Logistics Matter Too

By: katypolansky | Category: Miscellaneous

Any regular readers know I’m a sucker for many things in the world of business, sports and marketing. Two of those things are attention to detail and games being played in non-traditional environments. Those two issues have converged this week in the staging of the Northwestern vs. Illinois football game at Wrigley Field. First off, playing the first college football game at the historic baseball venue since 1938, is awesome. It might not be quite as cool as the playing of the NHL’s Winter Classic at Wrigley but it is still pretty darn great. One big difference between these two events, however, is that a hockey rink safely fits in the old baseball stadium, while a football field does not. Upon the striping of the field this week many have expressed concern over the proximity of the wall to the back of the east end zone, which makes sense being that it is a measly ONE foot away.

Player safety has been a hot topic in both the NCAA and NFL this season, so how this wasn’t noticed or rather addressed prior to three days before the playing of the game is beyond me. Sadly this problem may be a result of “I’ll pretend not to notice” leadership, because the staging of the game has been a brilliantly successful marketing scheme. People all over the country are talking about a game featuring two non-ranked teams to the extent that the biggest pre-game in NCAA college football, ESPN’s College GameDay, is broadcasting its morning show at Wrigley. It will be interesting to follow this story the rest of the week and see how it develops.

                                                                                                                                   Source: Yahoo.com

UPDATE (11/20/10): This is a good decision. Evidently for the first time in college football, a game will be played virtually in only one direction.