Some businesses on Noyes Street are counting on the success of Ryan Field as the stadium prepares to enter a new chapter.

Martin Stadium, Northwestern football’s temporary home for the last two seasons, has a capacity of 12,000 fans, 35,000 fewer than the original Ryan Field and 23,000 fewer than the new stadium. Because of this, some business owners say they have lost sales revenue.

The family-owned grocery store D&D Finer Foods, a four-minute drive southeast of the stadium, had an estimated 30% decrease in sales on football Saturdays over the last two years, manager Kosta Douvikas said. He attributed part of the decrease to the smaller capacity of Martin Stadium. 

With NU announcing that Ryan Field will officially reopen on Oct. 2, Douvikas is concerned some of the revenue won’t return due to ambiguity surrounding the tailgating process, he said. 

Tailgating will be limited to the grounds of the stadium and will not enter the surrounding area, according to the Ryan Field website. These restrictions create a potential negative for local businesses, Douvikas said.

“We want people to be checking out Evanston before the game starts, and then go into the game like they used to years back,” Douvikas said.

To encourage fans to leave the stadium’s vicinity, Douvikas said he is considering hiring high schoolers with signs to direct the spectators to his store.

Douvikas added that Martin Stadium’s lower capacity also reduced the number of visiting fans, leading to fewer non-resident fans in the city, further limiting the revenue local stores could generate.

“There’s no easy way to get into Evanston,” Douvikas said. “There’s no highway.”

Weinberg first-year Sofia Kenig said the stadium’s location factored into where her family decided to eat after NU basketball’s Jan. 3 game against Minnesota at the neighboring Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Kenig’s family settled on Ten Mile House, a six-minute walk from Welsh-Ryan. They chose the restaurant because of its convenient location relative to the Central Street Metra Station, which her family used to travel back to Chicago. Kenig said downtown Evanston was more familiar to her, but added that she appreciates the opportunity to experience different areas of the city.

“I don’t know how much we’re leaving the downtown bubble by going more by (Martin Stadium), but I do think there’s a difference in that I really only know the businesses around (campus), and I feel like the football games can introduce us to potentially more small businesses in that area,” Kenig said.

Still, visitors like Purdue University first-year Michael Anzalotti have enjoyed their pregame meals in the downtown area.

When Anzalotti and his friend were deciding where to go to eat before NU’s basketball game against Purdue on March 4, they chose to remain in familiar territory.

“I know from past times we’ve been there, the downtown area is very quaint,” Anzalotti said. “There’s a lot of options down there.”

Douvikas isn’t the only business owner worried about the future. Stacked and Folded, just across the street from D&D, has also faced issues with the low capacity, according to Josh Keating, the restaurant’s owner.

Keating used to get to his restaurant at 9 a.m. on football game days to help deal with the increase in traffic, he said. Since construction on Ryan Field began, he said, Stacked and Folded hasn’t had the business that would require him to be there that early on game days.

The restaurant, a preferred catering partner for Northwestern Athletics, has consistently worked with the University on catering for all athletic department events, Keating said. 

He added one potential benefit of the new Ryan Field’s increased capacity is the larger overflow crowd that will spill onto Noyes Street.

“We want more of the foot traffic because, honestly, Central (Street) can only hold so much,” Keating said.

The economic impact of football and gameday visitors at Ryan Field overall is projected to reach around $65 million annually, according to a 2022 economic impact report from consulting firm Tripp Umbach.

Keating said Evanston relies on a strong gameday environment for success.

“This area is very dependent on the success of Northwestern,” Keating said. “We are dependent on the success of Ryan Field.”

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