In its Feb. 4 article, “NU Requests City Analysis of Possible Lakeside Football Field,” the Daily reported that Northwestern University is using Ryan Field as a temporary non-conference football venue during construction. The team is considering adding capacity to Martin Stadium for up to 15,000 fans. Other local venues are also being considered as potential locations, NU spokeswoman Eliza Larson said.
Do those local venues include Soldier Field, located about 23 miles south of Evanston? He suggested Soldier Field as a replacement.
Although the outlook is low, Soldier Field is an ideal interim base for the two-year period during the rebuilding of Ryan Field.
Soldier Field, which seats about 63,000, hosts NU's soccer and lacrosse teams and has far greater revenue potential than Martin Stadium, which would need to be renovated for soccer.
Soldier Field, home to the Chicago Bears since 1971, already meets local zoning requirements. Will an expanded Martin Stadium meet Evanston's zoning requirements?
The Bears lease Soldier Field from the Chicago Park District and recently announced they would raise $2 billion in private funding to build a new stadium nearby. The completion date has not been specified. In the meantime, the Bears could continue playing at their current location on Sunday, Monday or Thursday, while NU will have a home game on Saturday.
NU can charter buses for student transportation. Students can also use her CTA, Uber, and Lyft. He cannot fill the 63,500 seats with NU's student body alone. The Cats have previously drawn large crowds for games played at Wrigley Field, but opposing fans made up a large portion of the crowd.
When the new Ryan Field finally opens, it will be a smaller version of the previous stadium, seating just 35,000, as opposed to the original 47,000-capacity stadium. In a previous letter, I questioned the wisdom of spending $800 million to reduce stadium seating capacity to nearly a quarter of its previous size. I still do.
This is as absurd as the plot of my favorite Marx Brothers movie, Horse Feathers.
Groucho Marx plays a university president who wants to demolish a dormitory and replace it with a new football stadium. “Where do the students sleep?'' the professor asks. “They will sleep in class as usual,” Groucho replied.
I'm not sure “Horse Feathers” is an apt analogy for the Ryan Field situation in college. Perhaps another movie title would be more appropriate: “Dumb And Dumber.” But both reflect what I see as poor logic on the part of NU administrators. Why would a university shrink its football stadium amidst national outrage over shrinking food and other consumer products? The venue is worth visiting.
Richard Leaf is a Medill alumnus. He can be contacted at: [email protected]. If you would like to publicly respond to this editorial, please send a letter to the editor. [email protected]. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire Daily Northwestern staff.
