As Northwestern University’s record-setting $875 million Ryan Field football stadium in Evanston inches closer to its Oct. 2 game opening
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, officials are unveiling plans to feature some of the surrounding area’s favorite restaurant offerings for ticket holders.The program, called “Evanston and North Shore Favorites,” invites neighborhood restaurants in Evanston, Wilmette and other nearby municipalities to operate through pop-up shops inside the Big Ten arena on home game days.
Local restaurants will gain direct access to tens of thousands of guests — the stadium is set to house 35,000, 12,000 seats fewer than the former Ryan Field — with the upside of added exposure for their brick and mortar storefronts.
Officials have also established terms that all game day proceeds beyond operating costs will go back to participating businesses.
“We committed, when we did the stadium, the university and the Ryans committed that we would provide different types of economic empowerment opportunities,” said Pat Ryan Jr., chairman of Ryan Field Foundation LLC and CEO of Ryan Sports Development.
“We felt like this is a chance for businesses to participate in the benefit of having 35,000-person events, right? So, any business that wanted to have a chance to sell into the stadium would have a chance to apply to do so.”
Ryan has been spearheading the build of the 320,000-square-foot stadium following his family’s $480 million donation to Northwestern in 2021 to finance the project, along with other initiatives.
The gift is the largest in the university’s history, per previous reports.
According to Ryan, Levy Restaurants, Ryan Field’s food, beverage and hospitality partner, will manage the pop-up operation day-to-day and lead the selection process in choosing participating local restaurants.
Selected participants will need to meet a series of health and food safety criteria and have provisions that fall within a reasonable price range for fans.
“The intent is there are a series of qualifications…if you’re a restaurant that doesn’t have an item under $20, it might be hard to get in there, to sell, and then obviously we want to make sure it’s going to be popular with this crowd,” Ryan told Pioneer Press.
Levy has not confirmed how many participating restaurants it will accept to operate pop-up shops, but Ryan said he expects the number to be around the “high single to low double digits.”
Interested parties are encouraged to apply for the program through the stadium’s application portal and all applications are due by midnight on July 31.
In addition to collegiate football games, Ryan Field is set to host a number of community-based sporting events including local high school sports games and up to six additional concerts a year.
Evanston City Council members approved the stadium’s request to host concerts at the venue in 2023, much to the dismay of neighboring Wilmette, where residents and officials previously expressed concerns over the increased noise and traffic congestion they could bring.
Under the university’s $150 million Community Benefits Agreement with the city, Ryan Field will implement an added $3 per ticket surcharge on all concert tickets in place of an amusement tax.
The revenue will be split between Evanston’s two public school districts, according to the city.
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Ryan told Pioneer Press the concerts are not slated to begin until the summer of 2027, in an effort to “ease the neighbors in the transition.”
“[Our neighbors] have been really patient with all the construction. Anybody who’s ever lived next to construction knows it can be challenging,” Ryan said.
“And no matter how good a neighbor you try to be, there’s a lot of people moving around and a lot of traffic and noise and other things, so we wanted to, you know, be sensitive [about that].”
The pop-up initiative will also serve as an incubator program, according to Levy, with “standout concepts” able to earn additional opportunities at Ryan Field in future seasons.
With more than 1,000 construction workers onsite daily to finish the field in time for its nationally-televised debut, Ryan said there’s still a lot of “heavy lifting left to do” with electrical installations and outside area ground work.
“It’s very hard to keep enough electricians because of all the data centers being built…I think we have 110 and we need 130,” Ryan added.
And part of being a “good neighbor” has also meant limiting late night working hours on site, he said, which has contributed to condensed work times with a higher construction staff count overall.
“It’s cost money, but I think it’s the kind of thing the neighbors who are paying attention recognize, that there might be 1,100 workers there at 7 a.m. and 3 or 4 p.m. but there aren’t at 9 or 10 p.m.”
Despite weather and other construction delays, officials expect the arena to be primed and ready for its opening football game against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Oct. 2.