OT: Why Ryan family poured $862 million into Northwestern football: 'Never seen a stadium like this before'

[Tango Two]

Why Ryan family poured $862 million into Northwestern football: 'Never seen a stadium like this before'

Northwestern football has lost more games than any FBS school in history. The Ryan Family believes new $862 million stadium will be a winner.

www.usatoday.com

 

[willisneverrana43]

It'd be great to have more reason to travel to a B1G game just outside of Chicago. Great town.

 

[LeapinLou]

It'd be great to have more reason to travel to a B1G game just outside of Chicago. Great town.

The date hasn't been announced yet, but I plan on going to RU's game at Northwestern to see this stadium. Hopefully, it's earlier in the season because it gets cold in Chicago.

 

[mdk02]

Why Ryan family poured $862 million into Northwestern football: 'Never seen a stadium like this before'

Northwestern football has lost more games than any FBS school in history. The Ryan Family believes new $862 million stadium will be a winner.

www.usatoday.com

Won't matter if they don't fund a new fieldhouse as well.

 

[tru2ru1]

Won't matter if they don't fund a new fieldhouse as well.

The Ryan Fieldhouse was built in 2018 at a cost of $265 million

 

[mdk02]

The Ryan Fieldhouse was built in 2018 at a cost of $265 million

Probably needs an upgrade

 

[RU#1fan]

The date hasn't been announced yet, but I plan on going to RU's game at Northwestern to see this stadium. Hopefully, it's earlier in the season because it gets cold in Chicago.

Same here. We’re heading to Chicago for that NW game. I thought I saw on the Northwestern site the game will be early in the season.

 

[Knight Shift]

Probably needs an upgrade

And Northwestern's records :
2019: 3-9
2021: 3-9
2022: 1-11
2023: 8-5
2024: 4-8
2025: 5-5

Shattering the mythical fieldhouse narrative. Actually, this makes the case that a new fieldhouse has a negative impact on team performance.

 

[LeapinLou]

Same here. We’re heading to Chicago for that NW game. I thought I saw on the Northwestern site the game will be early in the season.

I hope your source is correct but I don't think the Big 10 dates have been set yet.

2026 Northwestern Football Schedule | FBSchedules.com

View the 2026 Northwestern Football Schedule at FBSchedules.com. The Wildcats football schedule includes opponents, date, time, and TV.

fbschedules.com

 

[RU#1fan]

They do have a tough home schedule in B1G play: Iowa, PSU, Illinois, and RU.

 

[LETSGORU91]

The Ryan Fieldhouse was built in 2018 at a cost of $265 million

Maybe they can build a new one and ship Ryan down to us at a discount price to make Al happy.

 

[DHajekRC1984]

Maybe they can build a new one and ship Ryan down to us at a discount price to make Al happy.

I'm sure he'll say 2 things. It wasn't competitve wirh investments other big schools make and also the value proposition equation Was off.

Must have copied Maryland's field house investment model. HIS original crying that doesn't seem to have worked out for him.

 

[Tango Two]

Tickets to Northwestern's stadium opener plummet 25%​

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/college/article317471971.html

 

[Knight Shift]

According to the ticket-selling website seatgeek.com, ticket prices often drop following an initial hype surge. A ticket price decrease can come in the weeks, days and hours before an event when pricing is adjusted "based on actual demand."

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/college/article317471971.html#storylink=cpy

 

[LeapinLou]

Well, the jokes on me. I paid $150 each for tix to this game. Tix can be had as low as $99 now. What are you gonna do?

 

[LotusAggressor_rivals]

The Ryan Fieldhouse was built in 2018 at a cost of $265 million

Why haven't they won a National Championship?

 

[RU#1fan]

We were going until the collapse by Schiano.

 

[Tango Two]

Looks nice on TV

 

[RUChet]

Seeing a lot of empty seats in tbe upper deck and even some lower deck on opening night and not only seats 35K? WTF?

btw it looks a lot bigger than 35K. It I guess it’s because each level is small so looks big because of multiple levels but they don’t hold a lot of people

 

[newell138]

Quite an opening ceremony. Stadium looks sweet

 

[ScarletKid2008]

Is anyone else kinda miffed and annoyed at all the hype NW is getting for building a smaller stadium ?! And it’s still not even sold out for the opener vs a ranked team ?!

NW fanbase sucks far worse than RU or MD. Their program has seen much darker and longer periods than RU. But somehow RU is the one who gets the public aim of “they shouldn’t be in the big ten” .

 

[mdk02]

Is anyone else kinda miffed and annoyed at all the hype NW is getting for building a smaller stadium ?! And it’s
e still not even sold out for the opener vs a ranked team ?!

NW fanbase sucks far worse than RU or MD. Their program has seen much darker and longer periods than RU. But somehow RU is the one who gets the public aim of “they shouldn’t be in the big ten” .

Perhaps because they were in the Big 10 from the beginning. And they weren't always as bad as they were in the 70s and 80s

 

[Ramaj St. James]

Think nw may have overpriced seats for this one. Those upper deck seats were face value at over 200.

 

[koleszar]

Think nw may have overpriced seats for this one. Those upper deck seats were face value at over 200.

Yeah only 35,000 seats and you can't sell out? There'd be 10 threads on here about how bad our fans are.

 

[Knight Shift]

Yeah only 35,000 seats and you can't sell out? There'd be 10 threads on here about how bad our fans are.

From 10 different rutgersal accounts

 

[e5fdny]

Is anyone else kinda miffed and annoyed at all the hype NW is getting for building a smaller stadium ?! And it’s still not even sold out for the opener vs a ranked team ?!

NW fanbase sucks far worse than RU or MD. Their program has seen much darker and longer periods than RU. But somehow RU is the one who gets the public aim of “they shouldn’t be in the big ten.”

Who do you think is leading that charge and did from the beginning?

I’ll give you a hint…they are fond of the color purple.

 

[e5fdny]

 

[Rutgers Chris]

Whoops…

 

[mdk02]

Whoops…

Why whoops? If that happened here to the SL reporters everyone would think it was a stroke of genius.

 

[ScarletKid2008]

Fourth qtr starts. They are whooping Penn st and 80% of the NW “fans” are gone. Insane behavior

 

[MrsScrew]

There's whole sections of seats not available for football.

 

[newell138]

Fourth qtr starts. They are whooping Penn st and 80% of the NW “fans” are gone. Insane behavior

You try getting on the train at night in Chicago

 

[Phantom Clip]

I don't care about the fans, attendance or obstructed views. That football team looks pretty good and pretty well coached. Now tell me it's easier to win at NW than it is at RU.

 

[RUGuitarMan1]

It is a beautiful looking stadium and the amenities there seem to be like you would find at an NFL stadium. The criticism regarding seating capacity is overdone. It looks like they have a very good team this year, they absolutely dominated PSU. I don’t think they will have problems selling out when the team is good and ticket prices will stay elevated. They probably did a lot research into the 35K seating capacity. Will be a very good home field advantage for them.

 

[RU Cheese]

I don't care about the fans, attendance or obstructed views. That football team looks pretty good and pretty well coached. Now tell me it's easier to win at NW than it is at RU.

I was gonna start thread on this.

Say whatever the heck you want about the stadium. They played IU within a score and just beat, handily, PSU.

JFC - Their forever coach was fired amidst a sex scandal just a few years ago. They've not only turned it around but they are competitive.

They have a small, sh1tty fan base that doesn't care about football, let alone pony up NIL. I can't wait to hear the excuses on this one...

 

[tru2ru1]

I was gonna start thread on this.

Say whatever the heck you want about the stadium. They played IU within a score and just beat, handily, PSU.

JFC - Their forever coach was fired amidst a sex scandal just a few years ago. They've not only turned it around but they are competitive.

They have a small, sh1tty fan base that doesn't care about football, let alone pony up NIL. I can't wait to hear the excuses on this one...

You forgot they have multiple mega donors which helps in the buying teams era!

 

[RU Cheese]

You forgot they have multiple mega donors which helps in the buying teams era!

Which helped with a new stadium - are you suggesting they're loaded with NIL and out purchased RU? At a school that actually does care a bit about academics?

 

[rutgersguy2]

Which helped with a new stadium - are you suggesting they're loaded with NIL and out purchased RU? At a school that actually does care a bit about academics?

I’d guess they probably have a little more academic restrictions than most.

The Athletic NIL estimates put them in the same vicinity as us.

Had anyone ever heard of David Braun before he was hired. Even 3+ years in, I’d bet a lot of fans wouldn’t know him. How many players of theirs do people know. Their TE Dehnicke who had a nice game against IU and was out last night was like a division 2 player from Minnesota Duluth

Yes they have donors but just because you have donors doesn’t necessarily mean you see money oozing out every facet of a program.

 

[RU Cheese]

I’d guess they probably have a little more academic restrictions than most.

The Athletic NIL estimates put them in the same vicinity as us.

Had anyone ever heard of David Braun before he was hired. Even 3+ years in, I’d bet a lot of fans wouldn’t know him. How many players of theirs do people know. Their TE Dehnicke who had a nice game against IU and was out last night was like a division 2 player from Minnesota Duluth

Yes they have donors but just because you have donors doesn’t necessarily mean you see money oozing out every facet of a program.

Agreed on all accounts. It's literally exhibit A as to why our program and Coach have done a horrible job