May 7, 2012
IOWA CITY, Iowa – – Tickets for the University of Iowa’s opening football game of the season, vs. Northern Illinois at Chicago’s Soldier Field, are now on sale to the general public. The Hawkeyes and Huskies meet for the eighth time Saturday, Sept. 1. Television information and start time have not yet been determined.
Tickets may be purchased through Ticketmaster, either online (Ticketmaster.com) by telephone (1-800-745-3000) or in person at any Ticketmaster outlet. Ticket prices are $80 (club seats), $70 (lower level and midfield) and $60 (upper level). Fans will be able to designate their team affiliation to be seated on the appropriate side of the stadium.
UI football season tickets holders had the opportunity to order tickets for the opening game when ordering their Hawkeye season tickets. A limited number of 200 level end zone seats are available to UI season ticketholders and I-Club members and can be purchased at hawkeyesports.com. UI season ticket holders have ordered over 14,600 tickets to see the Hawkeyes open the 2012 campaign.
Fans in the Chicago area for the Labor Day weekend football game can also see Iowa head basketball coach Fran McCaffery throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Wrigley Field on Friday, Aug. 31, as the Cubs host San Francisco. Tickets to Friday’s baseball game can be purchased through Bravo Sports Marketing at bravosportsmarketing.com.
Iowa and Northern Illinois last met in 2007, with Iowa taking a 16-3 decision, also at Soldier Field on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. That event attracted a sell-out crowd of 61,500. Iowa has won all seven previous meetings with the Huskies.
Iowa returns 12 starters from a year ago, when the Hawkeyes posted a 7-6 overall record and were bowl eligible for the 11th straight season. The appearance in the 2011 Insight Bowl marked Iowa’s fourth straight postseason appearance.
The Huskies enter the 2012 season with the longest winning streak in the nation. Northern Illinois won its final nine games a year ago, including victories in the Mid-American Conference championship game and the GoDaddy.com Bowl. NIU returns 19 starters and will be playing a home game at Soldier Field for the second straight season (NIU lost to Wisconsin last season).
Following the opening game in Chicago, Iowa will host Iowa State in the annual Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series game, Northern Iowa and Central Michigan before opening conference action at home against Minnesota.
AMERICA NEEDS FARMERS
The University of Iowa Athletics Department is working with the Iowa Farm Bureau on efforts to help consumers understand the challenges and opportunities today’s farmers embrace, and to do so under the banner, “America Needs Farmers,” the initiative undertaken by former UI football coach Hayden Fry during the Farm Crisis of the 1980s and embraced by the Hawkeyes’ current head coach Kirk Ferentz. To learn more, visit AmericaNeedsFarmers.org.