O’Donnell: If Cubs stay sunk, Northwestern could get third Wrigley game
IF ONLY NORTHWESTERN FOOTBALL was played in a perfect world.
If pristine purple merriment still ruled on The Enchanted Lakefront, David Braun and the '24 Wildcats would get to play all seven of their home games at Wrigley Field.
Instead, a band of unpredictable bat swatters called the Cubs have dibs on the ballpark at least through their closing home game vs. the Reds on Sunday, Sept. 29.
Northwestern is slated to take up residency at Addison and Clark for only its final two home tiffs — Nov. 16 against Ohio State and Nov. 30 vs. Bret Bielema and the Fighting Illini.
THE NOMADIC STATUS OF NU for this season and 2025 was forced while construction of the school's new stadium proceeds.
The fresh Ryan Field will seat only 35,000 when it opens in 2026. That's 12,000 down from the historic RF 1.0, known as Dyche Stadium when ravagers like Mike Adamle and Tommy Myers ruled the grass.
Currently, the Wildcats are slated to play their initial five games of the upcoming season at Martin Field. That's an on-campus grove overlooking Lake Michigan. University officials are saying it can “accommodate up to 15,000 fans” for football games.
That calculus remains to be seen.
WHAT'S UNQUESTIONABLE is that NU will utilize that grid playpen to face Miami of Ohio (Aug. 31), Duke (Sept. 6), Eastern Illinois (Sept. 14) and Indiana (Oct. 5).
But what about the scheduled game against Wisconsin on Oct. 19?
The official schedule still says “Martin Field.” But that official schedule also couldn't take into account that Wrigley Field is extremely unlikely to be in use for any Major League Baseball on that date.
Neither athletic department will confirm it. But, through appropriate sourcing, The Daily Herald has learned the NU-Badgers game will be switched to Wrigley Field if the Cubs are clearly out of postseason contention no later than the weekend of Sept. 21-22.
CONSIDERING HOW WELL Wisconsin fandom “travels,” the move would be downright humanitarian.
In their last three full-access stops in Evanston — all pre-pandemic — the Badgers played before average houses of close to 44,000. They regularly draw 75,000+ at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.
That infers that putting them in Martin Field on what could quite likely be a golden autumn afternoon would be like booking Usher and Bad Bunny into a Chick-fil-A parking lot.
Moving the game to Wrigley could add more than 23,000 tickets to the mix, a trove that would be snapped up quicker than lost chips underneath a craps table.
Now if only Craig Counsell and the Cubs won't cooperate.
STREET-BEATIN':
The announcement that Jerry Reinsdorf and the Wirtz family have plans for a $7B “campus” around the United Center should surprise no one. The No. 1 reason Reinsdorf was granted controlling interest in the Bulls way back in 1984-85 was because he had a very specific plan to max out profits for investors in the gentrification about to happen from the Loop to the west. (And it did.) …
News that Snoop Dogg will carry the Olympic torch on its final leg through the northern suburb of Saint-Denis into the Paris Games Friday would have been on the board at 2X Powerball-to-1 30 years ago. The French will counter with MC Solaar, their version of a croque monsieur rapper. (Solaar would be laughed out of Snoop's old “L-B-C.”) …
Jon Lester's pop-up as a Cubs weekend TV analyst didn't exactly shake down the echoes of Lou Boudreau. Lester was fine, indistinguishable. Most intriguing pairing of late on Marquee has been Pat Hughes and Joe Girardi. Nice chemistry and Girardi is at his best when he lets his Peoria-spawned baseball scowl out. …
Matt Lloyd — once a media relations staffer with the Bulls during the lost seasons of the Jerry Krause-Tim Floyd bromance — was recently named GM of the Timberwolves. His key patron was John Paxson, who granted Lloyd's wish to move from the press room to basketball ops in 2002. …
Gary Duch reports that frequent Arlington Park training champ Wayne Catalano saddled his 3,000th winner Saturday at Ellis Park. During their days of wary collaboration at AP, benevolent owner Frank Calabrese greatly boosted “The Cat Man” into a higher tax bracket. …
And Scott Winzler, on the White Sox amazin' pursuit of the pathetic 40-win '62 Mets: “In the America of 2024, public shame can be its own reward.”
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.