‘Cats-Cubs Press Conference

Posted by Lake The Posts on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 · 40 Comments

Click here to watch the ‘Cats press conference on Comcast Sports Net Chicago. We’ll be back this afternoon with reaction and commentary.

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DT

Getting the hip boots out for this dog and pony show…
Stephen Zgrabik

i’m unable to watch it live – will it be available after the fact?
- http://twitter.com/LakeThePosts Lake The Posts
  
  Not sure. Will check.
GreenLantern411

brief recap:
5 (!) games, they’ll be no earlier than 2014 and deal could go through 2021 although it’s flexible
they’ll play a baseball game there this spring and a women’s lacrosse game in spring of 2014. 3 more non-football events will also be scheduled, soccer mentioned as a likely candidate.
Cubs will advertise in Evanston and NU will have some ads at Cubs games although they’re somewhat limited due to NCAA rules (of course…)
http://twitter.com/RevDJEsq Chad

Jim Phillips, best Athletic Director in college sports. Someone needs to follow up on Jim P’s mention of the deal’s “exclusivity” — does this mean Northwestern will be the only home team at Wrigley during the life of the deal? Because that is awesome….locks Illinois/Notre Dame/Iowa out of our backyard, all of whom had interest in playing games at Wrigley, I believe.
- Richard
  
  That, to me, would have been 1 of the 2 main reasons to do this deal (the other is converting 1% of Wrigleyville neutrals to NU fans). Claiming the Northside of Chicago as NU territory the way that the B10 claimed the Northeast corridor as B10 territory by adding Rutgers and UMD.
- Ron
  
  Agree with Richard, without that, there’s no reason to do this horrific deal and pull the Cats off campus. Ricketts blackmail at its finest. I’m quite sure that the need to protect territory was the only reason for this deal and the only reason for the extent of the deal (5 games in 7 years? You kidding me?)
  - Jonathan
    
    Recruitment is extremely important. Telling a bunch of kids that they get to go play on Wrigley Field once a year will surely help recruitment. As fans, we really should want the school to do whatever puts the football team in the best position to win (while also maintaing the integrity of the school.) Having national attention and getting better players on the field because they like the idea of playing at a historic and monumental site seems like a pretty legit way to put the football team in a better position to win.
    - DT
      
      C’mon.. Iconic to a 17 year old kid means JerryWorld in Dallas or the new state of the art facilities germane to any sport… The fact Babe Ruth is alleged to have pointed to Left Field or Ron Santo kicked his heels on the hallowed grounds means nothing to kids, many whose first national exposure to Wrigley is via ESPN 30/30 on Steve Bartman…
      
      The first game or two at Wrigley is a novelty for the fans.. That too shall wear off, particularly at inflated ticket prices..
      - Jonathan
        
        No. To anybody who grew up a sports fan (which I assume most of these kids did,) Wrigley is still Wrigley. Blowing it off as “They’re dumb kids; they only like shiny things” is both wrong and insulting.
      - DT
        
        Your quote on the dumb and shiny, Jonny- Not mine.. I would agree, Wrigley is still indeed Wrigley… Both good and bad..
      - Jonathan
        
        Sorry, I paraphrase sometimes.
      - das420
        
        Wrong…Thanks for playing…Try removing your “I hate everything Cubs” glasses next time…
      - DT
        
        Not true.. I very much like and respect Ernie Banks…
      - JMK
        
        Do you know how excited a lot of marching band kids were just to MARCH on Wrigley Field? We’re not much over 17, and it meant a lot. Trust me, this is a big recruiting move, especially for kids in the Chicagoland area.
      - DT
        
        And I know a dozen or so Little League players that did not sleep the night before running the bases… Look, I’m pleased to hear you enjoyed your march around The Friendly Confines, but beg to differ with you or anybody else that playing a game at Wrigley Field is an earnest benefit to recruiting the vast majority of Division One Football players… A nice spiff for some? Maybe…
        I wish you the best of luck with your musical pursuits…
DT

Blah, blah, blah, blah… While I’m pleased to see some of the non-revenue sports have the supplemental student-athlete experience of playing a game or two at Wrigley– and the chance for the adjacent pub crawl, this is all about football games and ancillary revenue for The Chicago Cubs more specifically the endeavors of Mr. Ricketts and Mr. Hayward… Nothing innovative about this per se and Phillips needed to stay out of the politics of the Ward (and the issues of closing off the streets around the hood be if for baseball, concerts or his ‘bowl game”) during the press conference.. I’d remind the Good Doctor, he has his own issues with The City Of Evanston on MANY fronts..

Nice softballs from Teddy G, not even broaching the inequitable ticket pricing and seat location implementation for season ticket holders many of us experienced in 2010… Was there a journalist in the room?

Finally, sports is about loyalties and affinity.. While I’m a passionate NU Football Fan, I’m more passionate about The St. Louis Cardinals… I don’t want one purple cent of my money going to The Cubs!!! Further, The Cubs culture is one of losing00 be it “lovable” in nature for many placated year in and year out by luke warm beer, tube tops, and the promise of a meat market on every corner or roof top… Not what NU Football or athletics is about in any way, shape or form to my way of thinking… Great brand synergy guys..
- Richard
  
  Same here. Cards fan (and NU alum). Where did you grow up, DT?
  - DT
    
    Grew up in Chicagoland albeit, born in St. Louis. Might ad, have enjoyed my trips to beautiful “new” Busch Stadium to see 6X World Series, NLCS and NLDS games over the last 15 months… The tradition continues..
    Go Cards!
    - Richard
      
      I was living in downtown StL when they won the WS. Walked home through the jam-packed streets after going to Game 7. Fun times.
      - DT
        
        No doubt… One is blessed to see ‘their” baseball team win it all in a Game 7 at home.. As great as that night was for Cardinals Nation, it was anti-climactic to some some extent given the goings on 24 hours earlier… Up until attending that Game 6, The NU-Notre Dame game in 95 was the most amazing in person sports fan experience I’d ever had previously…
      - Richard
        
        Saw Game 6 with other folks in the apartment (screaming their heads off multiple times) as I had to go to work early the next day.
        At one point during the game, it occurred to me that if Hollywood had made a movie with the exact same plot twists, critics would have panned it as being too ridiculous to be realistic.
      - DT
        
        Agreed… Check out TLR’s book if you have not already.. Great stuff pursuant to the whole scenario…
- Ron
  
  You can rest at ease, not one of your purple cents, once they hit the Ricketts’ bank account, will be going to help the Cubs. Grandpa Joe Ricketts’ Birther SuperPac, well that’s another story.
  - cec
    
    no, purple cents ARE helping the Cubs. we get vis there, they get vis here. that’s my money going to help BirtherSuperPac Ricketts. and I don’t like it.
    - Ron
      
      Well, I don’t like my purple cents (or my cubby blue season ticket $$) going to their political activities either. But what I seriously doubt is whether and how much any of those dollars and cents are going back into the baseball team on the field (the objection of Cardinals fan DT above) rather than into the Ricketts’ personal pursuits.
cece

wouldn’t a deal with the Bears have been a better choice? granted the Bears do not have their own stadium, but there is less cross over with other sports fans…think Cardinals fans in Ill overlap more with the Bears than they certainly do with the Cubs…..so more win with all the fans in Chicago. inside, you must know the childhood Fitz is gagging.
- Noah Kimmel
  
  Philips at one point said he was open to games at Soldier Field, and many Cat’s alums are playing for the Bears. However, with Illinois and ND both having games there, and the lack of storied past, it is more of a “larger venue” than a “statement venue.” Plus, given crowd sizes, we would definately turn a home game into an away game. Lets do Wrigley for a bit, then see what happens. If our CHI area fanbase grows, lets grow venues
- DT
  
  C-
  They spun that Bears tie in with the presser for Ricketts Bowl #1 in 2010– when Ginny McCaskey and one of her offspring as CEO came out and talked about how Papa Bear Halas loved Wrigley and the heritage et al… NU has played at Soldier Field as recently as the early/mid 90′s and the novelty of another game there– won’t move the needle on the top spin meter, OR will money spent with the Illinois Sports Facility Authority via The Bears lease– help The Cubs or very possibly the newly formed, “W Partners” pursuit of revenue to rebuild the crumbling structure on Addison, build a boutique hotel across the street or god forbid, sign a 20 million dollar a year free agent to a minimum seven year contract..
  - cece
    
    thanks for the update. I just think Cubs aren’t as interesting a partnership as the Bears would be marketing wise.
- Richard
  
  Soldier Field is kind of neutral territory and doesn’t mark a section of the city as NU territory the way claiming Wrigley does.
  
  Making neutral Northsiders think of the Wildcats as “our” team (the way many North Shore residents do) has got to be one of the main goals.
Catonic Joe

It is a little strange that there are so few positive comments posted here, but as I write this, more than half of the LTP readers answered the poll by saying that a Wrigley game is a good thing and another 20% says that it depends on who we play. Are we just hearing from the Cub haters or is the winter just making everyone grumpy? Good buzz about Wrigley, which I am already hearing from people with no connection to NU, is a good thing.
catdaddy

Wasn’t able to listen live- any details on what NU’s “Concourse presence at Wrigley Field” entails? That must be just for NU games, a ‘Cats booth at Cubs games would be too good to be true, right?
- http://www.facebook.com/prossmanreich Philip Rossman-Reich
  
  The reciprocal nature of it is what really intrigues me. Could this mean there is a ticket-sharing deal where if you buy a Cubs ticket package you get a Northwestern ticket too? If we are trying to bring in new fans this would be a great way to get people to Ryan Field to experience a Northwestern home game. Just spitballing, no idea if that is part of this package.
Wildcats99

Five games sounds like a lot, but I think it is great! I had an amazing time at Wrigley (except for the outcome)! Again, I think it was a huge defensive move. If we didn’t claim Wrigley, someone else would have.
Indycat15

I for one am excited about this. For all the complaints about the particulars of the last Wrigley game, I had one of my favorite experiences as a college football fan there in 2010. I think that even every other year would maintain enough novelty that interest would remain high. I for one would love to see the annual game vs. Illinois played there and really play up the Land of Lincoln game into a bigtime rivalry game and event.
I for one am willing to pay a higher ticket price for the experience of watching the ‘Cats in Wrigley, warts and all. For those of us out-of-towners it makes for a bowl experience without the requisite bowl travel hassle.
Is it the same as a game at Ryan Field? Of course not. It’s something different and fun. There are a heckuva lot of Texas fans that enjoy the annual showdown in Dallas with Oklahoma. It’s not Memorial Stadium, but it’s something different and something fun.
- Ron
  
  The whole point of the game is supposedly not for to draw out of towners, to an occasional “event” game. It’s to try to get people to buy season tickets with the hook that you too can help to enrich the Ricketts if you do buy a season ticket. But the NU marketing geniuses (who of course “get it”) either don’t know or don’t care that the NU fans who they’re targeting to buy the season tickets in order to have the privilege of filling Wrigley will lose interest after the novelty of paying high prices with shitty sightlines and no place to tailgate wears off. At that point, the games will be just like at Ryan Field – tickets gobbled up by the visitors, and still, priced too high, shitty sightlines and no place to tailgate.
  - Richard
    
    The RRR is a good comparison. People don’t lose interest in seeing OU-Texas play in the Cotton Bowl. However, you would need to play a key game at Wrigley year after year.
cece

oooh, graduate education program for Cubs employees. shouldn’t they know these things already?
disqus_SWTzQJ8XLb

i was in the NU stands for the Wrigley game, you know, the endzone that we played away from, and it was the most fun experience i’ve had as an NU fan (until the actual game, that is). I think this is an awesome partnership, with the hope that accommodations are made to help students get to the game, and will be great for the program’s visibility. Although, i highly doubt this will sway any recruit…

2013 NU Football Schedule

Date	Opponent	Result
08/31/2013	at California - TBA TBA	-
09/07/2013	Syracuse - BTN 5:00PM	-
09/14/2013	Western Michigan - BTN 8:00PM	-
09/21/2013	Maine (FCS) - TBA TBA	-
10/05/2013	Ohio State - ABC/ESPN OR ESPN2 7:00PM	-
10/12/2013	at Wisconsin - TBA TBA	-
10/19/2013	Minnesota - TBA TBA	-
10/26/2013	at Iowa - TBA TBA	-
11/02/2013	at Nebraska - TBA TBA	-
11/16/2013	Michigan - TBA TBA	-
11/23/2013	Michigan State - TBA TBA	-
11/30/2013	at Illinois - TBA TBA	-

2012 NU Football Schedule

Date	Opponent	Result
09/01/2012	at Syracuse - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	42 - 41
09/08/2012	Vanderbilt - BTN 7:00PM - Highlights	23 - 13
09/15/2012	Boston College - BTN 2:30PM - Highlights	22 - 13
09/22/2012	South Dakota (FCS) - BTN 2:30PM - Highlights	38 - 7
09/29/2012	Indiana - BTN 11:00AM - Highlights	44 - 29
10/06/2012	at Penn State - ESPN 11:00AM	28 - 39
10/13/2012	at Minnesota - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	21 - 13
10/20/2012	Nebraska - ABC 2:30PM	28 - 29
10/27/2012	Iowa - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	28 - 17
11/10/2012	at Michigan - ESPN 11:00AM	31 - 38
11/17/2012	at Michigan State - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	23 - 20
11/24/2012	Illinois - BTN 11:00AM - Highlights	50 - 14
01/01/2013	Mississippi State - ESPN2 Gator Bowl 11:00AM - Highlights	34 - 20

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