Official: Northwestern will play football at their soccer stadium next 2 years

[ScarletDave]

Unbelievably, Northwestern knocked down their home football stadium (Ryan Field) before finding a temporary home for the next 2 seasons while their new stadium is being built on the same plot. After timing issues with other evens at Soldier Field, Wrigley, and nearby high schools, they made the unthinkable decision to play all home games at their soccer stadium. They will add temporary stands in the endzone, but the capcity will surely be less than 10,000 … incredible for a Big Ten football program.

Northwestern football ‘staying home’ with temporary enhancements to the Lanny and Sharon Martin facility on lakefront

Northwestern football will play a majority of its games this season at the Lanny and Sharon Martin athletics facility near Lake Michigan on the University’s Evanston campus, keeping the team close to home as it seeks to build on its bowl-winning 2023 season.

news.northwestern.edu

 

[ScarletDave]

This is now a Big Ten home football stadium for this season.

 

[ashokan]

NW fell down the rabbit hole....

 

[RU_DIO]

This is now a Big Ten home football stadium for this season.

No freaking way.

 

[Roy_Faulker]

So does that mean only season ticket holders get seats?

Will be mighty cold in November.

It’s something I would expect from RU in the 80s.

 

[RUPete]

It will bring back HS Friday night lights memories for players. Well, maybe not if they’re from Texas.

 

[RUtrumpet92]

That will be compelling to watch a game played there on tv.

 

[jaydogsmooth1]

Very surprised the B1G permitted this
Hawaii did it, but for them, it wasn't a big deal
For NW on the other hand, though their not Michigan, this screams small time

 

[kupuna133]

B1G should not allow this. They should be forced to either find alternative sites with adequate seating for B1G games or play the next 2 years on the road.

 

[jaydogsmooth1]

B1G should not allow this. They should be forced to either find alternative sites with adequate seating for B1G games or play the next 2 years on the road.

Any respectable program would not be doing this
To your point, shocked the B1G is allowing this

 

[vkj91]

NIU is only 70 miles away. Play there

 

[Fat Koko]

Northwestern should be able get 20,000 capacity in its temporary stadium. A temp stadium is under construction on Long Island that is taking just a few months to build and will seat 34,000 fans.

Nassau County International Cricket Stadium - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Northwestern home games drew crowds of around 20,000 last season. Makes sense to keep games on campus rather than play at off campus stadiums miles away where few would attend.

 

[rurichdog]

I thought they were smart, out there at Northwestern. At least that's what their fans & alumni tell everyone.

 

[e5fdny]

Very surprised the B1G permitted this
Hawaii did it, but for them, it wasn't a big deal
For NW on the other hand, though their not Michigan, this screams small time

And really, what other options where there for Hawaii?

Proper planning is planning for success.

Poor planning is planning to fail.

 

[NickRU714]

Is there any doubt College GameDay/BIG Tailgate will be there f9r a game for the "spectacle" and to set up next to the lake?

 

[JayDogSmooth]

And really, what other options where there for Hawaii?

Proper planning is planning for success.

Poor planning is planning to fail.

Like I said, for Hawaii it fit the needs
That’s a lower level SCHOOL playing on an island in the Pacific Ocean 3000 miles away from the mainland

Northwestern is a world, renowned, prestigious big ten university on the outskirts of Chicago who just built a state of art practice facility on lake Michigan

They knew they were doing this year’s in advance and have ample time to plan out for suitable venues

It’s embarrassing

 

[Mr Magoo]

If Rutgers do this, they would probably vote to kick us out.

 

[dconifer]

Wow, I wonder if any other school in the B1G besides NU could get away with this? Not even sure what I mean, actually...

 

[dconifer]

Northwestern should be able get 20,000 capacity in its temporary stadium. A temp stadium is under construction on Long Island that is taking just a few months to build and will seat 34,000 fans.

Nassau County International Cricket Stadium - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Northwestern home games drew crowds of around 20,000 last season. Makes sense to keep games on campus rather than play at off campus stadiums miles away where few would attend.

Maybe they will cleverly build out their soccer stadium in a permanent, attractive way, and end up with two new venues. Trying to figure this out, ha ha...

 

[kupuna133]

Northwestern should be able get 20,000 capacity in its temporary stadium. A temp stadium is under construction on Long Island that is taking just a few months to build and will seat 34,000 fans.

Nassau County International Cricket Stadium - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Northwestern home games drew crowds of around 20,000 last season. Makes sense to keep games on campus rather than play at off campus stadiums miles away where few would attend.

20k at a game is piss poor as a percentage of available seats. But capping the available seats and max attendance at 20k is the issue and should not be allowed even its temporary

 

[Knight Owl]

Maybe coach Brian Kelly can supervise the installation of scissor-lift seating to add capacity.

 

[koleszar]

For a bunch of supposedly smart people, that's pretty fvcking stupid.

 

[jaydogsmooth1]

For a bunch of supposedly smart people, that's pretty fvcking stupid.

It's de-emphazing football while sucking the tit of Daddy (OSU & Michigan)

Prime example of why they'll eventually be a split amongst the schools that want to compete and the ones that want to cash checks

 

[toby83]

Fu*k it just head to the local park and throw some hoodies on the ground to mark the endzones

 

[bigmatt718]

They play Indiana, OSU, Wisconsin, and Illinois at home next year. There's zero chance OSU and Wisconsin will allow NW to play at their practice field when both bring thousands of road fans per game. They'll have to play at Wrigley or Soldier Field.

 

[koleszar]

Northwestern should be able get 20,000 capacity in its temporary stadium. A temp stadium is under construction on Long Island that is taking just a few months to build and will seat 34,000 fans.

The lake side is a complete no go, at best maybe a couple rows of bleachers. The lights on the other side will be in the way to further expand that side. So, you're mainly looking at endzone seats into the small parking lot and other athletic field. No way do they have the footprint to add over 15,000 seats to what's existing.

 

[e5fdny]

20k at a game is piss poor as a percentage of available seats. But capping the available seats and max attendance at 20k is the issue and should not be allowed even its temporary

That’s the issue.

But…

Maybe they will cleverly build out their soccer stadium in a permanent, attractive way, and end up with two new venues. Trying to figure this out, ha ha...

If this is the end result, not bad. Not good for Football but beneficial for their other sports (M/WSOC, Field Hockey, WLAX). They are more than pretty good at a few of those. And who knows, maybe they add MLAX when all is said and done.🤷‍♂️

 

[e5fdny]

Like I said, for Hawaii it fit the needs
That’s a lower level SCHOOL playing on an island in the Pacific Ocean 3000 miles away from the mainland

Northwestern is a world, renowned, prestigious big ten university on the outskirts of Chicago who just built a state of art practice facility on lake Michigan

They knew they were doing this year’s in advance and have ample time to plan out for suitable venues

It’s embarrassing

I just meant there weren’t any other realistic or comparable options for Aloha Stadium.

Northwestern has Soldier Field, Wrigley and as @vkj91 pointed out…Northern Illinois.

The Bears are the only tenant at Soldier Field and don’t play on Saturday or Friday night.

 

[RUTGERS95]

Unbelievably, Northwestern knocked down their home football stadium (Ryan Field) before finding a temporary home for the next 2 seasons while their new stadium is being built on the same plot. After timing issues with other evens at Soldier Field, Wrigley, and nearby high schools, they made the unthinkable decision to play all home games at their soccer stadium. They will add temporary stands in the endzone, but the capcity will surely be less than 10,000 … incredible for a Big Ten football program.

Northwestern football ‘staying home’ with temporary enhancements to the Lanny and Sharon Martin facility on lakefront

Northwestern football will play a majority of its games this season at the Lanny and Sharon Martin athletics facility near Lake Michigan on the University’s Evanston campus, keeping the team close to home as it seeks to build on its bowl-winning 2023 season.

news.northwestern.edu

this is what happens when you let academics run business decisions

PAC 12 valuation committee says hello!!!!!!!!

 

[RUTGERS95]

This is now a Big Ten home football stadium for this season.

they do have a great campus though

 

[letitrip2]

The harder the university is to get into the dumber the leadership. Weird but true.

 

[jaydogsmooth1]

I just meant there weren’t any other realistic or comparable options for Aloha Stadium.

Northwestern has Soldier Field, Wrigley and as @vkj91 pointed out…Northern Illinois.

The Bears are the only tenant at Soldier Field and don’t play on Saturday or Friday night.

Ahh - in that case, we're in total agreement

 

[BigRnj]

You can slap together a hodgepodge of temporary crappy bleachers pretty quickly… hell Beaver stadium holds 105K and looks like a third world construction project.

 

[DJ Spanky]

You can slap together a hodgepodge of temporary crappy bleachers pretty quickly… he’ll Beaver stadium holds 105K and looks like a third world construction project.

The problem is where to put them when you're perched on the lake like that.

 

[Panthergrowl13]

This is surprising.

The Bears rent Soldier Field for about $6.5 million a year (good deal) and it has a capacity of about 61,000.

Soldier Field is only about 15 miles from Northwestern.

Schedule probably could have been manipulated to play at Soldiers Field with a reasonable rent deal.

Going to play in downtown Chicago at a renovated (not recently) NFL Stadium would be much more appealing (especially if you had access to Club Seats) than playing at the soccer field with reduced capacity.

If Rutgers were to play at Northwestern I wounder how many would be making plans to go.

HAIL TO PITT!!!!

 

[RU#1fan]

So does that mean only season ticket holders get seats?

Will be mighty cold in November.

It’s something I would expect from RU in the 80s.

The wind might blow a few punts into Lake Michigan.

 

[e5fdny]

This is surprising.

The Bears rent Soldier Field for about $6.5 million a year (good deal) and it has a capacity of about 61,000.

Soldier Field is only about 15 miles from Northwestern.

Schedule probably could have been manipulated to play at Soldiers Field with a reasonable rent deal.

Going to play in downtown Chicago at a renovated (not recently) NFL Stadium would be much more appealing (especially if you had access to Club Seats) than playing at the soccer field with reduced capacity.

If Rutgers were to play at Northwestern I wounder how many would be making plans to go.

HAIL TO PITT!!!!

What schedule manipulation? They don’t play on the same day.

It’s the same field. The Giants and the Jets have switched it up in 24hrs.

It’s not like the Garden where they have to switch from basketball to hockey.

 

[RUTGERS95]

no college team wants to play in a NFL stadium

you ever watch a Pitt game at Heinz Filed? You want to talk about empty!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ruinac]

Soldier Field is natural grass. The Bears might agree to a game or two but certainly not all NU home games.

 

[vkj91]

I was on NW soccer field last fall. Turf was a disaster. Will have to add new turf with football Lines and soccer lines. The rip it up in November