Ryan Field
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Ryan Field is a stadium in Evanston, Illinois, United States. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the Northwestern University Wildcats football team. The field opened in 1926 and holds 47,130 people. Prior to 1997, the stadium was named Dyche Stadium, for William Dyche, Class of 1882, former Evanston mayor and overseer of the building project. The naming rights to the field were sold in 1997, for $8 million, to Pat Ryan, who was the chairman of the school's board of trustees at the time. The rights were sold without an agreed upon term[1].
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[edit] History
The stadium originally consisted of two semi-circular grandstands on either sideline, with the west (home) sideline having a small, curved upper deck whose 2 ends abut in matching concrete towers. Endzone seating was later added in the south endzone, and in 1952 McGaw Memorial Hall was built beyond the north endzone.
The stadium had an artificial turf surface from 1973 to 1996. Prior to the 1997 season, natural grass was installed and the playing surface was lowered approximately five feet to improve sight lines from the lowest rows of the grandstands.
The Chicago Bears hosted their first home game of the 1970 season at Dyche Stadium as an experiment; the NFL had demanded that the Bears move out of Wrigley Field because Wrigley's seating capacity was under 50,000. After Evanston residents petitioned city officials to block the team from moving there permanently, the Bears ended up moving to Chicago's Soldier Field the following year.
[edit] Transportation
The closest transit stations are Metra commuter railroad's Central Street station and Chicago Transit Authority's Central station on the Purple Line.
[edit] In popular culture
Parts of the The Express, an 2008 film about Syracuse University Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis starring Rob Brown (Finding Forrester} as Davis, and Dennis Quaid (The Rookie) as Davis' Syracuse coach, Ben Schwartzwalder, were filmed at Ryan Field[2].
