There’s going to be college football at Soldier Field this weekend — it should be a beautiful setting .
When Northern Illinois and Wisconsin meet up at venerable Solider Field on Saturday, Sept. 17, these two teams will get to experience playing a regular-season college football game in an NFL stadium and a storied Soldier Field.
Built in 1924, Municipal Grant Park Stadium opened to much fanfare. The first football held at the new stadium was a Notre Dame and Northwestern game in November of 1924. Notre Dame won by a touchdown, and Chicagoans realized they had a great place to host football games.
Municipal Grant Park Stadium became Solider Field right before it hosted the 1926 Army vs. Navy game. The game was a classic; the two service academies played to a 21-21 tie before 110,000 fans.
The following year, Soldier Field showcased two top teams as Notre Dame played USC in front of what was then a record crowd of 123,000 fans. Soldier Field was quickly becoming a big-game stadium.
Northwestern has used Soldier Field as a home field for special games. That dates all the way back to 1925 when Northwestern hosted Michigan and won 3-2. It was Michigan’s only loss of the season and the only points it gave up the entire season. This game led to many rules changes in college football that would allow for more scoring.
Many people forget that from 1934-76 the Chicago Charities College All-Star Game was held at Soldier Field — and it was an event. It may seem hard to believe now, but a game featuring a team of college All-Stars would face off with the reigning NFL or Super Bowl champions. The greatest names in football all played in the annual affair. From Johnny Unitas and Sammy Baugh to Dick Butkus and Bubba Smith, they all played in this classic. Sometimes the college guys even won. The last time was in 1963 when the collegians beat the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. While the college teams always took this game more seriously than the pros, the series ended with the NFL teams having a 13-game winning streak. Soldier Field was the perfect backdrop for this game.
The Chicago Bears would move in and start using Soldier Field as their home in 1971. This pretty much ended regularly scheduled college games at the stadium. A few games have dotted the timeline since then, so this Wisconsin-NIU game is a big deal.
It looks like it might be 2014 before another college game will be played at Soldier Field. Notre Dame and Miami are slated to reprise their rivalry of the 1980s and ’90s on the shores of lake Michigan. I’m looking forward to that.
Rick Limpert covers sports, technology and events in and around Atlanta. Soldier Field is one of his favorite stadiums to watch a game.