With the possible exception of the bike-lane debacle in Chicago, dominated by zero-sum fanatics, few debates have been as nasty as the one involving Chicagoland’s new football stadium.
No, we’re not talking about whether or not the Chicago Bears pick Hammond or Arlington Heights after holding both Illinois and Indiana to ransom for months and exhausting Chicagoans with the whole process.
We’re referencing Ryan Field, the new Evanston football stadium for Northwestern University built from the private largesse of insurance mogul Pat Ryan and his family and needing no legislation in Springfield nor controversial megaproject bill to open on schedule this fall. Such was the fervor of the neighborhood opposition to this project that our consistent support for the new facility rained down upon our heads innumerable letters of opprobrium suggesting, in one memorable case, that we had squandered decades of trust.
We heard recently that the Ryan family had quietly engaged with a noted architect to improve the ingress and egress options at the stadium, so as to be, proactively, decent neighbors. Good. Better yet, though, was the news that two of the great North Shore high schools, New Trier and Evanston Township, will play football against each other at the all-new Ryan Field on the evening of Oct. 16, just two weeks after Northwestern will take on Penn State as the stadium’s prime-time season opener.
What a great opportunity for the students, staff and alumni of New Trier and ETHS, with catchment areas divided by Isabella Street, located right at this very stadium. On Tuesday Pat Ryan Jr., who follows a playbook about as far from the Bears management as we could imagine, delivered the news that this rent-free game will be part of a new community initiative, starting out in a very big way.
May we suggest that this moment mark a formal end to the grousing over this stadium, which is here to stay?
Instead of grumpy Wilmette residents arguing they are getting a worse sonic deal than Evanston, how about the residents of both suburbs head to their beautiful new sports facility to cheer on their respective young people and imbibe by osmosis some of their excitement?
The rivalry is a close one; Evanston has only a very slight win edge over more than 100 prior meetings, beginning in 1913, of these two formidable high schools. Most of the kids in the game likely will never again play (or cheer, or manage) in a stadium anything like Ryan Field and we bet they’ll be stoked.
Imagine. A crisp October night on the North Shore with trees just beginning to change. Determined student athletes. Students having the best time of their lives (not that they will know it yet) together in the stands. Parents sipping hot chocolate and savoring their still-full nests and all of this taking place in America’s newest state-of-the-art football stadium. And nothing going on here is about making money.
Talk about a Friday night lights to remember. It makes you want summer to pass a bit quicker. Well, almost.
Ryan didn’t say if the game would be an annual event. But it’s a no-brainer. Then at least the neighbors can appreciate the stadium once a year.
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