Last Saturday, Northwestern University’s football team played its game in a stadium that is 12 years older than its own football stadium. Wrigley Field is cherished by Chicagoans and those around the world as an historic athletic facility. It would be unthinkable to tear down the “friendly confines” and rebuild a modern stadium in its place. Yet Northwestern proposes to do exactly that with Ryan Field.
Unlike Ryan Field, which is functionally intact, concrete began falling from above onto Cubs fans in 2004. Beginning in 2014, Chicago Cubs owners commenced a privately funded, multi-year renovation of Wrigley Field costing upwards of $500 million, substantially less than the $800 million price tag assigned to Northwestern’s new stadium.
