Location in the United States Location in Illinois | |
Former names | Dyche Stadium (1926–1996) |
---|---|
Location | 1501 Central Street Evanston, Illinois, U.S. [1] |
Coordinates | 42°3′56″N87°41′33″W / 42.06556°N 87.69250°W |
Owner | Northwestern University |
Operator | Northwestern University |
Capacity | 47,130 (1997–2023) Former capacity List
|
Surface | Grass: 1997–2023 Astroturf: 1973–1996 Grass: 1926–1972 |
Construction | |
Broke ground | April 8, 1926 [2] |
Opened | October 2, 1926 [3] |
Renovated | 1996 |
Expanded | 1949, 1952 |
Closed | November 25, 2023 |
Demolished | January 29–June 3, 2024 |
Construction cost | $2.6 million (original) [4] ($44.7 million in 2023 [5] ) 1996 renovation: $20 million |
Architect | James Gamble Rogers [1] |
General contractor | J. B. French Construction Company [1] |
Tenants | |
Northwestern Wildcats (NCAA) (1926–2023) | |
Website | |
nusports.com/ryan-field |
Ryan Field was a stadium in the central United States, located in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago. Near the campus of Northwestern University, it was primarily used for American football, and was the home field of the Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Ten Conference. Before its demolition in 2024, it was the only FBS stadium without permanent lighting, and its final seating capacity was 47,130. The stadium closed at the end of the 2023 season, and preparation for demolition began on January 29, 2024, to make way for a new Ryan Field on the site. On June 3, 2024, Ryan Field was fully demolished after 97 years of Northwestern Wildcats football. [6] [7]
Opened in 1926, it was named Dyche Stadium for William Dyche, class of 1882, Evanston mayor from 1895 to 1899 and overseer of the building project. [8] The stadium was renamed Ryan Field in 1997 in honor of the family of Aon Corporation founder Patrick G. Ryan, [9] who was then the chairman of Northwestern's board of trustees. The renaming was made by the other members of the board in recognition of the Ryan family's leadership and numerous contributions to Northwestern, including the lead gift to the Campaign for Athletic Excellence, Northwestern's fundraising drive for athletic facilities.
At the time it was constructed, Dyche Stadium was considered one of the finest college football stadiums in the country. [10] The stadium originally consisted of two semi-circular grandstands on either sideline, with the west (home) sideline having a small, curved upper deck whose 2 ends abut in matching concrete towers. The purpose of the curved grandstands was to maximize the number of fans sitting close to the action. [10] A preliminary proposal featured both the west and east grandstands having symmetrical triple decks but was never realized because of cost overruns resulting from an accelerated construction schedule and average attendance figures that rarely approached 50,000. [8] End zone seating was later added in the south, and in 1952 McGaw Memorial Hall was built beyond the north end zone.
The stadium had a natural grass surface when it opened. It switched to artificial turf in 1973 and was used until 1996. Before the 1997 season, the natural grass surface was restored, and the playing surface was lowered approximately 5 feet (1.5 m) to improve sight lines from the lowest rows of the stadium.
The Chicago Bears played their first home game of the 1970 season against the Philadelphia Eagles at Dyche Stadium on September 27 as an experiment; the NFL had required that the Bears move out of Wrigley Field because its seating capacity was under 50,000, which was below the minimum set out by the newly constituted post-merger NFL. Also, the Chicago Cubs were in a September pennant race with the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Mets in the National League East. [11] If Wrigley Field was needed for postseason baseball games, the temporary grandstand for football along the east sideline (in right and center field) would not be available until late October. After Evanston residents petitioned city officials to block the team from moving there permanently and the Big Ten Conference opposed the Bears' use of Northwestern's stadium, the Bears ended up moving to Chicago's Soldier Field the following year.
The stadium hosted the 1932 Women's (July 16) and 1948 Men's (July 9–10) US Olympic Trials for track and field. The venue also hosted the NCAA track and field championships in 1943. [12]
It also hosted the summer College All-Star Game in 1943 and 1944, which had usually been instead held at Chicago's Soldier Field. Both games were played at night with the use of temporary lights. [13] The college all-stars held their practices for the game at Dyche Stadium in years such as 1934 and 1935. [14]
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On September 22, 2021, Northwestern announced that the Ryan family had donated $480 million to the university, the largest donation in its history. The donation supported several academic initiatives and provided initial funding for replacing Ryan Field with a new stadium at the current site. [15] [16] A year later, Northwestern announced initial design concepts for the new stadium, and also announced that the Ryans had committed to adding to the initial stadium gift. The new Ryan Field will seat 35,000, more than 12,000 fewer than the current stadium, and feature a canopy to better focus light and noise toward the field and away from the surrounding neighborhood. Also, it will be entirely privately funded. [17] It will have a much smaller footprint than the current stadium; Northwestern released a preliminary schematic indicating that the most distant seats would be roughly the same distance from the sidelines as the back rows of the lower deck of the (much larger) Notre Dame Stadium. [18] [ non-primary source needed ]
Northwestern's plan to use the new stadium as a commercial concert venue had been met with opposition from stadium neighbors and other Evanston residents. [19] Issues included Northwestern's alleged failure to address issues of noise, parking, traffic congestion, and public safety. [20] Additionally, some have questioned the stadium's continuing to have a property tax exemption while being used for commercial purposes.
On January 20, 2024, it was announced that a demolition process, without explosives, would begin on January 29. The process is expected to take 4 to 6 months, after confirmation that a new, $800 million stadium would replace the current, aging one. [21]
Northwestern's decision to rename Dyche Stadium to Ryan Field defied the university's own 1926 resolution that forbade such a change. School officials said that a private institution can override previous boards' decisions, and dismissed the earlier resolution as a "show of appreciation." But NU did not explain why a mere gesture of appreciation would expressly state that any football stadium at any location would retain the name Dyche, as indeed the 1926 resolution does. The Dyche family was not notified of the change; NU claimed that the only descendant they found was a grandniece, despite other family members living in Chicago and being listed in the phone book. After the family protested, NU said it was willing to install an informational plaque at the stadium, noting its former name. [22]
The closest transit stations are Metra commuter railroad's Central Street station and Chicago Transit Authority's Central station on the Purple Line.
Parts of The Express: The Ernie Davis Story , a 2008 film about Syracuse University Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis starring Rob Brown as Davis, and Dennis Quaid as Davis' Syracuse coach, Ben Schwartzwalder, were filmed at Ryan Field. [23]
Parts of Four Friends , a 1981 film directed by Arthur Penn, were filmed at Dyche Stadium.
Northwestern University (NU) is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest chartered university in Illinois. The university has its main campus along the shores of Lake Michigan in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Welsh–Ryan Arena is a 7,039-seat multi-purpose arena in Evanston, Illinois, United States, near the campus of Northwestern University. It is home to four Northwestern Wildcats athletic teams: men's basketball, women's basketball, women's volleyball, and wrestling. It is located inside McGaw Memorial Hall, to the north of the site of the former Ryan Field.
UB Stadium is a stadium in Amherst, New York on the campus of the University at Buffalo. It is primarily used for football, soccer, and track and field events, and is the home field of the Buffalo Bulls.The Stadium hosted the athletics events and the closing ceremonies of the 1993 World University Games held on city. But the first football game was held between the Bulls and Maine Black Bears.
The Northwestern Wildcats football team represents Northwestern University as an NCAA Division I college football team and member of the Big Ten Conference based near Chicago in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern began playing football in 1882. Its football mascot is the Wildcat, a term coined by a Chicago Tribune reporter in 1924, after reporting on a football game where the players appeared as "a wall of purple wildcats". Northwestern Football is also marketed as "Chicago's Big Ten Team" with its proximity and ties to Chicago.
The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and one of two private universities in the conference, the other being the University of Southern California. Northwestern has eight men's and eleven women's NCAA Division I sports teams and is marketed as "Chicago's Big Ten Team". The mascot is Willie the Wildcat.
The 1970 Chicago Bears season was their 51st regular season completed in the National Football League. The team finished with a 6–8 record, a significant improvement over the 1–13 record of the previous season, the worst in franchise history.
The history of Northwestern University can be traced back to a May 31, 1850, meeting of nine prominent Chicago businessmen who shared a desire to establish a university to serve the former Northwest Territory. On January 28, 1851, the Illinois General Assembly granted a charter to the Trustees of the North-Western University making it the first recognized university in Illinois.[a] While the original founders were devout Methodists and affiliated the university with Methodist Episcopal Church, they were committed to non-sectarian admissions.
The 2008 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University in the Big Ten Conference during the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Pat Fitzgerald, in his third season at Northwestern, was the team's head coach. The Wildcats played their homes games at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois.
Northwestern Field was a football stadium in Evanston, Illinois. It opened in 1905 and was home to the Northwestern Wildcats football team prior to the Dyche Stadium opening in 1926. It had a capacity of 10,000 people. Northwestern Field was located on Central Ave, seventy-five feet east of the current stadium.
The 1995 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University in the 1995 NCAA Division I-A college football season. The 1995 season was a highly memorable one for the Northwestern program, as the Wildcats went 10–2 overall and 8–0 in the Big Ten Conference, earning their first winning season since 1971, their first conference championship since 1936, and their first 10-win season since 1903. They also broke several long-standing losing streaks to regular opponents, including a 22-game losing streak to Iowa, a 19-game losing streak against Michigan, and a 14-game losing streak to Notre Dame.
The 1956 Northwestern Wildcats team was an American football team that represented Northwestern University during the 1956 Big Ten Conference football season. In their first year under head coach Ara Parseghian, the Wildcats compiled a 4–4–1 record, finished in sixth place in the Big Ten, and were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 112 to 107.
The 1995 Wisconsin Badgers football team represented the University of Wisconsin during the 1995 NCAA Division I-A football season. They were led by sixth year head coach Barry Alvarez and participated as members of the Big Ten Conference. The Badgers played their home games at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Wisconsin did not make a postseason bowl game for the first time since the 1992 season.
The 1988 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 1988 NCAA Division I-A football season. They participated as members of the Big Ten Conference and played their home games at Dyche Stadium in Evanston, Illinois. They were coached by Francis Peay.
The Northwestern–Notre Dame football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Northwestern Wildcats and Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The 1940 Northwestern Wildcats team was an American football team that represented Northwestern University during the 1940 Big Ten Conference football season. In their sixth year under head coach Pappy Waldorf, the Wildcats compiled a 6–2 record, finished in third place in the Big Ten Conference, and were ranked No. 8 in the final AP Poll. Their only losses came against No. 1 Minnesota and No. 3 Michigan.
The 1980 Northwestern Wildcats team was an American football team that represented Northwestern University during the 1980 Big Ten Conference football season. In their third year under head coach Rick Venturi, the Wildcats finished in last place in the Big Ten Conference, compiled a 0–11 record, and were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 444 to 151. The team played its home games at Dyche Stadium in Evanston, Illinois.
The 2020 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Wildcats played their home games at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois, and competed in the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by 15th-year head coach Pat Fitzgerald.
The 2022 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Wildcats played their home games at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois, and competed as members of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by 17th-year head coach Pat Fitzgerald.
The 2024 Northwestern Wildcats football team will represent Northwestern University as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They are led by second-year head coach David Braun. The team will play some of its home games at a temporary facility constructed at the university's Martin Stadium and 2 home games at Wrigley Field the home of the Chicago Cubs while a permanent replacement for the former Ryan Field is built.