Brace yourselves, Chicago. Wednesday Night "MACtion" is coming to the South Side during the upcoming college football season.
The White Sox and Northern Illinois University held a press conference earlier today at U.S. Cellular Field announcing that the NIU Huskies will host Mid-American Conference rival Toledo at the Cell on Wednesday, November 9. The game, which is being dubbed the "Huskie Chi-Town Showdown" and will be nationally televised on ESPN, will be the first-ever football contest held at U.S. Cellular Field.
NIU's campus is located about 65 miles west of Chicago in DeKalb, but the team is no stranger to playing home football games in the city. Over the past 10 years, the Huskies have hosted three games at Soldier Field, most recently in 2012. Holding a prime-time, nationally televised game at U.S. Cellular Field on a Wednesday night should help raise the profile of the program and attract more fans and recruits from Chicago.
The White Sox and Illinois Sports Facilities Authority (ISFA), the organization that owns and operates U.S. Cellular Field, also stand to benefit greatly from hosting this game. The Cell isn't utilized for much other than baseball games, but the success the Cubs have had hosting non-baseball events at Wrigley Field (including a very profitable college football game between Illinois and Northwestern in 2011) has likely encouraged the White Sox and IFSA to try hosting more events.
The novelty of hosting the first-ever football game in U.S. Cellular Field, combined with NIU's Chicagoland alumni base of 145,000 people, should make this game a success for everyone involved. And if you're unfamiliar with the NIU football team or Mid-American Conference football in general, you might want to tune in or, even better, make it out to the Cell to catch the game. The Huskies have built a great program over the past couple of decades that's entertaining to watch. They also have a really competitive rivalry with Toledo, and the games usually feature a ton of offense. Plus, there's just something special about taking in a mid-major college football game on a weeknight in November that can only be captured in one hashtag: #MACtion.
