I have to believe it's the Toledo game.

(02-16-2016 05:14 PM)BarsemaBone2 Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 05:08 PM)DogPoundNorth Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 05:04 PM)BarsemaBone2 Wrote:  

(02-16-2016 04:57 PM)DogPoundNorth Wrote:  I can guarantee you it will be a saturday game.

If it is, and it's a November game, it'll be solely thanks to Frazier moving the game to The Cell.

It's going to take something like that for ESPN and the MAC to sacrifice their marquee weeknight November match-up.

I just don't see how it could be a conference game. But we'll find out I guess.

Don't underestimate the amount of leverage having the game at the Cell could be, especially if both teams are good when they face off.

WIU would be the biggest draw, but again, I doubt the White Sox would want another sport using the field during the season. The Sodfather's the best in the business, but could he really get the field back in pristine condition when the Sox return home on 9/26?

SDSU is going to be at Huskie Stadium, and that leaves the conference games. Of them, only Toledo & BG make sense and as we know, the NIU-Toledo game is the marquee match-up for the conference. It's the only one that run-of-the-mill college football fans are interested in.

Bingo!

(02-16-2016 05:07 PM)cagy cager Wrote:  Dogpoundnorth says "I can guarantee you it will be a saturday game." That is funny.

???

Northern Illinois to announce U.S. Cellular Field football game
By Danny Ecker February 16, 2016

U.S. Cellular Field will host its first-ever football game this fall when Northern Illinois University plays a late-season game at the South Side home of the Chicago White Sox.

Officials from NIU, the Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which owns and operates the stadium, will announce details of the game at an event tomorrow, including the date and opponent.

The Huskies will play one of their four final regular season games at the ballpark based on the Major League Baseball postseason schedule, which could stretch into November.

The field is expected to run roughly north-south in the venue, with one sideline running along the first base line.

News that ISFA and NIU officials were in discussion about hosting the game was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times in September.

Nonbaseball events are rare at the publicly owned venue, which has had a chilly relationship in the past with the Sox over efforts to hold revenue-generating events such as concerts while the Sox are in season.

Language in the Sox's deal with the stadium can make it difficult for ISFA to schedule them. For example, no special events—including preparation and cleanup—can be done within 72 hours of a Sox home game or 48 hours afterward.

The stadium has not hosted a concert since Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played there in 2003. Other special events in recent years have included boxing matches in 2013 and 2014 as well as a televised gathering staged by pastor Joel Osteen in 2011 that generated $177,000 in revenue for ISFA.

MAKING AMENDS

But ISFA leadership and Sox officials last year started sounding like they were finding some middle ground.

The Sox, for example, waived a right in their management agreement with the park that had prevented ISFA from pulling in its own revenue from advertising on the park's video boards.

ISFA will be able to take advantage of that moving forward on the massive new video boards going into the park this offseason, for which the agency is paying $7.2 million.

"I think there's just a new sense of collegiality and sense of respective appreciation between the landlord and the tenant that, for whatever reason, wasn't there previously," said ISFA Chairman Manny Sanchez in an interview last fall. Sanchez, an NIU alum, previously served as chairman in 2011 and was reinstalled by Gov. Bruce Rauner last year.

The vast majority of ISFA's revenue comes from a portion of the state's hotel tax, with padding from events like the NIU game.

Most of that money is used to cover its debt payments on the construction of the Cell as well as the renovation of Soldier Field, which will steadily balloon to $87 million in 2032 from $36 million in fiscal 2016. The city is on the hook for any shortfalls between the hotel tax money allotted to the agency and annual debt obligations.

ISFA has come up short of its debt payments only once since the Soldier Field renovation project was approved in 2001. The agency was forced to tap into the city's share of the state income tax in 2011 to cover a $185,000 shortfall in hotel tax revenue.


http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/2...s-cellular

I live blocks away from the Cell. Close enough to walk. This will save me $$$ from having to drive out to DeKalb this year, which includes tolls, food, and a hotel. Thanks, Sean.

Hopefully, I can crash the press conference tomorrow. 10:30 a.m.

Stadium will be free and clear after October 2, unless the Sox make the playoffs (LOL).

Anybody driving in for the game, be advised the streets in Bridgeport are for residents only. The restricted areas are here. You will be ticketed:

http://www.chicityclerk.com/city-sticker...um-parking

(02-16-2016 06:06 PM)NJTB Wrote:  Northern Illinois to announce U.S. Cellular Field football game
By Danny Ecker February 16, 2016

U.S. Cellular Field will host its first-ever football game this fall when Northern Illinois University plays a late-season game at the South Side home of the Chicago White Sox.

Officials from NIU, the Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, which owns and operates the stadium, will announce details of the game at an event tomorrow, including the date and opponent.

The Huskies will play one of their four final regular season games at the ballpark based on the Major League Baseball postseason schedule, which could stretch into November.

The field is expected to run roughly north-south in the venue, with one sideline running along the first base line.

News that ISFA and NIU officials were in discussion about hosting the game was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times in September.

Nonbaseball events are rare at the publicly owned venue, which has had a chilly relationship in the past with the Sox over efforts to hold revenue-generating events such as concerts while the Sox are in season.

Language in the Sox's deal with the stadium can make it difficult for ISFA to schedule them. For example, no special events—including preparation and cleanup—can be done within 72 hours of a Sox home game or 48 hours afterward.

The stadium has not hosted a concert since Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played there in 2003. Other special events in recent years have included boxing matches in 2013 and 2014 as well as a televised gathering staged by pastor Joel Osteen in 2011 that generated $177,000 in revenue for ISFA.

MAKING AMENDS

But ISFA leadership and Sox officials last year started sounding like they were finding some middle ground.

The Sox, for example, waived a right in their management agreement with the park that had prevented ISFA from pulling in its own revenue from advertising on the park's video boards.

ISFA will be able to take advantage of that moving forward on the massive new video boards going into the park this offseason, for which the agency is paying $7.2 million.

"I think there's just a new sense of collegiality and sense of respective appreciation between the landlord and the tenant that, for whatever reason, wasn't there previously," said ISFA Chairman Manny Sanchez in an interview last fall. Sanchez, an NIU alum, previously served as chairman in 2011 and was reinstalled by Gov. Bruce Rauner last year.

The vast majority of ISFA's revenue comes from a portion of the state's hotel tax, with padding from events like the NIU game.

Most of that money is used to cover its debt payments on the construction of the Cell as well as the renovation of Soldier Field, which will steadily balloon to $87 million in 2032 from $36 million in fiscal 2016. The city is on the hook for any shortfalls between the hotel tax money allotted to the agency and annual debt obligations.

ISFA has come up short of its debt payments only once since the Soldier Field renovation project was approved in 2001. The agency was forced to tap into the city's share of the state income tax in 2011 to cover a $185,000 shortfall in hotel tax revenue.


http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/2...s-cellular

I live blocks away from the Cell. Close enough to walk. This will save me $$$ from having to drive out to DeKalb this year, which includes tolls, food, and a hotel. Thanks, Sean.

Hopefully, I can crash the press conference tomorrow.

Anybody driving in for the game, be advised the streets in Bridgeport are for residents only. The restricted areas are here. You will be ticketed:

http://www.chicityclerk.com/city-sticker...um-parking

Sigh

Crain's article say it will be one of the four final regular season games so that would be a MAC game.

I'm shocked Danny Ecker wrote something about NIU.

I wonder if they will have premium seating options (ie indoor heated). I would pay up for that over sitting in the cold in DeKalb. If only Huskie Stadium had more premium seating...

Tribune article.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/col...story.html

(02-16-2016 06:21 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  I wonder if they will have premium seating options (ie indoor heated). I would pay up for that over sitting in the cold in DeKalb. If only Huskie Stadium had more premium seating...

They do

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I'm just here to read MD's batshit crazy posts about this...

What we are doing isn't working, why not try something new?

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It should be interesting to see how they sell it (no pun intended). I just don't know how you can get 30K to a MAC game in november. But, we'll see how it goes, gotta try something I guess.

I'll put my money on a Saturday afternoon game against WIU

Interesting quote in the Trib article. Doesn't sound like the plan is to play a MAC team on Tuesday night.

"One source said the goal for the NIU game is to attract at least 30,000 fans to the Cell, which has a baseball capacity of 40,615. The process was complicated by the need for approval from the Mid-American Conference and a TV partner such as ESPN"

(02-16-2016 06:27 PM)Stay Cool Wrote:  I'm just here to read MD's batshit crazy posts about this...

What we are doing isn't working, why not try something new?

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Stay Cool, is this the news that you have been sitting on for a while? That you couldn't give us really any news on in another Thread?

In this one...
http://csnbbs.com/thread-769532.html

(02-16-2016 06:59 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  Interesting quote in the Trib article. Doesn't sound like the plan is to play a MAC team on Tuesday night.

"One source said the goal for the NIU game is to attract at least 30,000 fans to the Cell, which has a baseball capacity of 40,615. The process was complicated by the need for approval from the Mid-American Conference and a TV partner such as ESPN"

Gotta be a Saturday

Go check Twitter and make are you credit who had the opponent and date first :)

(02-16-2016 07:05 PM)7 Wrote:  Go check Twitter and make are you credit who had the opponent and date first :)

Somebody else do it...I'm scared

Toledo. Wednesday night in November. Likely the 9th

I just can't see how midweek will bring anywhere near the numbers they want.

About an hour closer for Toledo travelers.