Nebraska is looking to move its 2014 game against Northwestern from Ryan Field to Wrigley Field, the Omaha World-Herald reported Monday.
Wrigley is the home of the Chicago Cubs, where the Wildcats played Illinois in 2010. A source at Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade, which was founded by the father of Cubs owner Tom Ricketts, told the World-Herald that there have been preliminary talks within the company to bring the NU-Nebraska match-up to Wrigley in early October 2014.
Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne told the World-Herald that there have been “no discussions” with Northwestern about moving the game. A spokesman from the NU athletic department confirmed that there have been no conversations yet and declined to comment on the rumors.
Football coach Pat Fitzgerald told the Chicago Tribune last summer that he would be open to playing at Wrigley more often if his team’s schedule allowed it.
“I’d like to play six at Ryan Field and have that be our seventh (game),” Fitzgerald said. “If you’ve never been to a bowl game, that’s what it’s like. The atmosphere (for the Illinois game) was spectacular.”
NU has seven home games scheduled for 2014, including four Big Ten games in Evanston.
The Cubs and the City of Chicago are currently deadlocked over a renovation project for the nearly century-old baseball stadium. If the renovations proceed, the game would be able to use two end zones, unlike the 2010 game against Illinois.
— Josh Walfish