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NU offers to change Ryan Field plans

Schill statement to NU community: NU
Statement to Evanston: Town

Main points:

As we prepare for the upcoming meeting of the Land Use Commission, we are moving forward in a way that we believe realizes the benefits of the stadium redevelopment, while addressing the concerns that we have heard. Based on that feedback, Northwestern is willing to modify its zoning application to significantly reduce the number of events hosted at the stadium annually while still ensuring financial viability for the project to move forward. Specifically:
  • Northwestern is willing to reduce the fixed number of concerts in the ordinance to six per year to balance the need to realistically operate the venue while addressing the concerns of neighbors.
  • Northwestern is willing to modify the original text amendment request that allowed for an unlimited number of 10,000-person University events at Ryan Field. We are willing to no longer ask for that change.
  • While many residents were hoping to utilize the stadium throughout the year, Northwestern is willing to limit community-based activities at the stadium and plazas to 60 days per year with programs designed in collaboration with our neighbors such as holiday celebrations and fall and winter festivals as mentioned above.
 
I think the new stadium project should move forward. I think it will be a boon to NU, the communities and to the BigTen.

The demolition of the old Qualcomm Stadium and new Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley here in San Diego is a good example of the positives of a new stadium hosting many events and teams besides college football including professional women’s soccer and professional men’s rugby. It’s a beautiful new stadium that replaced an aged facility. I’m hopeful NU can move forward with this project esp. with the new management changes requested by the communities. It’s a long-term move NU needs to make if it wants to stay in the BigTen.
 
I think the new stadium project should move forward. I think it will be a boon to NU, the communities and to the BigTen.

The demolition of the old Qualcomm Stadium and new Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley here in San Diego is a good example of the positives of a new stadium hosting many events and teams besides college football including professional women’s soccer and professional men’s rugby. It’s a beautiful new stadium that replaced an aged facility. I’m hopeful NU can move forward with this project esp. with the new management changes requested by the communities. It’s a long-term move NU needs to make if it wants to stay in the BigTen.
It's a critical move either way, and at absolutely a critical time in college athletics history. This is when the haves and have nots are separating and we're fortunate to be in the "haves" category for now. We have to invest like a Big Ten program and all the money invested in facilities to this point shows that and the stadium rebuild will complete our facilities buildout...

Even if CFB implodes in 10-15 years, we'll still have all these top-of-the-line athletics facilities across campus once the stadium rebuild is done, and still be able to bring the best/brightest athletes to campus.

Now more than ever, it's imperative to get this project across the finish line over the next few seasons. In 10 or 15 years, college athletics/media rights/etc. will look completely different and so we need to be in the best position possible with the best offering possible to be positioned for that.

Also these changes are fine to me, they don't drastically change the economics of the new stadium which will still be a huge improvement over the current situation.
 
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Am I too conspiracy-theorist to think they planned to make these concessions all along, and started high so they could look like good-faith negotiators here?

Part of me also wonders if they announced or offered up the Wrigley Neighbors model (where basically anyone in or adjacent to Wrigleyville gets a presale for every concert and event they hold there...nearly a 100% guarantee that you can get tickets to everything you want).
 
Am I too conspiracy-theorist to think they planned to make these concessions all along, and started high so they could look like good-faith negotiators here?

Part of me also wonders if they announced or offered up the Wrigley Neighbors model (where basically anyone in or adjacent to Wrigleyville gets a presale for every concert and event they hold there...nearly a 100% guarantee that you can get tickets to everything you want).
No you're not; they went with the almost absurdly high ask and planned to bring it down the whole time. That was the first thing I thought when I saw it "oh this is a much more reasonable ask".
 
Made perfect sense with the expected opposition. Big portion of the opposition wouldn't have been satisfied unless Ryan Field is permanently closed.
This is an ignorant, uninformed statement. Neighbors are not against the stadium. They’re opposed to rezoning a residential neighborhood into an entertainment district.
 
No you're not; they went with the almost absurdly high ask and planned to bring it down the whole time. That was the first thing I thought when I saw it "oh this is a much more reasonable ask".
Don’t worry the NU Administration will cave in to the Public pressure and reduce seating to 2000.
 
This is an ignorant, uninformed statement. Neighbors are not against the stadium. They’re opposed to rezoning a residential neighborhood into an entertainment district.
I don't think NU has a choice on that. It's not just about the $800 million cost, of which I suspect $200-250 million will be debt born by the AD that needs to be paid off over the next 20 years.

It's also about competing in the Big Ten.

With our attendance levels (and a 35k seat max), our revenue levels just pale in comparison to most. This is the only way to get revenue levels to where they need to be to compete, especially if we get to a pay-for-play kind of world where the AD is shifting money directly to athletes out of conference distributions.

If 20-25% of the conference distributions get shifted to players eventually (a realistic possibility), that gap has to be made up somewhere else. Definitely won't be made up in the 6-7 FB home games.

And it doesn't even seem likely that Evanston will allow this (given 3-4 of the board are already on record against it), so we'll see what happens.
 
Northwestern has imposed limits on itself after the mass overages on the Allen Center (Kellogg) and the Field House. It is now requiring that no building occurs until 75% of funding/financing has been secured. The "expected" revenue from the concerts helps get them to that threshold. I say "expected" because I'm sure their estimates of significantly inflated to to reach their number. What hasn't the athletic department not lied about in the last two years?

In fact, the concerts would be used to pay the debt service against the money they'll need to borrow against Pat Ryan's bequest, which they may not have in hand for many years -- depending on Ryan's health and longevity. That's a lot of debt service they need to account for.

The best thing the athletic department could do is work to raise more money over the next couple of years until they actually have money in hand. Dyche and all of us can survive another couple of years. Otherwise, they can request that Northwestern's finance department give them a waiver on the 75% rule. Foisting huge concerts into a residential, heavily taxed neighborhood is just a bad idea.
 
This is an ignorant, uninformed statement. Neighbors are not against the stadium. They’re opposed to rezoning a residential neighborhood into an entertainment district.
He is just pointing out that some of the opposition would not be satisfied with anything other than getting rid of it completely and they generally tend to be the most vocal. In a big enough group, there is always a group with an extreme view that nothing will satisfy
 
I don't think NU has a choice on that. It's not just about the $800 million cost, of which I suspect $200-250 million will be debt born by the AD that needs to be paid off over the next 20 years.

It's also about competing in the Big Ten.

With our attendance levels (and a 35k seat max), our revenue levels just pale in comparison to most. This is the only way to get revenue levels to where they need to be to compete, especially if we get to a pay-for-play kind of world where the AD is shifting money directly to athletes out of conference distributions.

If 20-25% of the conference distributions get shifted to players eventually (a realistic possibility), that gap has to be made up somewhere else. Definitely won't be made up in the 6-7 FB home games.

And it doesn't even seem likely that Evanston will allow this (given 3-4 of the board are already on record against it), so we'll see what happens.
The athletic tide is moving against schools such as Northwestern, Duke, Vandy, etc. It's all about the big bucks now. NU is probably OK for a few years, but football will eventually move to a super league model. I'm old, and with the elimination of divisions, Northwestern likely will not be in another B1G title game in my lifetime. The odds of the Cats getting in the title game by beating out all but one of Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State, USC, Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and even Wisconsin and Iowa in a given year are probably about the same as my chances of winning a million in a lottery drawing.

They built a beautiful $200 million-plus practice facility on the lake that was supposed to be a big boost in recruiting with the result that they've gone 3-9 and 1-11 the last two seasons and become embroiled in a major controversy. All hazing allegations aside, Fitz likely would have been on thin ice at most programs not named Northwestern for the way the team has totally collapsed the past two seasons. The hiring of that defensive coordinator was on him, and the offense hasn't really shown any spark since the Justin Jackson days.

So I wish them the best and hope the new $800 million edifice works, but it's safe to say I have my doubts.
 
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The athletic tide is moving against schools such as Northwestern, Duke, Vandy, etc. It's all about the big bucks now.
I think you're right about this, especially when it comes to football. Medium-sized, nationally-based private schools can compete in D1 basketball as shown by Duke. But I can imagine a day when Northwestern, Stanford, Vandy, Cal and Duke may be forced out of the Power 4? and will need to create their own conference, at least for football. We could stay Div 1 for all of the other sports.
 
The athletic tide is moving against schools such as Northwestern, Duke, Vandy, etc. It's all about the big bucks now. NU is probably OK for a few years, but football will eventually move to a super league model. I'm old, and with the elimination of divisions, Northwestern likely will not be in another B1G title game in my lifetime. The odds of the Cats getting in the title game by beating out but one of Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State, USC, Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and even Wisconsin and Iowa in a given year are probably about the same as my changes of winning a million in a lottery drawing.

They built a beautiful $200 million-plus practice facility on the lake that was supposed to be a big boost in recruiting with the result that they've gone 3-9 and 1-11 the last two seasons and become embroiled in a major controversy. All hazing allegations aside, Fitz likely would have been on thin ice at most programs not named Northwestern for the way the team has totally collapsed the past two seasons. The hiring of that defensive coordinator was on him, and the offense hasn't really shown any spark since the Justin Jackson days.

So I wish them the best and hope the new $800 million edifice works, but it's safe to say I have my doubts.
It's fair to have doubt (I have plenty myself), and a lot will change over the next 10-15 years. Not even clear what "top level" CFB will look like in a decade: at some point the players will be getting paid directly by the universities or out of conference distributions to the universities.

We should be able to compete with the bottom half of the conference in any given year. Question is whether that's enough; we'd all like to be able to consistently at least challenge teams above that, and in recent years we have.

Still, I think you just bite the bullet and get the stadium done and then figure this all out later. There'll be enough money in the next 10-15 years to justify the stadium getting done now, and then we see whatever CFB becomes.

At the very least we do have a seat at the top table for now.
 
If schools start paying athletes directly (the introduction of NIL has already tainted it for me), I suspect college football as we know it will also start to die, and a new stadium will eventually be moot.
 
At least you have a far lesser chance to be shot/robbed etc..

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Why is it going to die? The big boys aren’t going anywhere and neither are their alumni/donors.
The NFL doesn't have a minor league. So they have guys preparing in college. Most of those guys don't belong in college, but have nowhere else to go to pursue their (brief) careers.

MLB and the NBA have alternative paths...

I'd say NCAA football "could" die, at least in a form that is palatable to Northwestern, where the primary focus remains academics. I could see a conference of minor league NFL teams masquerading as universities, paying players to "attend" and getting paid by the NFL. But it may be that playing football in the SEC is more appealing, as long as the pay is somewhat comparable. Certainly the SEC would oppose an NFL minor league that competed with it for great athletes who probably shouldn't be in college.

In the end, Northwestern is more of a natural rival for Vandy, Duke and Stanford than it is for Nebraska or Maryland or Rutgers.... And if there's an NFL-geared super conference for football, NU will probably not be in it.

So things could change dramatically. After all, the University of Chicago was once the "Monsters of the Midway."
 
The athletic tide is moving against schools such as Northwestern, Duke, Vandy, etc. It's all about the big bucks now. NU is probably OK for a few years, but football will eventually move to a super league model. I'm old, and with the elimination of divisions, Northwestern likely will not be in another B1G title game in my lifetime. The odds of the Cats getting in the title game by beating out all but one of Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State, USC, Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and even Wisconsin and Iowa in a given year are probably about the same as my chances of winning a million in a lottery drawing.

They built a beautiful $200 million-plus practice facility on the lake that was supposed to be a big boost in recruiting with the result that they've gone 3-9 and 1-11 the last two seasons and become embroiled in a major controversy. All hazing allegations aside, Fitz likely would have been on thin ice at most programs not named Northwestern for the way the team has totally collapsed the past two seasons. The hiring of that defensive coordinator was on him, and the offense hasn't really shown any spark since the Justin Jackson days.

So I wish them the best and hope the new $800 million edifice works, but it's safe to say I have my doubts.

I don't know what college football will look like by the next time tv negotiations roll around, but I do think the elimination of divisions will be very, VERY, VERY short-lived.

The elimination of divisions by 14-school conferences was basically in response to one lucky division champ pulling an upset and costing the conference a natural berth into the four-team CFP.

And now look...we're basically at 20-school conferences and a 12-team playoff model. This means the jumbo conferences can go back to hosting divisions because a single upset win by an unworthy division champ is less likely to happen with 4-5 divisions, and even if they do, with 12 teams hitting the post-season, they can offer a mulligan to the perceived powerhouse that slips on a banana peel.

This also addresses the issue that in a conference of Ohio States, Michigans, Penn States, USCs, and so on...there isn't just one single trophy to hand out each year...which I really think would cause fan bases to mutiny.
 
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