Northwestern Nabs A Piece Of Wrigley

           On Tuesday, Northwestern University signed a new five-year agreement with Wrigley Field to play at least five football games at the Chicago Cubs’ famous stadium. For many people, there are two surprising parts of this “agreement that truly is the first of its kind.” The first is that many people wonder why Northwestern would want to play football at the stadium after the public relations fallout caused by the Wildcats’ last game at Wrigley against the University of Illinois in 2010. After discovering safety issues posed by the outfield wall being too close to the field just days before the game, officials decided that both offenses could only drive towards the east end zone, upsetting many fans who had purchased outfield seats. The second surprise surrounding the deal is that the new partnership does not just include football; Northwestern’s baseball, lacrosse, softball, and soccer teams will all soon be competing in the Friendly Confines.

            The first issue should be relatively simple to resolve. Wrigley Field is undergoing construction that should address the field dimension issues and allow teams to compete on both sides of the field. Both Northwestern and Wrigley Field have not yet set a date for the first football game under the new agreement because both sides are waiting to the see the results of pending construction. However, numerous reports have the first game being played in 2014.

            The second element of the deal – the inclusion of sports outside of football – is a more interesting development. For Northwestern, playing non-football contests at Wrigley Field seems like a no-brainer. The school will drive increases in revenue, awareness, and perception by hosting games at the stadium. In addition, Northwestern has been trying to build its brand as “Chicago’s Big Ten Team” for years – even though the school is located north of the city in Evanston. By creating a partnership with Wrigley Field, Northwestern is implementing what Haas School of Business Professor Emeritus David Aacker calls a “brand as place strategy.” By using iconic venues associated with the city, Northwestern creates ethos around its core brand message. It is easier to consider Northwestern as “Chicago’s Big Ten Team” if the school actually plays a significant number of games in Chicago. 

            The more intriguing question is why Wrigley Field would be interested in hosting Northwestern games in the stadium.  After all, it is unlikely that any of the sports outside of football will attract enough fans to fill the stadium to capacity. Yet Wrigley Field is trying to address a place marketing issue that has hampered large sports stadium venues for years. Including pre-season, regular season, and post-season games, baseball teams will have, at most, 95 home contests. This means there are 270 days per year when the stadium lacks its primary occupant and the revenue that comes with it. (This problem is much more acute for other sports with fewer home games, such as football, basketball, and hockey.) Sports organizations have long tried to fill these non-game days with other activities, such as concerts, tours, corporate events, trade shows, and festivals. These venues are, however, sports venues. Having the non-primary occupants play at the venues does present an opportunity to unlock the most value from these stadiums and arenas. Therefore, having Northwestern play at Wrigley Field allows the Chicago Cubs to potentially generate new incremental revenue growth that other sports organizations have not been able to achieve consistently in the past.

            This agreement also shows why sports property rights are currently the most lucrative asset in sports. The strategy of using both traditional and non-traditional sports has been at the heart of the increasing value of media rights deals. One only has to look at the Chicago-based Big Ten Network’s strategy when it first launched in 2007. Not only was the new network going to broadcast football and basketball, but it was committed to broadcasting baseball, softball, wrestling, soccer, and swimming because it believed that these events could command large enough audiences to justify a year-round channel.

            This agreement, however, also does represent another step in the seeming professionalization of collegiate amateur athletics. It will be increasingly difficult for Northwestern, or any school that follows a similar a path, to argue that it does not use professional athletes when their teams are playing in the same venues as professional athletes. This agreement also presents an interesting dichotomy for the NCAA in that it often does not allow high school athletes to compete in college facilities because of the appearance or reality that a school would receive an unfair recruiting advantage. Yet, it seemingly does not have a problem with collegiate athletes playing in professional venues. These ethical questions will certainly deserve further consideration and should be closely examined.   

While Northwestern may be the first college to sign this type of an agreement with a professional team, B6A does not anticipate it to be the last. Professional teams are looking to maximize the revenue streams their venues produce. Collegiate and Universities will continue to look for new ways to generate money from their athletic programs. For schools that lack the infrastructure or funds to develop their own stadiums and venues, professional stadiums and arenas provide a new channel to increase revenue and brand awareness. The success of the Big Ten Network launched a new wave in collegiate sports channels and media rights. It will be interesting to see if an agreement signed by a Big Ten school will become a catalyst for a wave of new collegiate-professional venue partnerships.