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Northwestern Opens $875 Million Ryan Field With 35,000 Seats

8/13/2026

Summary

Story summary

Northwestern University opened Ryan Field stadium on Oct. 2, 2026, costing $875 million and seating 35,000.
The stadium has a 300,000-sq-ft roof, a 10,000-sq-ft LED scoreboard, and a Trico One surface meeting NFL/NFLPA standards.
Pat Ryan Jr., CEO of Ryan Sports Development, said the seat is 136 feet from the sidelines.
Northwestern will host Penn State (Oct. 2), Ball State (Oct. 10), Rutgers (Oct. 24), Iowa (Nov. 7) and Illinois (Nov. 28) at the stadium.

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Story summary

Northwestern University opened Ryan Field stadium on Oct. 2, 2026, costing $875 million and seating 35,000.
The stadium has a 300,000-sq-ft roof, a 10,000-sq-ft LED scoreboard, and a Trico One surface meeting NFL/NFLPA standards.
Pat Ryan Jr., CEO of Ryan Sports Development, said the seat is 136 feet from the sidelines.
Northwestern will host Penn State (Oct. 2), Ball State (Oct. 10), Rutgers (Oct. 24), Iowa (Nov. 7) and Illinois (Nov. 28) at the stadium.