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topicnews · September 7, 2024

Why does the Northwestern football team play in a temporary stadium?

Why does the Northwestern football team play in a temporary stadium?

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The splendor and legends of college football are often a product of its size.

College football stadiums are the largest sports venues in the United States and are among the largest in the world. 14 college stadiums have more seating capacity than the largest NFL stadium.

For decades, the importance of a game has been evident even before kickoff, when television cameras pan over a sold-out stadium filled with tens of thousands of passionate fans dressed head to toe in their school’s colors.

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That’s what made last Saturday at Northwestern so unsettling.

In the minutes before the Wildcats’ 2024 season opener against Miami, Ohio, fans across the country watching the game were treated to an unusual sight. Instead of playing in a massive stadium that has stood for a century, Northwestern was preparing to play in a 12,000-seat arena on Lake Michigan.

As picturesque and scenic as the setting is, one wonders how the Wildcats ended up there. Why is a team from the Big Ten, a league with five schools and stadiums for at least 90,000 fans, playing on a field surrounded by makeshift stands?

As Northwestern takes on Duke on the same field on Friday night, here’s what you need to know about why the team is playing in such a small, makeshift arena and how the makeshift stadium came to be:

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Why does the Northwestern football team play in a temporary stadium?

The Wildcats are playing in a temporary building not out of desire but out of necessity.

In September 2022, Northwestern announced that it would demolish Ryan Field, its home since 1926, and build a new stadium on the site, which is about a mile west of the school’s campus in Evanston, Illinois.

Demolition of Ryan Field began in February and continued in the following months.

A new Ryan Field will eventually be built in its place – but one that will bear little or no resemblance to the stadium it is intended to replace.

The new Ryan Field will cost $800 million, financed entirely with private funds. While it will have fewer seats than its predecessor (35,000 instead of 47,000), it will offer many of the modern amenities that the predecessor, despite its charm, lacked. The stadium will have a roof that directs noise and light onto the field, seats with backrests for every fan, state-of-the-art scoreboards and food stands with food from local restaurants.

This is an important step for the Northwestern program, which is coming off an 8-5 season under reigning Big Ten Coach of the Year David Braun.

While the Wildcats’ future undoubtedly looks bright with a fancy new home, there are some questions in the present, such as where would they play until the new stadium opens in a few years?

REQUIRED READING: How Northwestern transformed a lacrosse field into a unique 12,000-seat lakefront football stadium

Temporary football stadium in the northwest

Northwestern is located just outside of Chicago, the third-largest city in the United States and home to teams from every major American professional sport, and there would have been no shortage of options for an interim stadium.

However, every opportunity came with challenges.

Soldier Field has long hosted college football games, but between the NFL’s Chicago Bears and the MLS’ Chicago Fire, Northwestern would have had too many dates to schedule. Wrigley Field is relatively close to campus, just 10 miles from Ryan Field, but the Wildcats didn’t get to play there until November, after the World Series. Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, had the same problem, although it’s a little funny in hindsight, as the White Sox are on pace to set the MLB record for lowest winning percentage in a modern season. SeatGeek Stadium, home of the NWSL’s Chicago Red Stars, had a nice seating capacity of 28,000, but was 30 miles from the campus in Bridgeview, Illinois — a drive that could be frustrating for athletes and students in Chicago traffic.

“Having that drive at most of our games was no good for anything,” Jesse Marks, assistant director of athletics development at Northwestern University, told USA TODAY.

“It’s probably three hours between the time they finish playing and the time they get back to campus to party or hang out with their parents,” he later added.

The solution to their dilemma was found right on campus.

Northwestern’s administration planned to build a temporary football building consisting of a former football practice field and parking lot, and to use the 2,000-seat soccer/lacrosse stadium as a playing surface and base.

To make this dream a reality, the university enlisted the help of InProduction, a company that builds temporary seating for Formula 1 races, golf tournaments, and for various colleges such as Hawai’I and Appalachian State. Perhaps the company’s most famous work is the massive stadium that opens every year around April 16.th Hole at the Waste Management Open golf tournament in Arizona.

Building a stadium from scratch would require some creativity, especially given the limited space available to Northwestern. The west side of the stadium bordered the university’s field hockey stadium, leaving limited space for seating. The same problem existed on the east side, which is separated from the lakeshore only by a path and green space.

Given these parameters, a lot of the seats are behind the end zones. Students and the band sit in the north end zone bleachers, while the south bleachers have two levels of suites in addition to general seating. Oddly enough, the temporary stadium, officially known as Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, has more premium seating than Ryan Field.

Although they don’t extend nearly as far back, there are bleachers on both the east and west sides of the field. The back of the east bleachers is only about 50 feet from the shore of Lake Michigan, meaning that if the wind gusts at the right time, a punt could very well end up in the lake.

The Walter Athletics Center – Northwestern’s glamorous, $270 million football training facility, conveniently located across the street from Martin Stadium – is used as a locker room and game operations facility.

Perhaps most impressive is that the stadium was built in just about 60 days. As part of the financing for construction, Northwestern received “a large six-figure commitment” from Braun and his family.

At less than a third the size of Ryan Field, Martin Stadium is by far the smallest stadium in the Big Ten. It has more than 38,000 fewer seats than the next largest stadium, Huntington Bank Stadium in Minnesota. For a smaller school whose fan base has grown accustomed to opposing fans from larger, more powerful programs like Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State filling Ryan Field, the more intimate setting could give the Wildcats a much-needed home-field advantage for years to come.

Northwestern has five home games at Martin Stadium this season, including Big Ten games against Wisconsin and Indiana. The home games against Ohio State and Illinois – both in November, after the Chicago Cubs’ season ends – will be at Wrigley Field.

Capacity of Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium

According to the university, Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium currently has an official capacity of 12,023, but there is the possibility of adding more seating at a later date.

When will Northwestern’s new stadium open?

The opening of the new Ryan Field is planned for 2026.

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