OT: Northwestern's new Ryan Field price tag: $850 million

[iowamike21]

Privately funded, mostly by the Ryan family, the new Ryan Field is scheduled to open in 2026 with 35,000 seats. It will be, by far, the most expensive college football stadium ever built, more than doubling San Diego State's recent build. Read all about it here: https://www.espn.com/college-footba...tern-reveals-plans-new-850-million-ryan-field

 

[hawkirugged17]

 

[ButtersHawk]

That's a ton of money to spend for 9k to show up

 

[pistachio1999]

Shoulda spent the money buying players.

 

[jdw10224405]

Will look great packed with Hawkeye fans!

 

[QChawks]

Will look great packed with Hawkeye fans!

Somebody needs to Photoshop that the stands filled with nothing but black and gold

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

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The fact that thing only seats 35,000 is utterly ridiculous.

 

[HawkBall23]

The fact that thing only seats 35,000 is utterly ridiculous.

Was just gonna post this after seeing the OP.

You're gonna throw down 850M and its only going to seat a third of what The Shoe and The Big House do?!

That place better have an insane amount of top of the line amenities on offer then, for that price.

 

[Hawk68]

The students don't give a damn about FB, but the alumni have big bucks. I remember when it was Dyche stadium. I bet the seats will be damn comfortable.

 

[TXHCHawk]

The wine & cheese tailgating crowd. Like Sinatra, their way.

 

[Birky]

The fact that thing only seats 35,000 is utterly ridiculous.

I’d suggest it would be utterly insane for NW to build a stadium any larger than that.

I just watched an 8-2 ISU team play in front of 10k+ empty seats, because their AD had a hard on for building a stadium they were never going to be able to fill more than once a year.

 

[LetsGoHawks83]

Good for them. Their old stadium was an embarrassment to the B1G

 

[TailgateTom]

The fact that thing only seats 35,000 is utterly ridiculous.

Ditto. $850 million for 35K seats? They now have the best HS stadium in the country. Congrats Cats!

 

[LarryMullenJr.]

I feel like I just watched a hype video on NCAA'27.

Good for them, though. I'm surprised that it only holds that many based on the renderings--looks bigger.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

The students don't give a damn about FB, but the alumni have big bucks. I remember when it was Dyche stadium. I bet the seats will be damn comfortable.

Yeah, considering Dyche was so "luxurious", lol.

 

[Birky]

Ditto. $850 million for 35K seats? They now have the best HS stadium in the country. Congrats Cats!

I think they should have paid $1 billion, and and put in 15k empty seats for all but about 1 game a year!

Northwestern is going to have an extremely nice stadium, that is the size Northwestern’s stadium should be. If they can even get that many people to show up, it will be a much better, more hostile environment than if they had a 50k seat stadium that is 2/3 empty.

Them making it bigger would be even stupider than ISU making their stadium 60k.

 

[sm_hawkeye]

Can they really even do much in the NIL with the academic requirements at Northwestern or is that an issue of the past? This stadium makes sense for them if they have the support that is giving away money. Maybe they’ll start making noise in NIL leading up to this completion.

 

[iowamike21]

Was just gonna post this after seeing the OP.

You're gonna throw down 850M and its only going to seat a third of what The Shoe and The Big House do?!

That place better have an insane amount of top of the line amenities on offer then, for that price.

They say it does, which is the point. They claim to be building the stadium of the future that will entice people to show up in person rather than stay at home and watch on their 120-inch, 12K TV. Most stadium renovations in recent years have reduced seating capacity and tried to improve amenities. Arizona State, for example, went from about 75,000 seats to 50,800. Larger, individual chair seats take up more space than old-fashioned bleachers, for one thing. NW is being realistic about capacity. But spending nearly a billion dollars . . . wow.

 

[pistachio1999]

Are they heated and cooled seats with charging ports, etc?

 

[onlyTheObvious]

 

[pistachio1999]

They say it does, which is the point. They claim to be building the stadium of the future that will entice people to show up in person rather than stay at home and watch on their 120-inch, 12K TV. Most stadium renovations in recent years have reduced seating capacity and tried to improve amenities. Arizona State, for example, went from about 75,000 seats to 50,800. Larger, individual chair seats take up more space than old-fashioned bleachers, for one thing. NW is being realistic about capacity. But spending nearly a billion dollars . . . wow.

Make 'em wider for the heavies.

 

[pistachio1999]

Can they really even do much in the NIL with the academic requirements at Northwestern or is that an issue of the past? This stadium makes sense for them if they have the support that is giving away money. Maybe they’ll start making noise in NIL leading up to this completion.

Aunt Becky bought her kid's way into USC.

 

[pistachio1999]

Put in some massaging back seats.

 

[pistachio1999]

Should have world class bathrooms with a concierge.

 

[NorthEndzoneCrew]

Looks very nice. And I may be in the minority but I actually think NW is incredibly smart for building smaller. CFB attendance is only going to drop.

 

[HawksRule73]

It's better to be lower capacity, thereby creating demand, than always having empty seats. And the only reason that stadium is so expensive is because it's in Illinois (specifically the Chicago area). Guessing there's a lot of union bosses that got some pretty nice kickbacks, Shawshank-style! 😀

 

[Birky]

Looks very nice. And I may be in the minority but I actually think NW is incredibly smart for building smaller. CFB attendance is only going to drop.

If you’re in the minority, it’s only because the majority hasn’t thought it through.

My guess is Northwestern considered the proper capacity before dropping 850 mil.

I’m not a soccer guy, but I have been to Minnesota’s MLS stadium for a game. It was a better atmosphere than probably 90% of Northwestern games in their history. Beautiful stadium that was packed with about 20k.

 

[Quintana]

 

[HawkCat]

It's better to be lower capacity, thereby creating demand, than always having empty seats. And the only reason that stadium is so expensive is because it's in Illinois (specifically the Chicago area). Guessing there's a lot of union bosses that got some pretty nice kickbacks, Shawshank-style! 😀

Access to the site is not easy given traffic issues. Moreover, the site is in the middle of a residential neighborhood that generally is not thrilled about the project. This has required NU to take measures to mitigate dust, noise, etc. All of this adds to the cost.

The size is exactly what it needs to be. NU downsized Welsh-Ryan Arena when rebuilding it about five years ago, and that was a great move.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

I’d suggest it would be utterly insane for NW to build a stadium any larger than that.

I just watched an 8-2 ISU team play in front of 10k+ empty seats, because their AD had a hard on for building a stadium they were never going to be able to fill more than once a year.

I do get that. I was shaming them just a little.

I think they could've gotten away with 40-45,000 though, if they truly had any illusion of Northwestern doing anything in football.

Of course, I'm assuming this stadium will also be used as a soccer venue, so perhaps that's what they're banking on as far as actually getting people to fill up that stadium.....

 

[Rifler]

Should have world class bathrooms with a concierge.

Anything in that area would be an improvement over the porta-potties they used to bring in...

 

[pistachio1999]

Access to the site is not easy given traffic issues. Moreover, the site is in the middle of a residential neighborhood that generally is not thrilled about the project. This has required NU to take measures to mitigate dust, noise, etc. All of this adds to the cost.

The size is exactly what it needs to be. NU downsized Welsh-Ryan Arena when rebuilding it about five years ago, and that was a great move.

So maybe don't get drunk tailgating and rando piss in someone's bushes?

 

[Gonzo Bloor]

I like how they talk about the stadium serving as a hub for community events and family movie nights during the off-season but didn't mention the big concerts they're going to bring in which is what has most of the Evanston community thoroughly p*ssed off. Lol.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

Have I got this right?

Most expensive college stadium - NW $850 million

2nd most expensive - San Diego St $310 million

Biggest renovation - Texas A&M $450 million

Almost double the most expensive renovation and almost triple the most expensive new one?

 

[HawkBall23]

Over three quarters of a BILLION dollars on a 35K seat stadium.

Collins and the football coach gotta be thinking like "how 'bout we save up some of those ridiculous millions for NIL deals, eh?".

 

[HawkCat]

So maybe don't get drunk tailgating and rando piss in someone's bushes?

That is a problem primarily when OSU comes to town. Seriously.

 

[HawkCat]

So maybe don't get drunk tailgating and rando piss in someone's bushes?

That is a problem primarily when OSU comes to town. Seriously

Over three quarters of a BILLION dollars on a 35K seat stadium.

Collins and the football coach gotta be thinking like "how 'bout we save up some of those ridiculous millions for NIL deals, eh?".

The Ryan family gets to decide how to spend its money.

 

[AEG82]

Looks very nice. And I may be in the minority but I actually think NW is incredibly smart for building smaller. CFB attendance is only going to drop.

This is true.

 

[cidhawkeye]

I’d suggest it would be utterly insane for NW to build a stadium any larger than that.

I just watched an 8-2 ISU team play in front of 10k+ empty seats, because their AD had a hard on for building a stadium they were never going to be able to fill more than once a year.

For a conference night game? Sad