July 9, 2007
IOWA CITY — The University of Iowa football team’s season opener against Northern Illinois on Sept. 1 at Chicago’s Soldier Field is sold out. The announcement came today from Northern Illinois and Iowa athletic officials. The Huskies are the home team in this non-conference game.
Soldier Field has a capacity of 61,500.
The “Soldier Field Showdown” will mark the first NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) contest at Soldier Field since the 2003 renovation of the historic facility, and will also mark the first appearance for Iowa or Northern Illinois at the famed lakefront stadium.
“This is a very good season opening match-up in a historic stadium setting,” said UI Director of Athletics Gary Barta. “We expected ticket sales to go very well and the results have exceeded the expectations of both schools. We look forward to a good game and a wonderful weekend in Chicago for many of our fans.”
The contest will be televised by ESPNU with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m. (CDT).
This will be the 65th straight Hawkeye football contest to be televised. Iowa’s game against Northern Illinois last year (won by the Hawkeyes, 24-14) was also shown on ESPNU. The game is the second of a two-game series for the Hawkeyes and Huskies. Iowa. The teams met in Iowa City last year before a sellout crowd (70,585) at Kinnick Stadium.
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