Evanston and Northwestern officials met Tuesday in a sign of collaboration to involve the city in NU athletics.
“We have this crazy idea: to get Evanston to go to a Northwestern (football) game,” City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz said.
The idea behind the event, coined “Evanston Day at Ryan Field,” is to encourage better relations between the city and the University. It will take place at NU’s Sept. 25 against Central Michigan.
“We look at this as an opportunity to reset components of our relationship with Northwestern,” Bobkiewicz said. “If we keep it up for four years, students won’t remember there were bad town-gown relations.”
Due to various restrictions on Big Ten games, the commission decided to hold the event during a non-conference game.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the commission formed of NU and city officials tossed around ideas of how to draw people to the game. They discussed holding a youth football scrimmage after NU’s game, having Evanston marching bands play with NU’s band and dedicating a time slot typically used to recognize corporate sponsors to the city.
The events might not be without cost to the city if Evanston and NU can’t find donors to fund the event.
There is a charge of $7,500 to keep the stadium open to host the post-game youth scrimmage, said Ryan Chenault, associate director of Sales and Marketing for Northwestern Athletics. He said the University has contacted various NU alums-specifically football players now in the NFL-to ask for donations to hold the event.The meeting included representatives from a variety of Evanston organizations, including the YWCA, the Chamber of Commerce and the D65 and D202 school districts, which discussed what would make the best day for city residents.
The group discussed holding a pep rally in downtown Evanston around 6 p.m., so the high school football team could attend after practice, on the Thursday before the game.
“My goal is to make this more than Northwestern’s football team-to make it our University, our football team,” 7th Ward Alderman Jane Grover said. “Evanston residents are your best friends.”[email protected]
