The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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DECEMBER 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 9 BY ANTHONY BROOME W rigley Field, considered one of the crown jewel venues of Major League Baseball, added a new chapter to its storied history on Nov. 15 when U-M beat Northwestern 24-22 on a walk-off field goal from Dominic Zvada. The ballpark, which was built in 1914, hosted the Chicago Bears from 1921-70 and the Chicago Cardinals from 1931-39 and has been the home of MLB's Cubs since 1916. But Northwestern had played five football games at Wrigley since 2010 heading into the Week 12 matchup and is using it as a partial temporary home, along with makeshift Martin Stadium, while its Ryan Field is renovated. Despite its lore, U-M went in treating it like any other game. "It's a historic venue. … But it's just the place we're playing," head coach Sher- rone Moore said the Monday before the game. "We can't really worry about that too much. We talked about it and showed them what it looks like. But, we've got to go play football on a blade of grass." Moore has spent plenty of time in the Chicagoland area during his coaching ca- reer. "Being in Chicago, I spent a lot of time, even when I was at Central [Michigan]," Moore said. "That was my main [recruit- ing] area. I stayed on the north side all the way down to the south side of Chicago. "It's going to be cool to be there. I hope we've got a lot of fans there. It'll be great to have the great support from the Michi- gan nation, Michigan fans at Wrigley Field. So, it'll be fun." Wrigley has hosted plenty of events other than baseball, but the football con- version is a long process for the crew. Head groundskeeper Dan Kiermaier told The Detroit News that it takes around a month to tear out the sod, tear down the Cubs' dugout and alter the seating, which reduces the capacity from 41,649 for baseball down to the 38,223 fans who attended on Nov. 15. The rest of the work is painting and preparing the field, which sees the end zones run from between home plate and third base down into right field. "We've done a lot of different events, none of which are a walk in the park by any means, but this one, it does take a little bit more time, just because we are completely transforming the stadium," Kiermaier said. "With concerts, we can get it turned around in one day and be ready for baseball, but with this, it's ob- viously just so many more moving parts that you know have to take place. It's a longer, heavier lift than I'd say pretty much any other event that we do." U-M moved to 1-1 all-time in baseball stadiums with the win over Northwest- ern. The last time the Wolverines played at an outdoor baseball venue came in 1950 in a loss to No. 1 Army. It also was 12-0 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minnesota's home stadium prior to TCF Bank Stadium. U-M's Chicago contingent showed out, with the majority of the crowd decked out in Maize and Blue despite the "home" game for the Wildcats. Their energy was called out and noted by Moore in the post-win press conference. "It was outstanding," Moore said. "Big shout-out to the Michigan family for coming out to support us in Chicago. I thought there would be a good group showing for Michigan, but it was bet- ter than I thought. And they came. They were ready to go. They were pumped. They were loud. They were supportive. So, much appreciation." When it was all said and done, "the Friendly Confines" were very good to the Wolverines. "It definitely felt like a home game, es- pecially whenever I kept hearing the 'Go Blue' chants," freshman Andrew Marsh said after the game. "I felt like I was right at home." ❑ ❱ Inside Michigan ATHLETICS U-M's North Side Takeover At Chicago's Historic Wrigley Field Michigan's 24-22 win against Northwestern Nov. 15 came at Wrigley Field in Chicago, the first time the Wolverines' football program had played in an outdoor baseball venue since 1950. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY