Northwestern to face Wisconsin at Wrigley Field in 2020

Northwestern Football and Wrigley Field are headed for a reunion. The Wildcats will take on Wisconsin at the iconic ballpark on November 7, 2020, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

The game will take place almost exactly a decade after the last football game at Wrigley, a 48-27 Illinois victory over NU on November 20, 2010. That game was both historic and hyped up with College Gameday in town, but bad weather and 330 rushing yards from Mikel Leshoure made it an imperfect experience for Wildcat fans.

As many will remember, only one end zone was used in that game. It seems like that won’t be the case this time, according to the Trib story.

Coach Pat Fitzgerald dubbed Northwestern’s 2010 football game at Wrigley Field against Illinois “the first bowl game in the history of Chicago” and brushed off complaints about using only one end zone by saying, “It’s like being back (in a sandlot) in Orland Park: Losers walk.”

The Wildcats’ return to the Friendly Confines will feature a new opponent and conventional field of play — with the potential for extra points to land on Sheffield Avenue.

A return has been in the works for a while. Northwestern and Illinois wanted to play there again in 2014, but that was stalled by Wrigley renovations. A couple years later, Jim Phillips said he wanted to play there in 2017. 63 percent of our readers supported that idea, but it never materialized.

Now it’s finally happening, and is expected to be made official next week. This should be pretty cool, although if 2010 is any indication, you may have to pay a pretty penny to attend.