Northwestern’s ‘imperfect’ pop-up stadium will make for scenic Indiana football game

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana football will be in for a unique experience when it heads to Evanston to play Northwestern in October.

The Hoosiers played at Ryan Field the last time they visited their Big Ten rival in 2016, but all that’s left of the venue is rubble. 

Northwestern demolished the stadium over a four month-span starting in February as they started the process of an $800 million redevelopment project. That left the Wildcats in search of a temporary home until the 2026 season when construction will be completed on the new 35,000-seat venue.  

Those new digs will be a temporary structure — a ”Lakeside pop up” as coach David Braun called it on Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days — built around its on-campus soccer/lacrosse stadium that sits right off the shores of Lake Michigan. 

They will play five of their home games including the one against Indiana on Oct. 5 at the facility. The program’s other two games (Ohio State and Iillinois) will be played at Wrigley Field. 

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“There have been so many moving parts,” Braun said. “So many experts in their space that have been involved in those conversations to make it best for Northwestern, best for the Big Ten and best for everyone involved.”

Northwestern considered a variety of options from playing its home games at Soldier Field to using the Chicago Fire’s former home, SeatGeek Stadium. Braun threw his support behind the temporary stadium after his interim tag was removed at the end of the 2023 season. 

“I spoke with great conviction that I felt it was in the best interests of our student-athletes, best interests of our program and the best interests of our students on campus for our game day environment,” Braun said. “To be honest with you, this is the best case scenario to bridge the gap to the new Ryan Field.”

It will be a much smaller venue with a capacity of just 15,000, but Braun’s experience coaching a North Dakota State football program that plays at the vaunted Fargodome (18,700 fans) makes him think it could be an advantage. 

“We got an opportunity to give our allotment to our other Big Ten opponent, but the rest of that pop up should be purple,” Braun said. 

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That doesn’t mean there won’t be any drawbacks including the weather. Braun didn’t know what the locker room situation would be for the visiting team, but campus staff is working through all those logistical hurdles. 

There will be coaching boxes overlooking the field for both Northwestern and the visiting teams to have assistants view the game from a higher vantage point. 

“It’s going to be really unique and I think it’s going to be something that everyone that’s a part of it will remember, it will be imperfect though,” Braun said. 

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.