May 19--Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips lives and dies with every Cubs victory and loss, but a relentless travel schedule has prevented him from watching them in person this season.
Phillips is eager not only to see the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He wants the NU football team to play there again soon.
"We're anxious to get something done," he told the Tribune this week. "I'm close with those guys. I talk to (Cubs Chairman) Tom (Ricketts) all the time. Everyone is motivated to do it. It's really on their timeline."
Phillips hopes the Wildcats can return to Wrigley in November 2017. They lost to Illinois in a 2010 game memorable for both offenses playing in the same direction because of a cramped, potentially dangerous layout.
In 2013, the Cubs agreed to stage up to five more NU football games at Wrigley, plus NU baseball and lacrosse games. The baseball and lacrosse games have happened, but football is on hold until the Cubs move ahead with on-field renovations.
A Cubs spokesman offered no details on when those will take place. In 2013, Cubs President Crane Kenney said: "We would move the dugout top, and that would allow us to put a 12-foot perimeter around the whole field."
Phillips hopes to get good news by this fall, noting that it takes a full year to prepare for a Wrigley Field game, considering marketing initiatives and trying to satisfy season ticket holders.
"So much planning is involved," he said.
