The new Ryan Field debuts this Friday — here’s what locals can expect

(Editor’s Note: Alex Harrison reported this story for Evanston RoundTable, a neighboring independent newsroom. It was shared with The Record as part of an ongoing collaborative effort.)

Almost three years after winning city approval, and a century after its predecessor opened in the same spot, the new Ryan Field football stadium is about to make its debut in the national spotlight Friday night, Oct. 2.

Northwestern University’s $875 million project will be put to the test when the Wildcats and the Penn State Nittany Lions kick off at 7 p.m., with the matchup televised across the country on “Fox College Football Friday.”

Northwestern representatives, city officials and residents on a community advisory council have spent months negotiating the stadium’s management and operations, approving transportation, sustainability and security plans that have been posted on the city’s website. The advisory council will meet again Oct. 14 to evaluate the plans’ performance during both the Penn State game and the next one Oct. 10 against Ball State University.

Below is a rundown of what neighboring residents and game attendees should know ahead of the stadium’s debut and the rest of NU’s home season, based on information from the approved plans and the stadium’s website.

Attendance and entry

All of the new stadium’s 35,000 seats have sold out for opening night. That capacity is about 12,000 seats fewer than the old Ryan Field and the smallest of any stadium in the Big Ten Conference.

Northwestern students will receive 3,500 free tickets, 500 more than the initial allocation of 3,000 student tickets planned for the stadium.

Another 500 tickets at each home game are set aside for a “Seats for Those Serving” program, which is offering $25 tickets to public servants who attended NU or who live or work in Evanston. Teachers, healthcare workers, police officers, firefighters, military personnel, veterans, government employees, social workers and clergy are eligible.

Attendees must use the New Ryan Field app to show their tickets for entry, and re-entry is not allowed.

The stadium is cashless and has “reverse ATMs” that load cash onto prepaid debit cards. Alcohol sales will end at the end of the third quarter under an ordinance adopted by the Evanston City Council on Monday, Sept. 28. More information on prohibited items and other policies can be found on the stadium’s FAQ page.

Parking restrictions

Before, during and after the game, street parking will be prohibited on both sides of Central Street between Poplar and Girard avenues, and on both sides of Isabella Street and Lincoln Street between Poplar and Ridge avenues. Vehicles parked in these areas are subject to towing.

These restrictions reportedly are intended to ease traffic management and congestion during the game, as these streets will be used by shuttle buses and for parking lot access.

The parking ban begins five hours before each game (meaning 2 p.m. for the Oct. 2 game) and ends when “event traffic clears,” or about an hour after the game concludes.

Additionally, street parking throughout the rest of the neighborhood will be limited to residents with valid permits from two hours before each game to one hour after games end. Restrictions apply to all local streets bounded by the North Shore Channel to the south and east, Isabella Street to the north and the Metra tracks to the west. Violating cars are subject to a $125 fine.

Where to park (cars and bikes)

The on-site surface lots west, east and north of the stadium are limited to reserved or credentialed parking only, meaning they will be unavailable to most attendees. There is some limited parking at other spots close to the stadium — the transportation plan lists 700 “pre-paid only” spaces in the Evanston Hospital parking garage at 1000 Central St. and another 140 between Metra’s two metered parking lots east of the train tracks along Poplar Avenue.

Most of the stadium’s designated vehicle parking, however, is farther away. The plan lists six parking lots and garages across Northwestern’s campus that offer more than 2,000 spaces, and another seven locations in downtown Evanston totaling about 2,800 spaces.

Downtown spots include the city-owned parking garages at 1800 Maple Ave., 525 Church St. and 821 Davis St., as well as privately owned buildings open to game-day parking, like the One Rotary Center and Orrington Plaza office towers.

More information on reserving parking in advance can be found on the stadium’s JustPark webpage.

Outside of cars, fans can also ride their bikes to the stadium and park at NU’s “bike valet” located north of the stadium on Isabella Street near the intersection with 4th Street in Wilmette. The valet service has 500 spaces for both personal and Divvy bikes, with pick-up done by text or with reusable tags.

Shuttle buses and other transit

To boost use of off-site parking areas, Northwestern will run two shuttle bus routes before and after each game: one connecting to the lakefront campus and another looping through downtown Evanston.

Shuttle service will begin three hours before kickoff, meaning 4 p.m. for Friday’s game. Police and traffic control officers will be posted at more than a dozen points around the stadium to enforce restrictions and manage traffic flow.

Two pick-up/drop-off areas on Ashland Avenue west of the stadium will have space for 50 shuttles covering both routes, where they will be staged before each game. Additional shuttles will be staged off-site on NU’s campus to allow staggered arrivals and departures without idling in the neighborhood near the stadium.

The campus shuttle will run along Sheridan Road and make stops at Lincoln Street, Noyes Street and Garrett Place before turning east for a final stop at NU’s parking garages on Campus Drive and then returning to Ryan Field.

The downtown shuttle will run south on Ridge Avenue and east on Emerson Street to make clockwise loops through downtown. From there, buses will head back north on Ridge to return to the stadium.

The two routes will overlap when approaching and leaving the stadium: both will run west on Lincoln Street and north on Ashland Avenue to reach their zones at Ryan Field, and then leave the stadium by running east on Isabella Street before turning south on Ridge or Sheridan.

To facilitate shuttles before and after games, Ashland between Lincoln and Central will be made a one-way northbound street restricted to shuttle buses and local traffic only, reversing its typical one-way southbound pattern.

Farther north between Central and Isabella, Ashland will also become a one-way northbound street before games and restricted to shuttles and local traffic. After games, this stretch will have two northbound lanes for shuttles and one southbound lane for cars leaving the west parking lot, which will be funneled west on Central Street away from the stadium.

Rideshare pick-up zones

While Uber, Lyft and other rideshare service dropoffs cannot be restricted, pickups after the game will be excluded to a single designated zone to prevent traffic issues near the stadium.

Northwestern will enforce a “geofence boundary” covering a large area around the stadium, where rideshare customers will only be able to request pick-ups at away from Central Street.

As of Wednesday, Sept. 30, the Ryan Field website shows just one pick-up zone in the parking lot of Haven Middle School, 2417 Prairie Ave., about half a mile southwest of the stadium. Previously-shown pick-up zones on Lincoln Street and Poplar Avenue have been removed, and the “Getting Here” webpage states that Haven is the “the one location authorized by the City of Evanston.”

Tailgating and pregame events

Attendees with on-site parking spaces will be able to tailgate there before the game, and the stadium’s northwest plaza will host food events, including The Great Chicago Food Festival and The Great Big Ten Grillout, starting two hours before each game.

Highlighted vendors-in-residence include Frontera Tacos y Tortas from Michelin-rated chef Rick Bayless and Goatdown from Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard.

Unlike in past seasons, Northwestern does not appear to have any designated tailgate zones outside of the stadium and its parking lots. The Canal Shores golf course and facility, a previous mainstay, was last used for tailgating in 2022 before undergoing a major renovation, and it does not appear to be returning this season.

Future schedule

Northwestern’s second home game at Ryan Field is Saturday, Oct. 10, when the Cats take on Ball State with a 11:30 a.m. kickoff for a game that will serve as the Wildcats’ homecoming.

After that, NU will play just three more home games this season, all on Saturdays and none of which have a kickoff time yet:

• Oct. 24 vs. Rutgers University (Family Weekend)

• Nov. 7 vs. the University of Iowa

• Nov. 28 vs. the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Senior Day)

In between, local high school teams New Trier and Evanston will compete on Ryan Field in a special edition of the historic local rivalry.

Still ahead is the stadium’s secondary debut hosting up to six public concerts per year, which are expected to begin sometime in 2027.

Before that, the stadium advisory council will help develop a specific concert operations plan, which has to be approved by the city manager before any concerts can be held.

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