Editorial: ‘Premium For Everybody': Why the radical Ryan Field will change the college football experience

The future of college football stadiums has arrived and we think it looks like Northwestern University's Ryan Field. We had a tour of the almost completed Evanston stadium from its pro bono developer, Pat Ryan Jr., this past week and two of our tour guide's favorite phrases have stuck in our minds: 'experiential' and 'premium for everybody.' Ryan, of course, is the scion of the stadium's benefactor, Patrick Ryan Sr., the philanthropically minded billionaire whose family's donations to Northwestern go far beyond the stadium. Still, just this one gift was enough to bring the new stadium into fruition: The university, we were told, came up with about $300 million toward the total cost of about $875 million with the Ryan family donating the vast majority of the remainder. As we've admired before, there was no ask for public money and no wrangling with the legislature of two different states in order to get the most expensive college football stadium in history built. Indeed, the only substantial ask (beyond a permit to build) was the right to stage six concerts a year in what surely will be a very desirable music venue, especially given the new car smell, the capacity, the level of comfort and (last but by no means least) Evanston's significantly lower amusement tax than is applied in Chicago. Soldier Field and Wrigley Field will have formidable new competition. Far more so than they think. Six concerts was too many for many neighbors who objected to the deal. They gained some buffering landscaping and more distant Uber pickups but lost the main fight. All that remains to be seen is whether or not the neighbors will come around when they can hear the music for free from their porches and nobody disturbs their sleep. We'll keep an ear out. But the wildcat has bolted. By any standards, this new stadium is very different from the classic Big Ten 'Big House' model of concrete giants derived from Roman colosseums with nosebleed seats that feel like they are located in the next state over. Northwestern will seat only 35,000 fans and graduates of rival schools likely will scoff that is all the program, which traditionally does not have a winning football team, can hope to fill. But in Ryan's head (and he's quite the studied developer when it comes sports stadiums), there was far more to it than that. This stadium, he proselytized, was the first college stadium to be built on the new NFL model. He argued to us that Ohio Stadium, Michigan Stadium, the Rose Bowl and the like all were developed when attending was the only way to see a game. Now, he rightly noted, you can see a college football game on your own exciting HDTV, in a fun bar with a lively atmosphere, or even on your phone. He argued that colleges need to take a page from the NFL playbook and understand that if a fan is going to the trouble and expense to actually attend in person, the experience surrounding the game (time with family, friends, fellow alums or students) actually is just as important as the score and likely far more memorable. Plus, from a Northwestern perspective, little is gained from a sellout that turns their home turf into Columbus Northwest or Ann Arbor West. Ryan made the case that the university would benefit more from selling out to its own fanbase. And while he didn't exactly say so, we understood that requires some capacity for realism. To serve the Northwestern fan's experience. So while seating at the new stadium is limited, relatively speaking, it's actually a much bigger campus than the old Ryan Field (the ticketed area is 520,000 square feet larger), because it contains so many experiential igniters, so to speak, including a wide variety of food and drink in expansive areas for socializing. Whereas in most Chicago stadiums heading down (or up) for a hot dog can mean missing a crucial play or watching it on a monitor, the new Ryan Field offers an excellent view of the field from its open concourses. If you know the tight Wrigley Field experience of standing at the back of the bleachers with a beer and still watching the game and then imagine that extended to the circumference of an entire bowl, you get the idea. College football is, of course, now awash in money for good or ill. In all areas of the game. This new stadium rides that tide. In terms of ticket prices, which can soar to astronomical levels by historical standards, buyers now expect a comfier seat than the traditional benches found in many college stadiums. Thus, Ryan Field has real seats with cup holders and very ample leg room. And it has a lot of premium locations, which will be ideal for concerts, since it now is axiomatic in the music business that cheap, bad seats are now by far the hardest to sell. Artists picking stadiums look first for seats that can command a lot of money. Then they look at the amusement taxes. Ryan was careful to note that there will be many cheap tickets at Ryan Field and there is indeed a 'safe standing' section, a terms derived from innovative European soccer stadiums, with which the new NU joint has a lot in common. But at the end of the day, the smaller capacity is in many ways another version of what has gone on with U.S. airlines, which are frantically adding premium seats and amenities that command higher fares. Other soccer-like traits at Ryan Field include a very high proportion of the seats being under cover and the striking sight that what Americans across the land have come to know as the Upper Deck experience just does not exist here. But many a Premier League team will be envious of the huge screens with 8 mm resolution, the best in the Big Ten. Saying there are no bad seats in the house is a marketing cliche, but it's actually true here, not least because starting fresh with modern materials meant that the typical steep climbs could be avoided and the cantilever can create a quite remarkable level of intimacy. Or so it felt to us as we walked around amid more than a thousand workers rushing to get the stadium ready for its Oct. 2 opening. For the record, Ryan said that whether or not Ryan Field becomes the (enviable) new home for the Chicago Stars FC women's soccer team is 'up to the city of Evanston,' although we can imagine how much the club is salivating. There is no additional permitting required for NCAA events. And it's also worth noting that the plan calls for several community-driven events on its grounds, including holiday markets and the like. So. You'll have to check it out for yourself. But Ryan Field is a game-changer. College football won't be the same in Evanston after this place opens, regardless of how many games Northwestern wins or loses, and that might be true a lot further afield, too. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com. Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved. This story was originally published September 6, 2026 at 5:27 AM.