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Oct 2, 2026; Evanston, Illinois, USA; An overall shot of the inside of the 875 million dollar 35,000 seat New Ryan Field before the game between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Penn State Nittany Lions.
The Northwestern Wildcats are having about as good a start to the 2026 college football season as they could have hoped for on the field.
The Wildcats are 4-1, just recently entered the AP Poll at No. 25, and opened up their $875 million new stadium with a blowout victory over Penn State in prime time.
However, not everything has gone according to plan.
For one, members of the media discovered that the new Ryan Field has a massive design flaw that made the game impossible to see for some in the press box. Now, the university is dealing with complaints from some in the community who believe the school should turn down the noise.
Neighbors Complain About Loud Noise For New Northwestern Football Stadium
While the stadium seats just 35,000 fans, making it one of the smallest stadiums among Power 4 programs, it was built to generate a substantial amount of noise. However, that noise was meant to stay in the stadium by design.
Instead, Matthew Eadie of Evanston Now reports that several area residents have filed complaints about the noise coming from the stadium on game days.
“I think the number one issue is sound and volume and I’ve made that very clear to Northwestern,” City Manager Luke Stowe said of the issue. “My recommendation tonight would be to simply hold Northwestern accountable and OVG (Oak View Group) accountable to the limits that are in the city code and MOU.”
Eadie reports that the noise limit was set at 80 decibels inside the stadium and 70 decibels at the property line. Although it’s hard to imagine how anyone would effectively police those two things.
‘I’m hoping that tonight, Northwestern and OVG has heard loud and clear how important this issue is to the neighbors and to the city, and I would hope that we would have these corrections for game three,” Stowe said after a community meeting on Wednesday night.
In most college towns, deafening stadium noise is something to brag about. However, Evanston, Illinois, isn’t most places. And apparently they’d really like the Wildcats to turn down the volume.