After canceling Saturday’s football game against Navy, Northwestern athletics officials announced today an added home game against Bowling Green State University on Nov. 17.
Fans who had tickets to the canceled game against Navy can:
• present them for admission to the game against Bowling Green, which will begin at 11 a.m. at Ryan Field.
• return them to the Northwestern Ticket Office, donating the refund to the American Red Cross.
• return them to the Northwestern Ticket Office for a full check or credit card refund.
All refund requests must be received by Oct. 16, officials said today in a news release.
Tickets purchased through the U.S. Naval Academy must contact the team’s ticket office at (800) 874-6289 or at www.navysports.com
Tickets issued through Ticketmaster can also be refunded or used for the Nov. 17 game.
“We hope that a majority of our ticket-holders for Navy can attend the Bowling Green game,” Athletics Director Rick Taylor said in the release. “Many people have suggested to us that they want the cost of the ticket that they could not use to go to a relief organization in the wake of the tragic events of last Tuesday. We want to accommodate these requests.”
Promotional tickets that were scheduled for Saturday’s game — including “Take a Kid to the Game Day,” “Evanston Chamber of Commerce Day,” “Evanston City Employees Day” and “N Club Day” — will be honored for the Bowling Green game.
Taylor said Wednesday that officials made the decision to cancel NU’s home opener because it was in the best interest of both schools.
“It was an easy decision for us to make,” Taylor said. “We understand that other schools may be able to go ahead with their games, but given the unique circumstance of playing one of our U.S. military academies, we felt it best not to play on Saturday.”
All of the weekend’s Division I-A football games were postponed or canceled.
When NU’s football team took the practice field last Wednesday afternoon, they were preparing to play Navy. Head coach Randy Walker said he was informed of the decision to cancel the game halfway through practice.
“I was disappointed,” Walker said. “We’re all anxious to play, but we all respect the situation. I think it was the right decision.”
Still, Walker said he was frustrated with the circumstances, which will bring the team into late September having played only one game.
“I’m trying to figure out what the best thing to do is,” he said. “You can only practice so much. It’s just one of those difficult things.”
NU will play its final non-conference football game Sept. 22 at Duke. The new home opener is scheduled for Sept. 29 against Michigan State.
In other sports, intercollegiate competition will resume Friday with volleyball and men’s and women’s soccer matches.
