Evanston residents worry about Northwestern’s Ryan Field proposal

Evanston residents expressed concern at a recent meeting hosted by City Councilmember Eleanor Revelle about how Northwestern’s new Ryan Field proposal could impact the area’s culture, saying it could resemble Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood.

Wrigleyville is known for its Cubs games and bar scene and residents are concerned that by allowing more events and concerts at the field that the surrounding neighborhood will be disrupted.

A proposed text amendment is expected to expand the venue’s hosting privileges to 12 community and cultural events — including concerts, allow external event sponsors, and a 25,000-person capacity increase. Current policy allows the stadium to host a maximum of seven community events per year with a 10,000-person capacity, according to a Northwestern University presentation.

“Currently, we have a handful of football games a year that have 35,000 or more fans and you’re proposing to have (a total of 12 additional events) with 35,000 people. At some point, (there is) a point where a line is crossed and the neighborhood changes,” resident John Labbe said. “I mean Wrigley Field is a different type of stadium, different type of neighborhood.”

Northwestern’s Executive Director of Neighborhood and Community Relations Dave Davis said the project will not significantly impact the area’s culture because events will primarily be held during certain times of the year.

“It’s not going to be a dome, it is going to be a canopied facility and so (events won’t be held year-round, it will be) over about a seven-month time frame,” Davis said. “(At) 12 events, we’re looking at one or maybe two events per month.”

Northwestern University responded to the concerns, saying, “As we said on the call last week, we are talking about 10-12 events a year at Ryan Field in additional to 7 annual football games, which is roughly ~18 events a year or approximately 5% of the calendar year.  This is much different than the Wrigleyville experience with over 80 events in a year. The University is not trying to turn Evanston into Wrigleyville.”

Despite Davis’ reassurance, residents are worried about how concerts could disturb nearby residents. Northwestern’s Project Manager Steven Himes, who also worked on the 2018 Welsh-Ryan Arena renovation, said the stadium’s design will help contain noise.

“The stadium would have partial facades that are partially enclosed on its vertical surfaces — not entirely but partially — and then there is a 360 degrees canopy extending from the perimeter over the seating bowl that will help reflect sound into the stadium to contain that sound,” Himes said.

Ryan Field currently has a 47,130-person capacity for all events. This new stadium would put it at 35,000 for all events, which is roughly 15,000 below the next smallest Big Ten Conference stadium.

The text amendment has various obstacles to navigate before gaining city approval. Northwestern will submit an application to city staff to be analyzed and get approved to appear before City Council by both the Land Use Commission and the Planning and Development Committee, according to a Northwestern University presentation. Once approved by those two bodies, it moves on to City Council.

Public comment will be available throughout the process at each step.

The text amendment process is expected to begin in winter 2022 and wrap up during 2023, according to Northwestern’s anticipated timeline.

Northwestern will submit a planned development application, the presentation showed. City staff will review the proposed plans to determine what city code variations will be required. After city analysis, a projected and design review will take place where city staff will provide further comments on the proposed project. It will then appear before the Land Use Commission and Planning and Development Committee before making it to City Council. The anticipated budget outlines this process beginning in winter 2022 to extend through summer 2023 with public input being heard by both committees and City Council.

Northwestern’s presentation said the university wants to enhance the event-going experience for its visitors through concessions and alcohol sales. This will require an updated liquor license request to be authorized by the city. The license will go through the Liquor Control Board, Administration and Public Works Committee and City Council with public input allowed by all three entities, according to the presentation.

“One of the areas we’re looking to improve is providing our guests with a better food and beverage and concessions experience,” Denee Barracato, deputy director of athletics at Northwestern, said. “Alcohol and the offering of alcohol in all of our spaces is an area we intend to improve not just for our premium ticket holders but really all fans in general admission seating.”

Revelle plans to hold a series of Ryan Field meetings that will be advertised in the 7th Ward newsletter.

Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.