Editing Wrigley Field (section)

===Football===
[[File:Wrigley Field football (54147493043).jpg|thumb|Wrigley Field with a football configuration for Northwestern]]
The [[Chicago Bears]] of the [[National Football League]] played at Wrigley Field for 50 years, from 1921 to 1970 before relocating to [[Soldier Field]]. The team had transferred from Decatur, and retained the name "[[Chicago Staleys|Staleys]]" for the 1921 season. They renamed themselves the Bears in order to identify with the baseball team, then a common practice in the NFL. Wrigley Field once held the record for the most NFL games played in a single stadium, with 365 regular season games, but this record was surpassed in 2003 by [[Giants Stadium]] in [[New Jersey]], thanks to its dual-occupancy by the [[New York Giants]] and [[New York Jets]]. On September 14, 2003, the game played between the Jets and [[2003 Miami Dolphins season|Miami Dolphins]] was the 366th regular season NFL game at Giants Stadium, breaking Wrigley's regular season record.<ref name=si>{{cite magazine |title=The Runaround: Sticking With Ground Game Pays off in Week 2|last=Cross|first=B. Duane|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/writers/b_duane_cross/09/14/full.blitz.2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030919034053/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/writers/b_duane_cross/09/14/full.blitz.2/|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 19, 2003|magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]|date=September 14, 2003|access-date=August 6, 2008|quote=According to Elias Sports Bureau via Michael Eisen of the G-Men, the Dolphins-Jets game was the 366th NFL regular season game played in Giants Stadium, surpassing Wrigley Field in Chicago as the most frequently used stadium in NFL history (regular season only).}}</ref> The 50 seasons the Bears spent at Wrigley Field had been an NFL record until 2006, when [[Lambeau Field]] duplicated this feat by hosting the [[Green Bay Packers]] for a 50th season and broke it in [[2007 NFL season|2007]]. Soldier Field also matched the accomplishment when the Bears played there for their 50th season in [[2021 NFL season|2021]] and would the break the record when the Bears played their 51st season in the venue in [[2022 Chicago Bears season|2022]].

Initially, the Bears worked with the stands that were there. Eventually, they acquired a large, portable bleacher section that spanned the right and center field areas and covered most of the existing bleacher seating and part of the right field corner seating. This "East Stand" raised Wrigley's football capacity to about 47,000, or a net gain of perhaps 9,000 seats over normal capacity. After the Bears left, this structure would live on for several years as the "North Stand" at [[Soldier Field]], until it was replaced by permanent seating.

The football field ran north-to-south, i.e. from left field to the foul side of first base. The remodeling of the bleachers made for a very tight fit for the gridiron. In fact, the corner of the south end zone was literally in the visiting baseball team's dugout, which was filled with pads for safety, and required a special ground rule that sliced off that corner of the end zone. The end zone was also shorter than the north, as the south end zone was eight yards, compared to the regulation ten yards.<ref>{{cite web|title=1963 Season: Bears Defeat Colts 10-3 at Wrigley|first=Chet|last=Coppock|url=http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1/1963-season-Bears-defeat-Colts-10-3-at-Wrigley/205f934a-533c-49c5-87dc-529c24700560|publisher=[[Chicago Bears]]|date=October 4, 2013|access-date=October 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005003623/http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1/1963-season-Bears-defeat-Colts-10-3-at-Wrigley/205f934a-533c-49c5-87dc-529c24700560|archive-date=October 5, 2013|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> One corner of the north end line ran just inches short of the left field wall. There is a legend that Bears fullback [[Bronko Nagurski]] steamrolled through the line head down, and ran all the way through that end zone, smacking his leather-helmeted head on the bricks. He went back to the bench and told then-coach [[George Halas]], "That last guy gave me quite a lick!" That kind of incident prompted the Bears to hang some padding in front of the wall.

The Bears are second only to the Packers in total NFL championships, and all but one of those (their only [[Super Bowl]] championship) came during their tenure at Wrigley. After a half-century, they found themselves compelled to move as the NFL wanted every one of its stadiums to seat at least 50,000 as a result of the then-recent [[AFL–NFL merger]]. The Bears held one game at Dyche Stadium (now [[Ryan Field (stadium)|Ryan Field]]) on the [[Northwestern University]] campus in 1970, but otherwise continued at Wrigley until their transfer to the lakefront ended their five-decade run on the north side.

One remnant of the Bears' time at Wrigley was uncovered during the offseason rebuilding of the playing field between 2007 and 2008: the foundations for the goal posts. Five NFL championship games were played at Wrigley Field: [[1933 NFL Championship Game|1933]], [[1937 NFL Championship Game|1937]], [[1941 NFL Championship Game|1941]], [[1943 NFL Championship Game|1943]], and [[1963 NFL Championship Game|1963]]. Coupled with the Chicago Bears, the Chicago Cardinals (now the [[Arizona Cardinals]]) of the NFL called Wrigley Field home from 1931 to 1938. Born on the South Side of Chicago, the Cardinals also played their home games at Normal Park, [[Comiskey Park]], and Soldier Field.

The [[Northwestern Wildcats football|Northwestern Wildcats]] and the [[Illinois Fighting Illini football|Illinois Fighting Illini]] played a [[college football]] game at Wrigley Field on November 20, 2010. It was the first football game at Wrigley Field since 1970, and the first collegiate football game there since 1938, when the [[DePaul Blue Demons]] played its regular games at Wrigley.<ref>{{cite web|title=Football Returning to Wrigley Field|first=Carrie|last=Muskat|url=http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100422&content_id=9495588&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc|publisher=[[Major League Baseball Advanced Media]]|date=April 22, 2010|access-date=April 22, 2010|archive-date=April 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425075408/http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100422&content_id=9495588&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc|url-status=dead}}</ref> The field used an east–west field configuration (third base to right field). In order to keep the playing field at regulation size, the safety clearances for each end zone to the walls in the field were considerably less than normal. In particular, the east (right field) end zone came under scrutiny as its end zone was wedged extremely close to the right field wall (as close as one foot in some areas), forcing the goal posts to be hung from the right field wall in order to fit. Despite extra padding provided in these locations, it was decided that all offensive plays for both teams play to the west end zone, where there was more safety clearance. The east end zone could still be used on defensive and special teams touchdowns, as well as defensive safeties; and, in fact, there was one interception run back for an eastbound touchdown.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wildcats, Illini to Use One End Zone at Wrigley|first=Adam|last=Rittenberg|url=https://www.espn.com/blog/BigTen/post/_/id/20006/wildcats-illini-to-use-1-end-zone-at-wrigley|publisher=[[ESPN]]|date=November 19, 2010|access-date=November 10, 2010}}</ref> [[Big Ten Conference|Big Ten]] Commissioner [[Jim Delany]] said that, as late as three days before the game, he had only been apprised that the situation wasn't "anything other than tight". When he had a chance to fully vet the situation, however, he concluded that the space surrounding the east end zone was smaller than the minimum of six feet stipulated in NCAA rules, and it would have been too great of a risk to allow offensive plays to be run toward that end zone.<ref>{{cite web |title=One End Zone on Offense at Wrigley|first1=Scott|last1=Powers|first2=Adam|last2=Rittenberg|url=https://www.espn.com/chicago/ncf/news/story?id=5824661|publisher=[[ESPN]]|date=November 20, 2010|access-date=March 26, 2015}}</ref> The Fighting Illini won the game 48–27, taking home the Land of Lincoln Trophy, which was introduced in 2009.

Northwestern football returned to Wrigley Field in 2021 and 2023, and hosted two games at Wrigley Field during stadium reconstruction in 2024. They’ll host two more at Wrigley Field in 2025. During the 2017 offseason, the home (third base) dugout and adjacent seating were redesigned to be portable, and the playing field will accommodate a regulation size 120-yard football field that will run east-west, unlike the Bears, when the stadium was north-south. During most of the Bears' run in Wrigley Field, the goal posts were located on the goal line as was NFL rules until 1975, not the end line as it was in college and after 1974, the NFL, which made the deeper end zones relevant. A Northwestern football game had also been scheduled for Wrigley in 2020, but was relocated to Northwestern's [[Ryan Field (stadium)|Ryan Field]] due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Northwestern moves football game from Wrigley Field |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/7/8/21317535/northwestern-wrigley-field-football-game-cubs |access-date=2021-04-24 |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=July 8, 2020}}</ref> As a makeup, Northwestern relocated their 2021 home game against [[Purdue Boilermakers football|Purdue]] to Wrigley Field, which was held in November. The Wildcats also hosted [[Iowa Hawkeyes football|Iowa]] in November 2023. The Wildcats hosted [[Ohio State Buckeyes football|Ohio State]] on November 16, 2024 and the [[Illinois Fighting Illini football|Fighting Illini]]  November 30, 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2024 Football Schedule |url=https://fightingillini.com/sports/football/schedule/2024 |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=University of Illinois Athletics |language=en}}</ref>