Northwestern and Iowa football will square off at Wrigley Field in 2023

Northwestern football may not immediately bring to mind images of downtown Chicago like the NFL's Bears do, and though the Wildcats are a relatively-stable Big Ten program, they're not known to have the Chicago-based history of teams like the Bulls, White Sox, and Cubs.

Heck, most casual college sports fans probably don't even realize that Northwestern is just a few miles north of downtown Chicago. It's barely a half-an-hour drive away.

Speaking of the Windy City, perhaps no organization is more synonymous with the city of Chicago than the Cubbies and their iconic sandbox, Wrigley Field. The Michael Jordan-led Bulls could certainly give them a run for their money, but there's something nostalgic about the Cubs "C" and that Wrigley atmosphere that just makes it special.

It makes sense, then, that Northwestern -- in a likely effort to be closely associated with Chicago -- and the Cubs entered into a multiyear agreement back in 2013 that allowed the Wildcats to play multiple athletic events at historic Wrigley Field, including five football games. The last game for Northwestern at Wrigley was in 2021 when the Wildcats lost 32-14 to Purdue.

The next game? It's being reported that Northwestern and Wrigley will play host to the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2023. This will be the second game of that five football game agreement. The game will take place on November 4, 2023, which means the windy city is likely to be cold.

Northwestern first played at Wrigley back in 2010, which was the first time a college football game was played at the park since 1993. At that point, due to safety concerns, every offensive possession went toward only one end zone. Both end zones were used in 2021 thanks to renovations and a repositioned football field.