Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman says the Illini will no longer play Northwestern at Soldier Field in Chicago.

 

Illinois in recent years has played Northwestern every other season at the stadium. The Illini gave up on-campus games against the Wildcats to gain visibility in Chicago.

Northwestern's home dates in the series are played at its campus in Evanston. The teams will meet there Nov. 26.

 

Whitman said Tuesday the school prefers "rivalry games" be played in Champaign.

 

Illinois will instead play what he described as a "major non-conference opponent" at Soldier Field every four years.

 

The next game will be against South Florida in 2018.

 

Spokesman Kent Brown said the school's deal with the Chicago Park District for Soldier Field does not require any financial penalty for the change.

 

>>Big Ten Friday Night Football Games Announced

 

The Big Ten has announced its schedule of Friday night football games for 2017.

 

The conference said Tuesday that the games would be televised by ESPN and Fox. Game times will be announced later.

Two games will be played on Sept. 1: Washington at Rutgers and Utah State at Wisconsin.

 

Other games are Ohio at Purdue on Sept. 8, Nebraska at Illinois on Sept. 29, Northwestern at Maryland on Oct. 13, and Michigan State at Northwestern on Oct. 27.

 

Big Ten officials said last week there would be six Friday night football games a year starting in 2017 and continuing through at least 2022. The games are being added to the conference's new television agreements with ESPN/ABC and Fox.

 

The Big Ten already has had Friday night games on Labor Day weekend.