For the first time in a decade, college football will be heading back to one of the most iconic baseball ballparks in the country.
First reported by the Chicago Tribune and subsequently confirmed by ESPN.com, it will be formally announced at a Tuesday press conference that the 2020 Wisconsin-Nebraska game will be played at venerable Wrigley Field in Chicago. According to the Tribune, Wisconsin was chosen as the opponent instead of Illinois, the only other available November road game, because “Northwestern does not want its in-state rival to get a marketing boost from a game at Wrigley Field.”
In 2013, it was announced that Wrigley Field would play host to five future Wildcats football games, with the dates not specified.
Northwestern and Illinois played the last game at Wrigley in 2010, but that contest was subject to some derision as, because of the baseball parks configuration, just one of the two end zones were utilized. That will not be an issue moving forward because of the ongoing restoration of the stadium.
That 2010 matchup marked the first college football game at Wrigley Field since 1938, when DePaul University played home games at the ballpark. It also marked the first time Northwestern had played Illinois at the home of the Chicago Cubs (then called Cubs Park) since Oct. 27, 1923.
Wisconsin will, in addition to the Wrigley Field game in 2020, play at historic Lambeau Field in Green Bay that same season.