Northwestern University announced Thursday it will alter its proposal for the new Ryan Field by dropping the number of proposed annual concerts from 10 to six and providing other financial benefits to local schools and the city.
In a news release, Northwestern President Michael Schill said the school also will no longer ask the city for an unlimited amount of 10,000-person events at the field and would limit the number of community-based activities in the stadium and plaza to 60 per year.
“The new stadium has never been solely about Northwestern football; its role as an economic and social engine goes well beyond that,” Schill wrote in his letter to the community. “Our 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.”
The primary benefactor of the stadium is billionaire Patrick Ryan, the founder and retired CEO of Aon Corp. who is a Northwestern alumnus. The Ryan family, whose contributions are paying for a majority of the proposed rebuild of the nearly 100-year-old stadium, is also now pledging to give an additional $10 million to create an Evanston workforce technology upskilling program to teach underemployed residents skills they can take with them into the job market. Schill also said there are plans to endow the program to benefit future generations of Evanston residents.
The university itself is offering to guarantee a minimum of $2 million in annual tax and fee revenue from the stadium to the city with the potential for increases depending on the number of events held each year. It also would add concert ticket surcharges to donate $500,000 to Evanston Public Schools annually and give an additional $250,000 to support an event in partnership with the city to “benefit our entire community as directed by city leadership.”
“While these benefits are centered on the renovation and use of the stadium itself, we know the University’s relationship with Evanston goes beyond this specific project,” Schill wrote. “As such, we remain in active discussions with the leadership of the city of Evanston on other concrete ways we can support the city.”
The university was originally set to present its plan to Evanston’s Land Use Commission on Wednesday, Aug. 23, until an announcement by the city Friday afternoon pushed the meeting two weeks until Sept. 6.
“This change allows city staff and community members time to fully review the latest plans and materials encompassing the University’s changes in response to city and community feedback,” the news release from the city said.
Wilmette Village President Senta Plunkett plans to speak at the meeting in opposition to the concert proposal and present a resolution stating the neighboring village is against the use of Ryan Field for commercial uses.
Wilmette residents pushed back against the plan saying noise pollution and traffic from the proposed concerts would negatively affect their way of life.
The Most Livable City Association, one of several groups involved with the Northwestern Accountability Alliance working to hold the university to its promises, said despite the proposed changes in the near eleventh hour, it is still skeptical of the university’s plans.
“Northwestern knows it is losing the battle of public opinion. So they sprung this updated proposal less than a week before the Land Use Commission hearing with their characteristic stealth,” Most Livable City Association President David DeCarlo said. “Still seeking a radical zoning change, and failing to address environmental, financial, and labor concerns with the stadium rebuild, this ‘offer’ is nothing but a fig leaf in NU’s quest to remake entire neighborhoods and disrupt life in Evanston and beyond.”
Discussions about whether the university should go forward with the planned rebuild have also centered around the ongoing Northwestern football hazing scandal that saw head coach Pat Fitzgerald fired in July.
