It appears the Evanston City Council just approved one motion dealing with the stadium project on a 4-4 vote with the mayor breaking the tie.
They’re still debating amendments to another motion, and I think there’s a third motion that may have already been approved (I didn’t start listening until 9PM), but it seems likely the entire stadium project will pass today by similar margins.
Mike Nolan
Both ordinances passed, one by a 4-4 vote with the mayor breaking the tie and one by a 6-2 vote. So the stadium project has passed the Evanston City Council.
Is this when the lawsuits start?
Isn’t that the way the world works now? Even ‘green’ projects are objected to.
Near the end of the Maryland game we had a sorrowful farewell to our seat neighbors some of which we’ve sat with for over 20 years.
We’ve seen a number of “baby Wildcats” aka births that have grown up, graduated high school, and went off to college. We’ve seen deaths as at least 4 of our seat neighbors have passed since 2018.
Even if the PSLs don’t come to pass, the 2 years away will surely rearrange seating, but more than likely eliminate long-time season ticket holders as 129 is a section full of oldsters. We at early 50s still seem like the youngest people who aren’t using their parent’s tickets.
Has to be sad on several levels; not the least of which bonding with the neighbors during a lot of down seasons ( when you are losing, what else is there but your “family”?”)
There was a woman in my dorm that was either a baton twirler or cheerleader at NU ,that I ran into at a bowl game. I was with a college roommate ( a year behind me). I was introducing them and he immediately said something like “ You sit behind me at the games”. They had never talked who they were , just fans probably high fiving on NU touchdowns. They had lived in the same dorm a year apart and both knew me. She settled in Batavia, he in Barrington
Harry
We wear NU hockey jerseys to almost all of the games with our class number 93 and our last name embroidered on the back. Many people know us by that alone or maybe the fact we are very boisterous(clean and positive) vs. the more sit on the hands type fans.
We were boosters of the club hockey team and they gifted us home and away jerseys. One sans the last name we gave to Nico Mafuli’s dad as Nico wore the same number
https://nusports.com/sports/football/roster/niko-mafuli/3071
Northwestern point spread now up to +6. ( from opening at 5) Hope that’s simply due to bettors taking Illinois and not any injury or concern of one to anybody on NU
Michigan/ OSU line is down a half to Michigan -3.5 from -4
And FWIW future BT member U Washington is now #4 in CFP meaning 3 out of the 4 teams are BT caliber , though there is a good chance that the loser of the OSU/ Michigan gets knocked out of the CFP 4 ( at least for next Tuesday’s polling) and UW would almost certainly have to beat WSU in the Apple Cup and then likely Oregon ( though possibly Arizona) in the Pac 12 championship game to maintain a top 4 spot
Harry
Two Illinois defensive players have said they’ll enter the NFL Draft, I don’t know if that would have an affect on the odds.
Have sat in Section 128 for 31 years. 10 years ago I moved down from row 52 to 41 as the last of 6 folks who sat around me since 1992 passed away. My favorite story was John whose father purchased the season tixs the first year Dyche stadium opened and he kept them until his passing in 2007. He would bring a thermos to every game filled with beef broth and whiskey and pass around Dixie cups for sharing the drink. Never had the heart to tell him it was the worst concoction ever. And there was Mary and Larry who had season tixs to football, men and women’s BB and volleyball, never missed a game until Larry’s passing in 2012. Always loved to hear stories of these die hard fans who stuck with the team thru some rough seasons.
From the comments I’ve read here and elsewhere, it seems Northwestern isn’t giving its long time ticketholders much credit for their loyalty in their new stadium seating requirements.
Pity, but also not surprising.
An NU alum friend of mine grew up in Rogers park( still lives in the same house) with both parents going to NU . The family had season tix starting in the mid 50’s and he was taken as a young kid by his dad He retained them thru this season and has basically been rooting heavily against the new stadium. If it in fact really happens, he is unlikely to get season tix. Just won’t be the same for him
All his passwords for various internet sites have a variation of “wildcats “in them
Harry
All his passwords for various internet sites have a variation of “wildcats “in them
Damn, I will have to change my passwords as I resemble that.
I definitely don’t think their is big money itching to get the best seats due to those pesky old-timers camping.
Between our first purchase in 1996 we move 20 yards in under 7 years just by making consistent small donations to the university. One bad season will get people in better seats to drop tickets or at least reduce their purchase. And in a normal year I’m sure multiple families within good sections drop ticket due to death. We could’ve improved our seats over the past 20 years, but loved the people we sat with.
I don’t know who the university thinks will swoop in and buy all the PSL tickets.
While I’m sure they are interested in boosting attendance to their own product (football), the big money is going to be the other events that they have planned for that venue. Even if they are just renting the stadium rather than promoting the concert themselves, they are looking at millions in fees without the attendant pesky overhead of an athletic department. There is a lot of money in selling out home football games too, but that isn’t something that NU has done on any sort of reliable basis so far.
Jeff
https://evanstonroundtable.com/2023/11/21/evanston-mayor-biss-ryan-field-message/
definitely the most detailed explanation of the thinking behind the approval process. I don’t thing Evanstoners understand the concept of endowments.
BTW, the other thing that I didn’t mention in my previous post is that acoustics for large open spaces like football stadiums have made dramatic progress over the last decade or so.
Since NU regularly describes the proposed new stadium as state-of-the-art, it’s probably safe to say that they plan to incorporate the latest innovations in stadium sound.
The result won’t only be that the announcements will be clear at every seat, but that the music will also be excellent. Top line performers like Taylor Swift will only play at venues where the architecture and distributed sound systems create an excellent experience for every audience member. These demands will eventually filter down to most bands doing stadium shows. The result is that the new venues like the proposed Ryan field will have an advantage over other older venues in the area and likely be able to charge a premium.
The whole experience will also be healthier too because the new systems don’t use volume to overcome the issues of distance. They can deliver a superior audio experience without damaging the hearing of the listener. Architecture can even mitigate the issues of crowd noise. Some would say that a deafening home crowd gives their team an advantage, but I’m not sure that advantage outweighs potential long term hearing loss.
Jeff
Taylor Swift played Soldier Field, which has awful acoustics, but they bring in their own sound systems.
I think they may find scheduling 6 concerts a year challenging, there are lots of other venues in the Chicago area (though mostly indoor ones), and 25K is a ‘tweener’ number, too big for a lot of groups, too small for others, like Taylor Swift.
I read somewhere that a marketer connected to the new Ryan Field concerts said the groups they see coming to the new venue will either be on their way up or down, not premier acts like Taylor Swift. That makes sense to me. The outdoor venues I can think of are larger, although some groups in that category play municipal festivals and fairs. We’ll see.
I’m just glad it was approved. I hope we aren’t priced out, but we shifted our tickets to Bball this year anyway.
Dyche stadium historic landmark?
https://evanstonroundtable.com/2023/11/22/ryan-field-demolition-preservation-review/