[NU Sports] Big Ten Bowl Game at YANKEE STADIUM? 'CATS at YANKEE

[Jonathan Hodges]

The biggest objection I have to moving an NU home game to a neutral site,
especially one far away, has to do with removing potential revenue from NU.
Phillips knows that the 'Cats need 7 home games a year, and at the very
least 6 + one neutral site game and will hopefully be protecting the most
valuable revenue stream in NU athletics - football gate receipts.  While a
game at Yankee Stadium would be nice in drawing interest, NU must be able to
ensure that it retains some sort of advantage and the game doesn't turn into
a pure sellout (like NU moving a home game vs. OSU to Cleveland Stadium in
'91 or Indiana moving a home game in 2010 to Washington D.C. vs. PSU).

I agree that a bowl game in late December in New York would not be kind,
remember that the time period in question is in the heart of the NFL season,
and 2 NY teams manage to make do in an outdoor stadium.  Yes, it wouldn't be
typical bowl weather, but maybe it will help the Big Ten's cause by getting
a bowl game played in familiar elements to this conference rather than
traveling to the other guys' backyard every year (think about the annual
losses to USC in southern cal).

In any case, Phillips talking up these events at Wrigley and Yankee Stadium
are helping generate some talk about NU, and that's not a bad thing.  I
would like to see him stick to following through on one of these potential
games and focusing the rest of the effort on filling up Ryan Field any given
Saturday.

Jonathan

On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 1:54 PM, <NEONRye at aol.com> wrote:

> May all plans to play an NU home game in Yankee Stadium go up in  flames.
> A)
> I have no admiration for Yankee Stadium, old or new; B)  Don't tear up
> baseball fields playing football on them; C) We're  NorthWESTern, not
> NorthEASTern.  Let them play there or maybe  Rutgers-Connecticut.
>
>
> Considering that our retiring President, Mr. Bienen, is originally from
> this area, and that our incoming President, Mr. Shapiro, is currently from
> up
> the road a bit (Massachusetts), they might well disagree with your
> statement.
>
> I don't know why people on this list are so negative about Jim Phillips
> trying to boost the program's visibility by playing in famous baseball
> stadiums  (stadia?), unless we lose true "home" games (at Ryan) as a
> consequence.
> If  we can make NU football a recognized "brand" by doing this, and
> provided
> that  the Administration and the Athletic Dept. continue to adhere to the
> principles  that have made our program a standard-bearer for doing things
> the
> right way, how  can that be a 'bad" thing?
>
> Paul Levinson
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