Pro soccer’s Chicago Stars want to use Ryan Field, but stadium opponents are fighting back

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

The Chicago Stars FC and the Most Livable City Association, a neighborhood group that opposes the Ryan Field Rebuild, are mounting opposing campaigns around the professional women’s soccer team’s proposal to use Northwestern’s Ryan Field.

The soccer club wants to use Ryan Field as a temporary home starting in 2027, which will require a special zoning approval. The MLCA has come out against the request, contending that the games “would wreak havoc on Evanston and nearby Wilmette.”

Hearings around the zoning approval are scheduled to begin in February.

Team leaders announced the proposal at a City of Evanston Seventh Ward meeting this month, sharing that they will apply for a “unique use” permit with the city to allow playing professional sports at NU’s collegiate stadium for up to five years while working to secure and build a new permanent stadium elsewhere.

These permits are reserved for “unusual one-of-a-kind” uses that wouldn’t be appropriate for permanent addition to the code, but have enough “land use or economic benefit” to justify a one-off approval.

While the new Ryan Field is still under construction, allowing pro sports and commercial events at NU’s athletic campus is a much older issue. Conflict between the city, university and neighbors stretches back decades, from attempts to host Chicago Bears games and pro tennis matches at the old Dyche Stadium in the 1970s, to a two-year pilot for holding single-day pro matches and commercial events that was approved in 2019 but went unused because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This conflict shifted in November 2023, when the City Council and Mayor Daniel Biss voted to permit six public concerts a year at the rebuilt Ryan Field, which is set to open this fall and stage its first shows in 2027.

The MLCA formed in response to the stadium rebuild and rezoning proposals, with members from Wilmette and Evanston showing up to every meeting in the approval process to adamantly oppose allowing concerts, and more than two years later is still suing the city to overturn their approval.

Appearing to anticipate this conflict, the Stars hired 2040 Strategy Group to conduct a poll of residents, and reported on Thursday that 82% citywide and 70% from the Seventh Ward support the Stars using Ryan Field. The team is also asking supporters to sign an petition form hosted on a webpage dedicated to its Ryan Field proposal.

“Bringing the Stars to Evanston will create meaningful economic, cultural, and social benefits for our community,” the petition form reads. “Evanston will also become a national leader in supporting women’s sports and advancing gender equity.”

The MLCA quickly resurfaced as well, sending a statement Saturday opposing the Stars’ proposal and arguing it “would wreak havoc on Evanston and Wilmette.”

“Evanston hasn’t even had a chance to assess the impact of the most recent zoning changes [allowing concerts], yet this push already seeks to worsen that impact even more,” the MLCA wrote. “If this attempted end run is successful, other commercial interests will be lining up (and very likely suing the city if they don’t get the same favorable treatment).”

MLCA President Andy Berman said Monday that the group will be collecting signatures from surrounding property owners who oppose the application, which could make its approval significantly more difficult. If the owners of at least 30% of property within 500 feet of the stadium site object to the unique use application, the zoning code requires a three-fourths supermajority of councilmembers, or seven out of nine, to vote in favor for it to pass.

While this is already a high threshold, the path to meeting it could become even more narrow if Councilmember Juan Geracaris (9th Ward) abstains from the vote. Geracaris is an employee of Northwestern and abstains from voting on items directly affecting the university.

Geracaris told the RoundTable on Monday that he is consulting with the city’s special ethics counsel to confirm whether the Stars’ application would present a conflict of interest and will announce the determination once it is made.

The potential for a supermajority vote is already reportedly on councilmembers’ minds, as Parielle Davis (7th Ward) said Thursday it is being “discussed kind of a lot in the City Council circles.”

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