Northwestern debuts Ryan Field, the most expensive college stadium ever
Northwestern’s bold claim to the future of their sport — the most expensive college football stadium ever built — was baptized by the sounds of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” on Friday night.
As the Wildcats prepared to run onto the field seconds before kickoff, the guitar licks bounced off the new concrete, old limestone and soccer-style canopy of the stadium. Players sprinted across the field and stopped in front of their new student section, the Wildcat Wall. Two thousand students stomped and kicked up an ear-splitting, Advil-reaching frenzy.
It was all so, well, not Northwestern. The Big Ten’s smallest, most demure fan base had never seen — or heard — anything like this. Moments after the Wildcats took the field, an NFL scout commented to no one in particular that it didn’t feel like a pro football stadium — it felt like an NBA arena, complete with throbbing music and flashy video.
Whether Northwestern can use the $875 million Ryan Field to its advantage remains to be seen. There were empty purple seats scattered throughout the 35,000-seat stadium — and many more covered by Penn State fans wearing white. Booster Pat Ryan’s dream stadium is unique to the Big Ten — it’s the smallest in the football-crazy league — if not the sport.
It was ready Friday because it had to be. When I took my dog for a walk eight hours before kickoff — I live down the street — employees were still screwing in streetlights and testing turnstiles with QR codes. Freshly planted flowers were being watered.
When it was clear the stadium wouldn’t be ready for the start of this season, serendipity brought Northwestern a worthy story line.
One hundred years ago to the day Friday, 18,000 fans watched the Purple beat South Dakota, 34-0, when they debuted their as-yet-unnamed $2 million stadium. Vic Gustafson scored a touchdown and then on the next play intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown as the first-half gun — back when they used one— sounded. Gustafson, who would go on to captain the Wildcats’ first Big Ten championship team the next year, had shared the backfield at Wheaton High School with none other than Red Grange.
A month later, the stadium was named after William Dyche, the former Evanston mayor and Northwestern vice president who had originally ordered the construction of wooden football bleachers in 1905. The Bears played there in 1970 when the NFL ruled that Wrigley Field was too small. A five-year contract to stay there was challenged by locals and eventually denied by the Big Ten. The team moved to Soldier Field the next year.
In 1997, the stadium was christened Ryan Field after the booster and longtime Northwestern Board of Trustees chair — who is the founder of AON and part-owner of the Bears — paid for a massive renovation. The stadium still felt old. In the 2008 Ernie Davis biopic “The Express,” it served as a stand-in for Syracuse’s Archbold Stadium, which had closed 30 years earlier.
The old stadium was torn down in February 2024. The Wildcats spent the interim two-and-a-half years splitting time between Martin Stadium on campus and Wrigley Field. The former, a soccer and lacrosse field steps from Lake Michigan, was fitted with expanded bleachers and food trucks. Playing at Wrigley Field in November allowed the Wildcats to avoid nastiest weather of the football season.
Construction at Central Street was met with consternation by some Evanston locals. It took a tiebreaking vote by Mayor Daniel Biss to approve the stadium plan, which included rezoning for concerts. In exchange, Northwestern agreed to contribute to various city funds and causes.Friday night, years of construction and a century of prelude produced Northwestern’s bold statement to the rest of the league.
Thunderstruck, indeed.