Notre Dame vs Maryland in Washington D.C. Why Can't Chicago get games like this?

Over 100,000 spectators attended the 1926, Army/Navy Game at Soldier Field



It was announced today that Notre Dame will play Maryland in Landover Maryland at the Redskins Stadium. Now this isn't that huge of news since UND had already announced plans to play there. The thing that jumped out at me in the article was the number of big games being played there.

I already knew about IU vs Penn State (as discussed on ACSS here) but they also are getting Boise State vs Va Tech, Cincinnati vs Va Tech and Army vs Navy.

I know Chicago used to get these types of games played at Soldier Field (I went to a Northwestern vs Oklahoma kickoff classic once), but what happened, why don't we get them anymore?


Chicago has a defacto home team in Northwestern which allows us Chicagoans to go to a game relatively easily. But, what if I don't want to watch NU (sorry Fodor)? I also know that Iowa played NIU at Soldier Field a few seasons ago. I don't want to see Big Ten teams play mid majors. I want to see big name colleges come in like what is happening in Atlanta, Dallas and now DC. We are one of the unofficial homes of the Big Ten, why couldn't we bring some of the elite teams. Offer a big pay-day, and a prime time date. I know there's enough college football fans that there would be no problem selling out the 60K+ seats in Soldier Field.

Or another idea that could work. Instead of making NU vs U of I a one time thing at Wrigley, have Wrigley be the host site for these games. We know the new owner is looking to turn a profit. This is another way to make money on a stadium that would be going unused at the time.

Maybe I'm crazy and maybe it's just me, but I would love to see major college football come to Chicago every year. Maybe you disagree or could care less about college football, but I think this would work in Chicago.