Ryan Field until *this year*. Its not the same timeline as Kansas.

Other problems: the rent that solider is asking is uh, a LOT of money...the various stadiums aren't open during every date Northwestern needs 'em, and the school has not just season ticketholders, but MMR partners to placate.

I think its a safe assumption that at least half of these games are played at Seatgeek, which is a loooong drive from the Northshore.

(04-05-2024 06:20 PM)MattBrownEP Wrote:  I'm hearing that Northwestern is unlikely to announce anything formal until MAY. Folks in the NU world have told me the school wasn't able to meaningfully negotiate with Solider, Seakgeek, etc until late this winter, because they legit were not sure if the Evanston city council was going to let them build the stadium at ALL. They didnt know they weren't going to be able to play at Ryan Field until *this year*. Its not the same timeline as Kansas.

Other problems: the rent that solider is asking is uh, a LOT of money...the various stadiums aren't open during every date Northwestern needs 'em, and the school has not just season ticketholders, but MMR partners to placate.

I think its a safe assumption that at least half of these games are played at Seatgeek, which is a loooong drive from the Northshore.

Yeah - Seatgeek is a rough location coming from Evanston. It’s a really difficult route driving a car (as it requires either driving directly through downtown Chicago or taking a really circuitous indirect route through the suburbs) and there’s zero public transportation. Northwestern needs to hope that they can use Wrigley for at least the November games - that’s really the least burdensome location.

If I was NW, I would play all the Big Ten games at Soldier field if it's available. It's a stadium built for football and can accommodate large crowds and is built to work in cold weather. The Wisc, OSU and ILL games could draw some pretty big crowds at Soldier Field.

Playing at Wrigley is an unique experience but the stadium and field are not ideal for football and not ideal in cold weather.

SeatGeek is built for soccer games and smaller crowds, which might be OK, except it's too far from Evanston, nobody is going to travel there unless they already live 5 minutes from the stadium.

I would be shocked if the Cubs allow Northwestern to use Wrigley before the Cubs are eliminated from the playoffs.

Soldier Field is an option if the Bears are not playing the following day or if Northwestern is willing to play Friday Night games those weeks but rent will be pretty high.

You would think that Northwestern would be smarter than this! Just goes to show endless $$$ doesn't always mean you figure it out!

(04-07-2024 10:50 AM)Section 200 Wrote:  You would think that Northwestern would be smarter than this! Just goes to show endless $$$ doesn't always mean you figure it out!

See Matt Brown’s note above. They didn’t know up until the last couple of months whether they could even proceed with the new stadium at all, so they couldn’t even bring to negotiate with all of the various venues until now.

https://evanstonroundtable.com/2024/03/2...y-stadium/

So this is from a week ago. Perhaps this is an option?

(04-07-2024 11:38 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-07-2024 10:50 AM)Section 200 Wrote:  You would think that Northwestern would be smarter than this! Just goes to show endless $$$ doesn't always mean you figure it out!

See Matt Brown’s note above. They didn’t know up until the last couple of months whether they could even proceed with the new stadium at all, so they couldn’t even bring to negotiate with all of the various venues until now.

Which does not really answer the question why NW felt it had to immediately start destruction once they got approval. Why not wait until the 2024 season was over? I am guessing the answer is NW was comfortable enough with it's available options in 2024 to proceed. Now they are just exploring if there are better alternatives than their first choice.

(04-07-2024 11:38 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-07-2024 10:50 AM)Section 200 Wrote:  You would think that Northwestern would be smarter than this! Just goes to show endless $$$ doesn't always mean you figure it out!

See Matt Brown’s note above. They didn’t know up until the last couple of months whether they could even proceed with the new stadium at all, so they couldn’t even bring to negotiate with all of the various venues until now.

Would any legit, big time football team not have secured a stadium to use before starting to tear down their facility? Its absoluely crazy to me that NW would do this. When UC renovated Nippert they had an agreement in place to use the Bengals stadium before starting. Its just common sense. But NW sports have been mismanged for a while so while its crazy its not that surprising.

Also - are they really going to play a home game in Green Bay? Can you see Ohio State playing Michigan at the Lions stadium or Alabama playing Georgia at the Falcons stadium for a home game? NW is just odd - they have so much $$$ but don't really care about winning.

(04-07-2024 12:06 PM)goofus Wrote:  

(04-07-2024 11:38 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-07-2024 10:50 AM)Section 200 Wrote:  You would think that Northwestern would be smarter than this! Just goes to show endless $$$ doesn't always mean you figure it out!

See Matt Brown’s note above. They didn’t know up until the last couple of months whether they could even proceed with the new stadium at all, so they couldn’t even bring to negotiate with all of the various venues until now.

Which does not really answer the question why NW felt it had to immediately start destruction once they got approval. Why not wait until the 2024 season was over? I am guessing the answer is NW was comfortable enough with it's available options in 2024 to proceed. Now they are just exploring if there are better alternatives than their first choice.

Yeah, regardless of not knowing Evanston's response to begin construction, not having any sort of plan to host football this year is a huge failure. There's too much revenue and money at stake to just wing everything in really several weeks time.

Other programs have undergone renovations and temporary relocations. Northwestern was and remains fully capable of doing the same. I'm shocked at the lack of preparation and organization.

(04-07-2024 12:06 PM)goofus Wrote:  

(04-07-2024 11:38 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-07-2024 10:50 AM)Section 200 Wrote:  You would think that Northwestern would be smarter than this! Just goes to show endless $$$ doesn't always mean you figure it out!

See Matt Brown’s note above. They didn’t know up until the last couple of months whether they could even proceed with the new stadium at all, so they couldn’t even bring to negotiate with all of the various venues until now.

Which does not really answer the question why NW felt it had to immediately start destruction once they got approval. Why not wait until the 2024 season was over? I am guessing the answer is NW was comfortable enough with it's available options in 2024 to proceed. Now they are just exploring if there are better alternatives than their first choice.

I grew up in Cook County, man. I’m also a lawyer here. When you get approval, you get shovels in the ground ASAP or you risk political entities changing their mind or some special interest group filing a lawsuit. An uber-popular former president with all of the political power in the world has had his presidential library construction delayed for years here. I have complete sympathy with the predicament that Northwestern was in from a legal and political perspective. As soon as Northwestern got approval, they needed to race to start before anyone could change their minds. Seriously.

(04-07-2024 03:14 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-07-2024 12:06 PM)goofus Wrote:  

(04-07-2024 11:38 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(04-07-2024 10:50 AM)Section 200 Wrote:  You would think that Northwestern would be smarter than this! Just goes to show endless $$$ doesn't always mean you figure it out!

See Matt Brown’s note above. They didn’t know up until the last couple of months whether they could even proceed with the new stadium at all, so they couldn’t even bring to negotiate with all of the various venues until now.

Which does not really answer the question why NW felt it had to immediately start destruction once they got approval. Why not wait until the 2024 season was over? I am guessing the answer is NW was comfortable enough with it's available options in 2024 to proceed. Now they are just exploring if there are better alternatives than their first choice.

I grew up in Cook County, man. I’m also a lawyer here. When you get approval, you get shovels in the ground ASAP or you risk political entities changing their mind or some special interest group filing a lawsuit. An uber-popular former president with all of the political power in the world has had his presidential library construction delayed for years here. I have complete sympathy with the predicament that Northwestern was in from a legal and political perspective. As soon as Northwestern got approval, they needed to race to start before anyone could change their minds. Seriously.

That's exactly it. Getting this stadium done was hugely controversial in the city, and if they waited months to get shovels in the ground, they ran a legitimate risk of losing their approvals, because it would give the neighborhood residents time to re-organize and push for other votes.

I'm not saying Northwestern didn't mess up. But I do know enough from this beat to know that you can't get very far in negotiations with the Chicago Bears, Cubs, etc if you aren't for CERTAIN that you're gonna need those dates or not.

Northwestern football, even with home games with Wisconsin and Ohio State, is just not nearly as high up the tenant priority list locally as other schools are in their home markets.