Northwestern throws ‘Hail Mary’ for Ryan Field stadium rebuild

Provided by Northwestern University

Everyone has a price? What’s yours?

Last Thursday, Northwestern University President Michael Schill sent that message in his desperate quest to save billionaire donor Pat Ryan’s vanity project: an open-air performance venue masquerading as a shrine to a disgraced football program. Amid the firestorm of growing opposition, Schill released two letters.

One went to the “Northwestern community” — where a faculty in revolt has called for a pause in the plan. Another went to the “Evanston community” — where NU has exacerbated schisms in its divide-and-conquer strategy to push the project through the Evanston City Council.

Even in those two letters, Schill couldn’t keep his story straight.

No two ways on finances

Schill addressed a Northwestern community concerned about misguided university priorities resulting in a plan costing $800 million. A big chunk comes from the Ryan family. But NU’s share — hundreds of millions — could be spent pursuing its actual educational mission.

Seeking to assuage that group, he said that, even without concerts in a new performance venue, the existing stadium would require equally costly repairs:

“Northwestern would have to make a similar financial investment to restore the current, crumbling Ryan Field to an adequate level to play seven football games per year as it will to create the new Ryan Field.” (Emphasis supplied)

But when addressing the Evanston community, Schill said that at least six major concerts in the proposed venue were necessary “to realistically operate the venue” and to “ensuring financial viability for the project to move forward.”

He can’t have it both ways.

No listening or learning

Schill told the Evanston community that NU had conducted “meetings and forums” where it had an opportunity to “listen and learn” from its neighbors.

Meetings? Only on NU’s terms. Listening and learning? Nope. 

Before Schill’s presidency, NU formed a working group in February 2022. It consisted of NU representatives, residents, and an Evanston City Council member. Residents in the group canvassed the surrounding community extensively and reported its views on a new football stadium. 

Then NU ignored them.

On Sept. 28, 2022, NU released its proposed stadium design to the media. Two weeks later, it announced that the venue would host major concerts and sell alcohol. A member of the working group later wrote: “This was another complete surprise to us because we had repeatedly emphasized the neighbors’ request that the use of the stadium not be expanded.” (Emphasis supplied)

Recently, NU proved again that it listens only to what it wants to hear. The university joined the City of Evanston’s motion asking a federal court to quash criticism of the new Ryan Field proposal at “town-gown” committee meetings that have occurred for the past 19 years. The court denied the request. 

Schill also told the Evanston community that “[o]ur goal has always been to host community-oriented events such as winter festivals, holiday celebrations, family movie nights, and youth sports events, as well as additional student and community programming to take full advantage of the plazas and new park being built.”

NU could do all of that today without building a United Center (North) — without a roof.

Whose project is it?

Schill is just the messenger. The project is Pat Ryan’s.

To the Evanston community, Schill expressed “thanks to a remarkably generous gift from the Ryan Family…” and announced that they, not NU, had offered another $10 million to create a “workforce technology upskilling program.”

Will Ryan’s additional money buy the love needed to get the plan through the city council?

Schill also tempted Evanston to start down a slippery slope: Allow more concerts and you’ll get more money. And he’s using other people’s money to do it: tax and fee revenue “tied to events at the new stadium” and a “ticket surcharge” that concertgoers would pay, not NU.

Likewise paying homage to NU’s biggest donor, Schill told the Northwestern community: “We have arrived at this pivotal point in the Ryan Field rebuild project thanks to a remarkably generous gift from the Ryan Family.”

Schill’s tone-deafness continued to the final sentence of his missive to the Northwestern community: “I firmly believe this rebuild will help us create an opportunity to build toward a positive and exciting future where we do what we do best at Northwestern — bring people together and positively impact communities.”

Schill, Ryan, and the board of trustees have fractured their relationship with the faculty, exploited divisions among residents, and negatively impacted nearby communities.

It will take years for NU to recover from its athletic team scandals. If NU builds the new performance venue, the resulting wounds will endure for generations. 

Steven J. Harper, a Northwestern University and Harvard Law School graduate, is an attorney, adjunct professor at Northwestern Law School, former partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and author of several books.

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