Chicago Cubs want to host bowl game at Wrigley Field

The New York Yankees may have some company when it comes to hosting college football bowl games.

Chicago Cubs president Crane Kenney told Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune that the Major League Baseball organization “absolutely” intends to host a bowl game at famed Wrigley Field. As there is a moratorium on adding bowl games until 2019, the absolute earliest that a postseason game could be played at Wrigley would be the 2020 season.

Besides, because of an ongoing restoration of the iconic stadium, no football games could be played there from 2017-19 anyway.

Northwestern and Illinois played a game at Wrigley in 2010, but that contest was subject to some derision as, because of the baseball parks configuration, just one of the two end zones were utilized. That shouldn’t be an issue moving forward, thanks in part to the restoration.

 

From the Tribune:

The Big Ten and Northwestern approved the Wrigley Field layout months before the 2010 game, aware that thick padding would be needed to protect players from crashing into the wall at the right-field bleachers. But upon seeing the field days before the game, officials decided not to risk it.

With advance warning, the field could have been laid out to allow for the use of both end zones, given that the wall outside the third-base line is pegged to the ground and can be removed by a forklift.

Anyway, that’s history. Dugouts will be moved closer to the foul poles before the 2018 season, allowing for ample space, Kenney said.

In 2013, it was announced that Wrigley Field would play host to five future Wildcats football games, with the dates not specified. Those games, expected to involve Big Ten foes, are expected to commence in 2020 to coincide with the club’s bowl ambitions.

Yankee Stadium has hosted the Pinstripe Bowl each of the past seven seasons, and has played host to a handful of regular season games as well