(02-21-2020 07:09 AM)schmolik Wrote:  I resent the idea of Northwestern being Chicago's Big Ten team. Illinois should be. Northwestern wants to be Chicago's Big Ten team? When most of the top Chicago suburb high school students apply there they get a big fat rejection letter from them and those that make the cut they ask for a ridiculous amount in tuition. If you take the number of alumni from each Big Ten school living in the Chicago area, Northwestern would not only be way behind Illinois, I don't even thing they'd be in the top half. I believe at one point they were dead last but that was before the recent adds.

Illinois should play more games in Chicago to mark their territory. When I was at U of I, I knew tons of people from the Chicago suburbs.

Northwestern will never really be Chicago's Big Ten team, but if you're in the Wildcat athletic department can you blame them for trying? And while U of I should probably keep trying to expand in Chicago, it's inefficient spend for now when so many Chicago area grads went to other Big Ten schools (college-bound students from Illinois go out-of-state at the second-highest rate in the nation) and Illini football has mostly been mediocre. Victory cures everything though, so if Lovie starts winning eight or so games a year they'll make some inroads.

This is a decent marketing gimmick by NU. It's not like they're a G5 school with only five home games a year, they have three non-conference home games this upcoming season so if you wanna see them play in Evanston you have plenty of chances. Having a Wrigley game is a good way to attract local or out-of-town alums of other Big Ten teams who might not be interested in an away game against NU, and give your fans an interesting experience to boot. And I wouldn't be surprised if the deal includes some Cubs marketing tie-ins (in-stadium ads, ticket giveaways, etc).