Playing on the Lake: More than Vibes and a View -

College football fans nationwide have now learned why we rabid Northwestern fans were so bullish on this year’s temporary lakefront stadium. The beautiful views of campus, boats dotting the lake, and Chicago skyline backdrop were a talking point of coverage throughout the first weekend of games. The NU Athletics department – roundly mocked for this plan when it was announced in the spring – scored a massive win.

Those of us close to the ‘Cats weren’t surprised. We knew the potential of an expanded Martin Stadium…and we believe this stadium will make an impact on ticket demand, home field advantage, and the upward trajectory of Northwestern Football that goes far beyond the aesthetic appeal on display this past weekend.

Northwestern has always been known as a beautiful university, with a historical stadium in Ryan Field that is easily accessible via plane, train, and automobile. But Northwestern has never been known as a College Football destination. ESPN’s College Gameday didn’t visit campus until 2013. Tickets at Ryan Field are scarce only when NU is hosting Notre Dame, Ohio State, or another top-ranked opponent with a massive traveling fanbase. We are a school with a renowned academic focus and a small alumni base; the infrastructure of CFB ensures that while NU teams can be scrappy and punch above their weight regularly, you won’t ever see the parade of 5-Star recruits or the massive crush of fandom that permeate the SEC and the biggest schools in the Big Ten.

But this year, because of the temporary stadium, Northwestern football fans are experiencing scarcity and demand in a way they never have before. To the general public, the idea of a 15,000-seat college football stadium might have seemed like a laugh. Even some ‘Cats fans seemed to exhibit more of an interest in the novelty of the concept than a feeling of urgency to attend multiple games–until last Saturday, during the Northwestern Football home opener, when all of this was flipped on its head.

Now, Northwestern Football is legitimately a hot ticket.

Over the past two years, we saw firsthand how the notion of a Northwestern Athletics venue as a “Scene” that couldn’t be missed changed the culture around our basketball program. We think this temporary lakeside stadium can do the same for football. The buzz on campus is palpable in a way it never was in prior seasons…and the students haven’t even arrived back on campus yet!

Speaking of the students: For the first time ever, Northwestern Football is literally at the epicenter of Northwestern’s campus. Along the 10-minute walk from our current tailgate lot on Sheridan Road to the gates of Martin Stadium live close to 50% of NU’s student population. The distance between campus and Ryan Field has always been a barrier to student attendance. Opting not to make this journey may be an excuse, but it’s an easy one, and combined with a small undergraduate student body – ours numbers under 10,000 – it limits the potential of our home football stadium to intimidate opponents or even feel like home. By comparison, Ohio State’s Block O student section seats close to 30,000. Our temporary stadium’s total capacity may only approach half this number, but to Northwestern fans, this simply doesn’t matter. Our lake stadium has the potential to create a new relationship with Northwestern’s students and to give them the ability to impact the Northwestern Football game atmosphere this fall and next.

This opportunity exists for all Northwestern fans, not just the students. In Ryan Field, we never had a true home field advantage. We were often outnumbered: The old Ryan Field had 47,000 seats, but in nearly three decades of fandom, we never saw it at capacity unless there were significant amounts of opposing fans. Once again, this is very much a numbers game: Most Big Ten schools have 4-5 times the number of students that NU does and have dramatically larger alumni bases as a result…not to mention the natural affinity of those growing up in Iowa, Pennsylvania, etc. for cheering on their State School. In Northwestern’s biggest games at Ryan Field, the team had to contend with 50-60% of the fans screaming for the opposition. We’re a small private school in a large, football-obsessed metro area full of fans of the “Giants” within our own conference. Only Vanderbilt fans can truly empathize with our plight.

Our first thought upon hearing that the temporary structure at Martin Stadium would only house 15,000 fans was, OMG it’s all going to be purple! Sure enough, this is what we saw with our own eyes last weekend: There was a smattering of Miami fans outside the official Visitor’s Section, but easily 80% of the sell-out crowd were ‘Cats fans. We smile as we look ahead to late October, when Wisconsin – which typically invades Evanston with a horde of Badger fans – will be allowed to admit only a tiny percentage of their supporters. The impact of this is beyond valuable: Northwestern has a home field advantage we have never truly experienced before.

In March of 2017, Northwestern’s basketball team finally went to the NCAA Basketball Tournament for the very first time. They notched a 1^st round win, and with most of the roster and Coach Chris Collins coming back the following year, we hoped that a second tourney berth was right around the corner. Unfortunately, Northwestern had simultaneously started a much-needed gut-rebuild of Welsh-Ryan Arena…and the 2017-18 ‘Cats season was played almost an hour away from campus, near O’Hare Airport at Allstate Arena. The team played to miniscule crowds with virtually zero student support, and while this was not the only negative factor at play that season, it majorly contributed to the ‘Cats cratering. It took six years and an improbable victory over #1 Purdue in 2023 to finally restore the upward trajectory. The bottom line: Relocation far away from campus is never, ever, ideal.

This past spring, before the dream of an expanded Martin Stadium was on the radar, Northwestern football season ticket holders actually received an email pitching them on the idea of a 2024 HOME game against Wisconsin played at Lambeau Field. The pushback was swift and furious and the idea scuttled, but that moment effectively represented the brutal reality facing the ‘Cats. Baseball stadiums were not available until November, the Chicago Bears would/could not commit to any Soldier Field availability until the NFL schedule release in May, and there were conflicts with other events at SeatGeek stadium – a soccer stadium on the SW side of the city that is about as far from Northwestern’s campus as a stadium in the Chicago Metro Area can be. In this dark moment, many of us had resigned ourselves to an itinerant two years of tiny crowds and no student support until the new Ryan Field was constructed.

Now, we live several universes away from where Wildcat Nation was headed six months ago. There’s no guarantee that NU football would have cratered in that itinerant scenario, and there’s certainly no guarantee that the program will stack wins on the lakefront. But the former would have been a nightmare for players and coaches and deeply unsatisfying to fans. It would have completely disconnected the program from students and the school. Today, instead of that potential nightmare, we have a potential dream-scenario.

There is one significant negative at present that Northwestern will have to figure out how to manage: The high price of tickets to the temporary venue is leaving some ‘Cats fans–particularly young alums who did not have the requisite years as season ticket holders or the yearly contribution levels to secure the lower cost seats–feeling priced out. NU will have to find ways to make these fans whole going forward. But in the present, for all of the reasons outlined above, demand for tickets is going to balloon, and the football program and the university are going to be awash in free publicity that hopefully will provide value that makes its way to all ‘Cats fans.

We know that, to many outsiders, Northwestern Football’s home for the next 2 years will always look like a novelty. But our community has shared experience that leads us to a far different view. We are talking excitedly, as friends and as alums. We will be getting ourselves to Martin Stadium as much as we possibly can these next couple of months and next season as well. When we can’t make it, we’ll be watching proudly from our homes.

We know exactly what this stadium means to this team and to this Northwestern family.

We couldn’t be any more stoked for these next two years!