Where Will NU Play During Ryan Field Construction?

[Alan Smithee]

My impression from the press releases is they’ll play at home, with the construction done in phases during several off-seasons. Somewhat similar to the phased redevelopment of Wrigley. But nothing official about it has been released.

This is wrong, according to Gragg. They expect construction to start after next season and we will probably be playing elsewhere for two seasons rather than one.

 

[Bwm57]

Agree Soldier Field would make the most sense. It’s an actual football field and is hardly ever used anyway.

 

[Alvious]

I just found out this morning that the Bears' lease at Soldier Field prohibits any game or event less than 5 days before a Bears game. This means the Cats and Bears can't play there the same weekend.

 

[hdhntr1]

If Northwestern has to close the entire stadium for a season or two to accommodate the construction process, where will they play?

My first thought was Soldier Field, but is Soldier Field too big, too expensive? Wrigley would be neat, but not feasible with the end of the baseball season. Are there other options I am not thinking of?

As far as Soldier Field, the Bears won't be using it (actually they will still likely be there). But you have to deal with Chicago Park DIstrict anthey have not been known to keep that field in any kind of shape

 

[Bwm57]

Alternating weekends probably wouldn’t be that hard, plus seems like it would be a bad PR move for the Bears to fight this if they are moving.
Although if we’re talking about bad PR moves this Bears management team is the perfect group to do it.

 

[hdhntr1]

Hire the dudes that did the Stanford stadium reno. As soon as the whistle blew on the last game of the season, contractors / builders were in working their magic and had the new stadium up and running for the first game of the next season. It's a nice set of digs, too.

They did not have winter to deal with. Either during construction or building it to deal with it. Makes it a lot more difficult, takes longer and costs more

 

[hdhntr1]

Alternating weekends probably wouldn’t be that hard, plus seems like it would be a bad PR move for the Bears to fight this if they are moving.
Although if we’re talking about bad PR moves this Bears management team is the perfect group to do it.

That Field would be absolute crap by mid season

 

[hdhntr1]

We have nice field behind our house. My deck can seat 25 fans.

Sounds like too much seating

 

[julescat]

Playing every game away would be Ok by me. I think NU plays better on the road anyway. One of the few times we achieved at or above expectations at home was last year when nobody (except the few) could attend.

 

[thewildcat2011]

Alternating weekends probably wouldn’t be that hard, plus seems like it would be a bad PR move for the Bears to fight this if they are moving.
Although if we’re talking about bad PR moves this Bears management team is the perfect group to do it.

The Chicago Fire plays their home games there now and ND has the shamrock series for a few more years. Soldier Field by itself is not a viable solution.