Northwestern consults its playbook to make concerts part of Ryan Field

Despite having a directional name, Northwestern University has badly lost its way.

The elite school ought to benefit from a positive “town-gown” relationship with its host community, Evanston. Northwestern gives Evanston prestige and a large, recession-resistant employer.

But relations between the people and the university are at a low point. The proceedings of the Evanston Land Use Commission that concluded last week put that on display.

After three separate sessions totaling roughly 15 hours, mostly for public testimony that wasn’t in Northwestern’s favor, the commission voted 7-2 against the university’s proposal for concerts at a new Ryan Field football stadium. The commission had no problem with the $800 million stadium project, but it said concerts couldn’t be part of the deal. NU asked for six concerts per year after originally wanting 15.

The majority sided with residents close to the existing Ryan Field. They argued that a new arena equipped for concerts would introduce noise, crowds and clogged traffic to an area of mostly single-family homes in north Evanston and Wilmette. It’s where the affluent North Shore begins. People there pay some of the highest property taxes in the region while Northwestern pays none. These folks know how to fight.

The commission’s decisions are advisory and the matter is left to Evanston’s city council, which has a two-step process. It’s expected to take public testimony about Ryan Field on Oct. 30 at 5:30 p.m., giving each person 90 seconds to speak. A final vote could come Nov. 13, according to a city notice.

David DeCarlo, president of the Most Livable City Association, a group that opposes the concert plan, said it has raised $100,000 and is prepared to raise more as the fight goes on.

NU has insisted the concert ban is a deal-breaker. So what happens next? Look for NU and some city officials to try calling an audible to get a stadium with concerts.

The university could push for zoning approval, but leaving concert numbers and specifics about crowd control to a “memorandum of understanding,” or MOU, to be negotiated with the city. An MOU could give Evanston’s council members political cover for voting for a plan that promises economic benefits while the city keeps leverage over concert management.

Dave Davis, NU’s senior executive director for neighborhood and community relations, told me “an MOU is one path we can take to move the project forward.” Interviewed after the commission’s vote, Davis said NU will make its case to the city council that it needs to replace an outmoded structure, used only about 2% of the time, with a modern stadium suitable for sports and other events.

It’s not just about concerts, he said. But the commission didn’t buy that argument and Davis, in another breath, also says concerts are essential. School officials have said they need roughly $2 million from the music programs to defray costs to run a building largely funded by insurance tycoon Pat Ryan’s $480 million pledge. “The proposal that we’ve presented cannot move forward without concerts and that’s still the university’s position today,” Davis said.

The gambit might not change the score, though. DeCarlo, an attorney, said he and allies see it as a sham. “You’re just taking the public out of the process,” he said.

Evanston Ald. Eleanor Revelle, whose 7th Ward includes Ryan Field and surrounding homes, is opposed to the concert proposal and said she finds the MOU approach “just unacceptable.” The idea got a tryout last week at the Land Use Commission when its chair, Matt Rodgers, tried to incorporate it into the final recommendation, taking out language about six concerts. But other members, bleary-eyed by then because the meeting ran past 11:30 p.m., were incredulous at the last-minute proposal that wasn’t written out and voted it down.

Regarding concerts, Revelle said, “In terms of needing money to manage and operate the stadium, I find that very hard to believe.” She said the city council may be evenly divided on the question, possibly forcing Mayor Daniel Biss to cast a tiebreaking vote. Biss, who has studiously ducked this issue, could not be reached for comment.

Revelle’s disbelief sums up NU’s problem. Many know that the school can count on a Big Ten TV contract that, according to ESPN, nearly doubles the university’s annual payout that will bring in from $80 million to $100 million.

The football program’s hazing scandal also is on everyone’s minds. It’s a separate matter, but to many people it sums up an administrative bent to not come clean. University President Michael Schill had a report of the details and didn’t think it was a big deal until The Daily Northwestern wrote about it. He then fired the football coach.

Bottom line: A school with a $15.4 billion endowment has a trust deficit with its neighbors.