Northwestern To Play Home Games At Practice Facility For Next Two Seasons, Which Will Cause Problem For Fans

The Northwestern football team will be playing its home games not far from its practice facility for the next two seasons, due to renovations to its current stadium. 

Ok, it's actually not far at all, and the players will have about a two-minute walk from where they practice on a daily basis, which has caused some ticket holders to voice their displeasure. This move comes at a time when the Big Ten is expanding, with the additions of Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA. 

The school did announce that in addition to playing home games at the practice facility, they are still negotiating to have some of its games played at different Chicago venues, like Wrigley Field or Soldier Field. 

"With views of the lake, North Campus and downtown Chicago, the temporary structure Northwestern will build at the Martin athletics facility will provide a stunning backdrop for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, bridging the gap between the old Ryan Field and the new, state-of-the-art stadium, scheduled to open in 2026," Northwestern announced on Wednesday. 

"Most of the Wildcats' home football games will be played at the enhanced Martin athletics facility. The University also is continuing discussions with other Chicago-area venues that could host some 2024 games. The full home schedule will be released soon."

The University of Hawaii had to play games at a temporary stadium recently, much like Northwestern is about to do.

So, which games that could attract a number of fans from opposing schools will be played on the campus of Northwestern? Well, the 2024 schedule includes homes games with Duke, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Illinois. The question is how many seats they can actually add to the Martin athletics facility field. Working in conjunction with ‘InProduction’, which handled seating for the NASCAR race in downtown Chicago, along with the same type of situation with the University of Hawaii recently, the school is hoping to be innovative when putting the final plans together. 

When Hawaii went through this process, it added another 5,500 seats, which came out to around 9,000 seats available to fans and season ticket holders. 

Northwestern will play a majority of its home football games for the next two seasons at its practice facility.

The problem for Northwestern, and the school already knows this, is that it will most certainly not be able to have enough seating for fans that want to attend. Most of the tickets will be given to students, season-ticket holders and parents of players. The Wildcats will have to deligate a number of tickets to the visiting team, which is in the Big Ten contract for football games. 

If Northwestern were to play both the Wisconsin and Ohio State games at the practice facility, it could turn into one of the most expensive tickets sold on the secondary market, if only because of limited seating. 

"During a period of exciting transition, playing in a venue that brings the Northwestern community together provides a perfect bridge to the new Ryan Field, and I'm so excited about the gameday experience for our program and the entire Wildcat community," head coach David Braun noted. 

We will see how this ends up playing out, but even though the backdrop will be amazing, fans are going to be upset when limited tickets are scooped up.