New Ryan Field with Track
New Ryan Field with Football Gridiron and Closer End Bleachers
Neighborhood of Current Ryan Field above, and New Ryan Field Below
This is a challenging concept that one of my readers gave me. Apparently Chicago is in the running for the 2016 Olympics, and there needs to be an Olympic Stadium in the bid. The only plausible use for a sports team after the Olympics would be the Northwestern Wildcats football team, as the Chicago Bears new flying saucer can't accomodate track and field any more. So the reader asked for a plan to renovate Ryan Field as a possible Olympic Stadium.
I've never been to Ryan Field, but I've watched enough Big Ten football and seen enough pictures that I know what it looks like. I don't think a simple renovation would be adequate for Ryan Field, it would have to be nearly completely rebuilt. The existing field of play is too narrow for Olympic track and field. However, I think the West stands, which appear to be the main grandstand, could be incorporated into a new Olympic Stadium. The West stand is pretty cool looking, with towers on each end and a unique sloping balcony. However, the rest of the stadium looks unremarkable, and a ton of seats would have to be added anyway, so here is the plan.
- Keep the West main grandstand, remove benches, and replace with actual seats. This looks like about 25,000 capacity by my scale.
- Tear down the other seating. Replace with structure containing 46,000 seats. with 20,000 capacity in the lower bowl, 12,000 in the upper bowl, and 11,000 in an eastern upper deck. 3,000 more seats will be in a club/suite level high above the stadium like other Big Ten schools. I had more end seating in an original plan, but after looking at the city map, I saw that I would have torn through lots of buildings, including the basketball arena, so I had to change the plan to have more sideline seats.
Bleachers could be added between the endzone and main seating bowl to create closer football stands like the LA Coliseum. Total capacity is 71,000. This is short of the 80,000 standard for the Olympics, but Athens was a little short too and got away with it, and 80,000 would be a really tight squeeze at this site. With a good bid from Chicago, that could be overlooked, considering there would be a good use for the stadium after the games; unlike many Olympic venues. The stadium could be downsized after the Olympics for use by Northwestern football, as 71,000 might be a bit much for them. However, I think the track should be maintained after the Olympics, because there are almost no large track and field stadiums remaining in the US any more, and Chicago could host lots of non-Olympic track and field and big soccer matches if they have the best stadium in the nation for it; it could be more or less the permanent national stadium.
Let me know what you think.
13 comments:
Great new stadium! I love it's easy conversion and simple design. I was wondering if you could design a new San Antonio, Texas stadium for any sport. They are very close to getting a sports team, and I wonder....
Thanks for the compliment. Do you want baseball or football for San Antonio?
TS
Thank you, I like your information. please visit the links:
Do you like arsenal football club ?
I think It is usefull, world cup 2006 ticket
Wow, I really like your ideas. I like how you keep the track in after the olympics. It turns out that a chicago stadium will be in the city, near soldier field. I will e-mail you my concept in a few days.
Thanks
-stadiumguru-
Baseball. We have the ALAMODOME. And you are very welcome.
Baseball?...Alamodome?...Unlikely. That would be worse than Dolphins Stadium.
My thing was, I think you should do a seperate baseball stadium. The Alamodome? Baseball? Ewww!
Love your site. It's a must for all stadium lovers like me.
I think the chance of turning Ryan Field (Dyche Stadium, for us old-timers) is between slim and none. No way Evanstonians would want 80,000+ people trampling into their neighborhood. They put up enough of a stink about the Bears, and they ended up playing in Champaign.
I understand what you're saying, it looks like a residential neighborhood. However, the idea of building a brand new stadium down town and then to have virtually no use for it after the Olympics is a non-starter as well. A temporary grandstand won't do it either. Chicago really screwed itself with Soldier Field, the stadium as it was could have been been renovated for track and field, and they were very short-sighted having built what they did.
It most certainly is a residential neighborhood. I've attended games off and on there for almost 50 years. There is no way Evanston would go for this.
Mayor Daley's stubborness about the Soldier Field renovation is to blame for the problems. Like his father, he did all he could to prevent the Bears from building a new stadium in the suburbs, where most of the season ticket holders reside. Instead, we're stuck with the second smallest stadium in the NFL with an ugly exterior that caused the stadium to lose its landmark status.
The area could already have an Olympic-quality stadium if the Bears had built one outside the city limits. Instead, we hear about putting a temporary stadium in Washington Park (talk about a desecration!), aonther residential area.
I hope the Olympics aren't in Chicago. Who needs the traffic congestion, security problems, etc.?
I hate it! I hate it! I hate it! The olympics need to stay out of Chicago.
I find it rather interesting to read the many responses to your numerous stadium concepts and find such excitement by readers for the possibilities of the future. Yet, as I read the responses found in the Ryan Field- 2016 Chicago Olympic Stadium, as a Chicagoan- I was very dishearented to see the responses filled with such selfishness and lack of forward thinking by those whom are citizens not only of the U.S. but of the Chicago area! Please look further than your own front porch before determining that Chicago should not be the host to one of the greatest events in the WORLD! Thankfully, the individuals who have been given leadership to this awesome task at hand, are considering the many existing factors and yet still can see the possibilities and solutions.
I have been to this stadium since i was 2 years old and i love it. the design is so old school and unique. i was thinking of adding the same kind of design as the west onto the east and curl it around connecting the south endzone. the problem with keeping the track in after the olympics is that they had a track in there before and removed it and lowered the feild. so i dont think that will happen. plus there are rumors of removing welsh ryan arena in the north endzone and building a new one. so keep that in mind. but NU football doesnt sell out that often and when they do they still barely fit all 47,000.
Post a Comment