Suddenly Jeanette Labuguen faces a quandary: Will Sunday night mean fondue with friends or bratwurst with the Bears?
Ticket broker Mark Adler is watching his investment in tickets for the can’t-lose, Bears-Packers, season-ending game go sour. And super-fan Neil Slattery, who had been looking for tickets for weeks couldn’t believe his luck when he found them cheap on Tuesday.
The NFL announced late Monday that the Bears-Green Bay game would move from a noon start to 7:15 p.m. Sunday, meaning 60,000 or so fans will stream out of Soldier Field and into the middle of the city’s New Year’s Eve party as midnight approaches.
The announcement upended long-settled plans for every Bears fan with a ticket or television–and for loved ones who don’t necessarily share their football enthusiasm.
Schedules for large portions of the Chicago Police Department’s force were rewritten to handle the expected converging crowds. Restaurants are bracing for an early afternoon surge. Bars near Soldier Field face an identity crisis shared by an entire city: How do you balance the biggest party night of the year against an obligation to watch a winning home team take on its hated rival?
The competition between those priorities has exposed fault-lines among spouses, friends and personal loyalties.
“It’s a situation the NFL has put us in,” said Labuguen, unsure how to have her fondue and eat it, too. “A lot of people have plans for the night. Now we have to change those plans.”
Across the city Tuesday, the consequences began to dawn on people who at this time of year expect football at noon and New Year’s at midnight.
“Wow, that’s brutal,” said Rick Diarmit, a managing partner at the Chicago restaurant Blackbird.
Tuesday brought a stampede of changes to downtown restaurants. After a dozen callers asked for earlier tables Sunday at Opera, general manager Matt Gansz decided to open the South Loop restaurant a half-hour earlier.
At Harry Caray’s restaurant in River North, Grant DePorter had expected to serve 450 tables that night. He now expects more, most of them shortly after the restaurant opens in late afternoon.
Bears fans with $245 dinner-and-party reservations for the Chicago Scene New Year’s gala at the Drake Hotel have been calling to see if they can swap 6 or 7 o’clock dinner reservations for something earlier.
Hilton Chicago managers will meet Wednesday morning to figure out how to adapt to the scheduling change. Among the issues: How can Kitty O’Sheas, its Irish pub near the stadium, accommodate pre-game and post-game Bears fans, as well as its own New Year’s Eve party, which starts at 8?
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At Grace O’Malley’s, a restaurant and pub for Bears fans four blocks from Soldier Field, general manager Jeff Stevenson had already readjusted. He’s bringing in everyone Sunday. “I just beefed up my staff,” Stevenson said. “Every single person is on call.”
The televisions in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Chicago will be tuned to the Bears game instead of music videos. Servers at Spiaggia and Bistro 110 will be kept up to date on football scores to share with diners.
Sports fans arriving to watch the game at The Alumni Club in Schaumburg will be sent away, said a resigned manager Clay Cliborne. The club was hoping to welcome fans in one crowd, and then bring in another through special-event packages sold for a New Year’s party to start later in the evening.
“We have no way to let people in just to see the game with our party starting at 8 p.m.,” said Alumni club manager Clay Cliborne.
Fans kept phones ringing all over the city, including at the Halas Hall switchboard, which was besieged by angry callers asking why the team had changed the game time.
The decision was definitely not the Bears’, one team official assured anyone who asked. Callers were told it was a league matter over which they had no control and limited input.
The Packers’ traveling supporters may be less affected, said Dennis Garrity, president of Packer Fan Tours, the team’s official tour company. He said “around 400 fans” are coming as part of his tour group–a smaller contingent than usual because of the holiday.
If anything, the switch may bring more Packers fans to Chicago this weekend, Garrity said, because of the news that Chicago brokers have tickets available, he mused.
They will have plenty of company on the roads.
Both the Illinois State Police and Chicago police will boost patrols, mostly in response to the holiday, but both declined to talk about the number of squad cars that will be on the road.
“That’s usually our busiest night anyway, and all troopers available will be working that night,” said State Police Officer Angelo Mollo. “We’re already at full capacity.”
“We’re taking the people that would have been working at noon at the game, and they’ll be working the game at 7,” said Chicago Police spokesman Pat Camden. “There’s a little more of a logistical problem, but nothing we can’t handle.”
Some of the logistical problems at home, however, are perplexing.
Brian Pitts, who got a 42-inch high-definition plasma-screen television for Christmas, had made plans with his wife to host a dinner party on New Year’s Eve. He also has season tickets and hoped to attend both game and party. Then the football schedule changed.
On Tuesday, Pitts thought he had found the perfect compromise: hold the dinner party and use it to “feature” his new television. He suggested it to his wife.
“She said, `Oh, great,’ in a sarcastic tone,” Pitts said. He thought about blowing off the party for mere seconds, and then put his Bears tickets up for sale on the office bulletin board–next to three other people trying to offload theirs.
Ticket prices for Sunday’s game have dropped dramatically through the season as the Bears clinched the division, as people made New Year’s plans, and as cold weather planted doubts about whether people really wanted to sit through a Dec. 31 game, said Adler, the Northbrook ticket broker. Advance forecasts suggesting rain and snow for Sunday haven’t helped. “A lot of brokers are taking a loss on this now,” he said.
Adler bought 50 tickets to Sunday’s game two months ago, for about $250 a ticket, which he could have sold at the time for $350 apiece. With a week to go, he has half his stock left.
“Now I’m just trying to get my money back,” he said. “They’ll probably end up going for a little under $200.”
Slattery, who snapped up four tickets Tuesday for $190 each, saw things differently.
“These things are flying off the shelf,” the fan said. “To be honest with you? I’ve gone to five games this year, and this is the cheapest I’ve paid.”
His new seats are two rows behind the north end zone. He’ll be able to see Brian Urlacher jog out from the Bears’ locker room tunnel and Brett Favre jog out of the Packers’ tunnel. “It’s great,” Slattery said.
Most fans, like Jeanette Labuguen, were less enthusiastic.
“I’ve got to tell you, I was really looking forward to this game, and I was really happy it was a noon game because then we’ll be home by five o’clock, and I’ll get the fondue ready,” Labuguen said. “Now we’ll be going home at ten o’clock, driving with the crazies.”
She tried to pawn the tickets off on Wisconsin nephews, but they had plans. She thought about selling the tickets. She’s contemplating an evening in the cold, waiting in line for a brat while dreaming about steak and lobsters.
She looked wistfully at the bottom kitchen cabinet, the one to the left of her sink, where the fondue pot is.
“You want some tickets?” she asked.
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12 … 31 … 06 … hike!
So, you’re spending New Year’s evening with the Bears at Soldier Field, but what about your plans to count down to 2007? After the game ends (we figure about 11 p.m.), you’ll probably have about an hour to get to a festive spot to ring in the New Year. We scoped out some options that may be available to the celebrating Bears fan.
1. CATCH FIREWORKS
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Enjoy a 15-minute light show before taking in the free midnight fireworks display over Lake Michigan set to music. Buckingham Fountain, Congress Parkway and Columbus Drive; 312-744-3370.
2. Those open to trekking north a bit more can check out a free 18-minute midnight pyrotechnics display over Lake Michigan that’s unique, but set to the same soundtrack as the one at Buckingham Fountain.
Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave.; 312-595-7437.
3. GET A DISCOUNT
If you’re looking for a bona-fide party to hit after the action ends at Soldier Field, hang on to your ticket stub and head to “Remember the Times,” a two-ballroom bash at the Congress Plaza Hotel and Convention Center. Game goers land discounted admission to this party that features house, hip-hop, reggae and R&B music. Revelers also can enjoy 10 cash bars, a balloon drop, party favors and a champagne toast. It goes from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.; $35 general admission ticket, $25 with ticket stub from Sunday’s game. 520 S. Michigan Ave.; 312-656-7064.
4. DO DIVISION STREET
The party along action-packed Division Street is sure to rage on into the night. Get to the Leg Room in time for the midnight champagne toast and you’ll still have four more hours to properly ring in 2007. 7 p.m.-4 a.m.; $60, $20 after 11 p.m. (as space permits). 7 W. Division St.; 312-337-2583.
5. KNOCK DOWN A FEW PINS
Those who want to cool their SuperBowl fever with a little super bowling can stop by 10pin Bowling Lounge. Although this party is sold out, the alley will open some spots at midnight for a discounted $75 price, which includes one hour of open bar and buffet and two hours of free bowling and dancing to the sounds of DJ Speed. 330 N. State St.; 312-644-0300.
6. ROCK THE EVE
Catch what’s left of Marty Casey & Lovehammers (starts at 10 p.m.) and Collective Soul (scheduled for 11:30 p.m.) at the 10th annual New Year’s Eve Rock ‘N’ Roll Ball at Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers (formerly held at Navy Pier). If you arrive around 11 p.m., you’ll still have one hour of drink and about three hours of music left. Tickets are $85. 301 E. North Water St.; Ticketmaster: 312-559-1212, or ticketmaster.com.
— Fauzia Arain and Monica Eng