It was announced in the spring of 2007 that the University of Wisconsin would be visiting Huskie stadium on Oct. 24, 2009. It seems like forever since the game was announced. There have been rumors the game would be played at Soldier Field, not Huskie Stadium.

Now, those rumors seem to be coming to fruition. According to the Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema said at his weekly news conference there was talk that one of Wisconsin’s 2009 road games was close to getting moved to a neutral site.

“I kind of have a little game plan in mind,” Bielema told the Journal-Sentinel. “A way to get us an away game but not let it be too far away.”

Jeff Potrykus of the Journal-Sentinel claims that according to a Wisconsin official, Bielema is talking about the NIU-Wisconsin contest.

Even though it is not official, this got me thinking: What would be the better site for the game, Huskie Stadium or Soldier Field?

The case for Huskie Stadium

No Big Ten team has ever visited Huskie Stadium. Yes, Maryland and Iowa State came in 2003, and Wake Forest in 2002.

But this is Wisconsin, a school only a couple of hours away which would bring its fair share of fans to DeKalb.

The record crowd for Huskie Stadium is 28,221 set in 2003 against Western Michigan. There is a great chance Wisconsin would top that. The experience for NIU students would be unreal.

The case for Soldier Field

As I already mentioned, the record crowd at Huskie Stadium is 28,221. 61,500 people were in attendance for the NIU-Iowa game at Soldier Field last season. 61,500 people for an NIU football game? You can’t really beat that.

Not to mention Soldier Field is a much nicer facility. Fans would get to sit in an actual seat instead of being crammed into bleachers, unable to move.

At Solider Field, it wouldn’t take 20 minutes to get from your seat to the aisle to go to the bathroom.

NIU would also receive a lot more revenue if the game was at Soldier Field.

The verdict

This is a tough choice and I can’t really go wrong either way. Obviously there are financial considerations NIU has to consider.

But I think the best experience for NIU fans would be to have the game here in DeKalb at Huskie stadium.