Northwestern Set To Play Football Games At Incredibly Cool Venue

Getty Image / Michael Reaves

F9r 98 years, Ryan Field hosted Northwestern football through the good and bad, mostly the bad.  The school is building a new Ryan Field, but in the meantime, they had to find a place to play.

Playing at nearby Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears would be easy enough. But, frankly, Northwestern had pretty putrid attendance at on-campus Ryan Field, let alone a 35-minute drive to Soldier Field.

Instead, Northwestern has decided to play home games the next few years while they wait for the completion of their new digs at on-campus Martin athletics facility. The facility, which is right on Lake Michigan, hosts the Wildcat lacrosse and soccer programs. The field will be Chap and Ethel Hutcheson Field, which is where the team currently practices.

Here’s more from the press release about the move.

Northwestern’s football team 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.

With views of the lake, North Campus and downtown Chicago, the temporary structure Northwestern will build at the Martin athletics facility will provide a stunning backdrop for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, bridging the gap between the old Ryan Field and the new state-of-the-art stadium, scheduled to open in 2026.

Most of the Wildcats’ home football games will be played at the enhanced Martin athletics facility. The University also is continuing discussions with other Chicago-area venues that could host some 2024 games. The full home schedule will be released soon.

They also note that capacity will be “significantly less” than either old or new Ryan Field. It’s unclear as of now just how much portable seating they’ll be able to bring in and how big that capacity number will be.

Still, I think that this is pretty cool. Northwestern never draws big crowds anyways, but they could easily fill a stadium with significantly limited capacity. Combine a packed house with a great setting right on the lake, and it could be pretty cool.

Plus, they should have something to cheer about. After offseason turmoil last year that saw an alleged hazing scandal led to the dismissal of program legend and longtime head coach Pat Fitzgerald,  expectations for Northwestern were low. But, interim head coach David Braun led a remarkable season, going 8-5 with a win over Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl. Northwestern smartly lifted the interim tag, and things are looking up for the program once again.