Northwestern's new Ryan Field opens with Penn State game Friday night

Northwestern University's brand new Ryan Field stadium opens Friday night with a Big Ten football game.

The Wildcats host Penn State on Friday night for the highly anticipated debut of their $875 million stadium — built on the same site as the former Ryan Field. The first game is being played on the 100th anniversary of the opening of the original Northwestern Stadium.

"This is transformational," said coach David Braun, "for the university and for the football program. It's an honor to be in a position to lead and serve this program, and also a unique challenge in terms of making sure that myself, our staff and our players ultimately focus on the main thing, and that's preparing for a very talented, very well-coached Penn State team."

The new field seats 35,000 people, which is actually 12,000 seats less than the school's previous stadium. By capacity, that makes it the smallest stadium in the Big Ten.

It features a canopy designed to keep noise and light focused on the field and includes cutting-edge technology and scoreboards, as well as concessions with food from local restaurants.

"The fans are truly on top of the action. I mean they are a part of the game," Braun said. "Standing at midfield, I mean you almost feel like you can reach out and touch the stands. And the acoustics that that's going to create with the canopy creates for an incredible opportunity for a home-field advantage."

For the last several years, the Wildcats have been playing at a temporary lakefront facility and at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The school broke ground on the new Ryan Field in June 2024.

They were still at that lakefront facility for the first two games of this season, but now their new home stadium is ready to make its public debut.