Story thread · 2 reports / 1 sources

College football’s most expensive stadium could have taken prime downtown site that houses a Buffalo Joe’s

talksport.com · 3hShare

The Northwestern Wildcats are set to welcome fans into their new stadium in October, but the venue could have been built elsewhere. The Wildcats will host Penn State in their brand-new $862m Ryan Field on Saturday, October 2nd. Construction on the new Ryan Field began in 2024 Getty At that cost, it’s the most expensive college football stadium ever constructed, but it’s also the smallest in the Big Ten with a 35,000 capacity. The stadium, and sports district, could have ended up on the site of the iconic Buffalo Joe’s in Evanston, if one man hadn’t stepped in. How Wildcats football almost ended up in the heart of Evanston Since 1874, Northwestern’s athletic grounds had been situated on main campus east of Sheridan Road. By 1902, it became clear that their on-campus football ground, named Sheppard Field, was insufficient to host their biggest games. NU’s business manager Robert Sheppard found a site in the heart of Evanston, north of Sherman Avenue. Northwestern owned or controlled all

First report: Billionaire shaking up NFL and college football by building two new stadiums worth $4bn — talksport.com, 2d