Northwestern University opened the brand-new Ryan Field against Penn State on Friday night.
The remodel was years in the making, with Northwestern playing home games at a makeshift lakefront stadium for the past two seasons while the new stadium was being built.
And it was worth the wait as Ryan Field sparkled under the lights in what is clearly now one of the finest venues in all of college football. The new venue certainly looks the part on television and is a night-and-day difference compared to the old stadium, which was falling behind the times in the Big Ten. To make the grand opening even better, the Wildcats dominated the Nittany Lions in a surprising 34-13 win to move to 3-1 and into the Top 25.
The facility cost $875 million to build, and nearly everything was accounted for, from sightlines and amenities to food options and the scoreboard.
That’s nearly everything because apparently nobody accounted for reporters in the press box.
Joel Haas of StateCollege.com documented his experience at the new Ryan Field press box and showcased an obstructed view of the field. If that wasn’t enough, he then shared a picture of cramped reporters sitting on cardboard boxes trying to get a view of the game.
Half the press box is now standing to see the field. Others are sitting on stacks of cardboard boxes. Ugly scene here. https://t.co/uCPMy08BLn pic.twitter.com/Z7fUHywslU
— Joel Haas (@Joel_Haas1) October 3, 2026
Maybe Northwestern didn’t account for that many people actually covering their football games? Or maybe they just counted on all the reporters attending the games to be over 6’4″ in height?
It’s obvious what the school should have done. If Mike Tomlin were in charge of the architecture, he wouldn’t have missed a single thing with all those years of Minecraft experience.
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