This weekend, Illinois and Northwestern will be hitting the gridiron in the annual Battle for Illinois but this clash won’t be taking place in Champaign or Evanston. The friendly confines of Wrigley Field will be playing host to the game. Let’s hope a receiver on a go route doesn’t run into the ivy/brick wall. Hell, that would be the first play made on the warning track at Wrigley since Soriano starting “playing” left. We’ve been seeing a lot of this recently; venues typically suited for one sport have been dramatically altered to host a one-time sporting event not originally meant for the venue. I think that it’s great for stadiums to be converted into a venue for another sport. It gives us as fans a unique opportunity (heck, even once in a lifetime) to see a sport in a completely different element. Some might say that it is a marketing promotion or media relations ploy but I believe it’s all for the good of the sport. Sports are entertainment and keeping the fans wanting more is their objective. Fans have certainly responded by selling out every venue these events have taken place in and quite frankly they have kept demanding more. I took the liberty of summarizing some notable games that have taken or will take place at somewhat unorthodox venues.
Baseball:
Red Sox vs. Dodgers (LA Memorial Coliseum) – with that short porch, even Jason Tyner could get the ball out of the yard…after the picked it up and hit it again.
Football:
Bush-League Bowl Games at Chase Field, AT&T Park, etc. (I mean who cares about the Tang-Rayovec-Parker Bros Bowl for the Good presented by Sears and Bounty)
Hockey:
Heritage Classics – Oilers/Canadiens. Please bring back the retro Gretzky-era uniforms!
Winter Classics – novelty in comparison to the Heritage Classic. Canada does it better.
Frozen Four at Ford Field – numerous “complaints” regarding ice quality. Sounds like a bias against the Motor City.
Cold War I – Michigan vs. Michigan State
The Big Chill at the Big House – Michigan State vs. Michigan. 100,000 + tickets already sold for 12/11/2010 matchup.
Basketball:
Suns at Tennis Court – I only hoped when the scores were at 0, 15, 40 that they announced them like tennis scores. Even better would be when someone was shooting a free throw. “Nash, first serve. Nash, second serve.”
Final Fours at Ford Field/Indy – have to do it big for the Final Four.
Michigan State vs. North Carolina on an aircraft carrier – this is supposed to be confirmed soon for Veteran’s Day next year. What a gesture for our troops serving at home or abroad. I love how they always show the troops watching a big game overseas so it will be awesome to bring the game to them. Should be a heck of a game too.
Soccer:
Fenway Park – GGGGOOOOLLLLAAAAZZZZOOOO
The next step would be playing a baseball game inside of an arena. That would be complete chaos. And we thought playing in Tropicana Field was a nightmare.
- KA
*Update: Only the West Endzone will be used for the Illinois/Northwestern game.
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