Ryan Field's Last Home Saturdays of the Year Land on Evanston's Busiest Weekends

The new Ryan Field has two home games left in 2026. Each one falls on a Saturday Evanston already had plans for. Iowa comes to town on Nov. 7, the same morning as the city's pumpkin compost drop-off on Ridge Avenue. Illinois arrives on Nov. 28, which is also Small Business Saturday downtown and on Central Street. The stadium's game-day plan was written to protect the blocks around Central and Ashland. It also reaches the downtown parking garages, a stretch of Ridge, and a middle school parking lot half a mile southwest of the stadium. On these two Saturdays, that reach runs into everyone else's errands.

The Game-Day Plan Runs All the Way to Downtown

The $875 million stadium opened Oct. 2 with a sold-out Friday night game against Penn State. It holds 35,000 people, about 12,000 fewer than the old Ryan Field and the smallest capacity in the Big Ten, according to the Evanston RoundTable's guide to the stadium's debut. Most of those fans park well away from the stadium.

The lots west, east and north of the stadium are for reserved or credentialed parking only. The transportation plan sends most drivers elsewhere: 700 prepaid spaces in the Evanston Hospital garage at 1000 Central St., 140 in Metra's lots along Poplar Avenue, more than 2,000 across six Northwestern campus lots and garages, and about 2,800 at seven downtown locations. Those downtown spots include the city garages at 1800 Maple Ave., 525 Church St. and 821 Davis St.

Two shuttle routes link those lots to the stadium. Shuttles start running three hours before kickoff. The campus route runs along Sheridan Road. The downtown route heads south on Ridge Avenue and east on Emerson Street, then loops clockwise with stops at Church and Chicago, Davis and Orrington, and University Place and Maple. After the game, rideshare pickups are allowed in one place only, the Haven Middle School lot at 2417 Prairie Ave. The stadium's own site calls it "the one location authorized by the City of Evanston."

So on a game Saturday, a downtown garage, a downtown street corner and a school lot in central Evanston are all part of the stadium's operation. That's why the two remaining dates matter beyond the 7th Ward.

Nov. 7: Pumpkins on Ridge, Iowa Fans on the Shuttle

Evanston's 11th annual It's the Great Pumpkin Compost collection runs from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Nov. 7, in the old Morton Civic Center parking lot at 2100 Ridge Ave. Drop-off is drive-up. Enter at Asbury Avenue and Simpson Street, because the north entrance off Leonard Place will be blocked. Plain, clean pumpkins of any size are accepted, and so are pumpkins painted with acrylic paint. Anything with candle wax, stickers or other decorations will be turned away.

Northwestern's schedule still lists the Iowa kickoff as TBA. The timing matters for anyone driving pumpkins to Ridge. The Rutgers game on Oct. 24 kicked off at 11 a.m. If Iowa gets the same slot, downtown shuttles would start running down Ridge at 8 a.m., an hour before the compost lot opens. If the kickoff is later, the drop-off window may be finished before the shuttles start. Check the Northwestern football schedule and the city's District 6 parking page before you load the car. As of late October, the city page also listed the November restriction hours as TBA.

Iowa is the opponent some neighbors were waiting for. After the first two games, a resident on Rosalie Street told the Evanston RoundTable that the stadium hadn't yet hosted "teams with fans that travel," and he named Iowa alongside Ohio State and Michigan. Nov. 7 may be the first real test of how many visiting fans the plan can absorb.

If your pumpkins can't wait, plain, clean ones can also go in your yard waste cart. Weekly collection runs through November.

Nov. 28: Small Business Saturday Shares the Same Garages

The season's last home game, Illinois on Senior Day, falls on Thanksgiving weekend. That Saturday, Downtown Evanston is holding Small Business Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Central Street is running its own Small Business Saturday a few blocks east of the stadium.

Here is how the two Saturdays line up:

The overlap on Nov. 28 is direct. Downtown shoppers will be heading for the same city garages the transportation plan lists for football parking. Fans will be waiting at the same downtown corners where holiday shoppers are walking. On Central Street, the tow zone runs on both sides of the street from Poplar to Girard. That block holds part of the shopping district holding its own event that day.

There is a third stop that day outside the stadium plan. Evanston Made's sixth annual Holiday Market opens Nov. 20 at Shop Evanston Made, 822 Dempster St. It's open Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Dec. 23.

Near the Stadium, the Rules Are Still Settling

If you live close to Ryan Field, the city's parking rules apply every game day. Street parking is banned on both sides of Central Street between Poplar and Girard avenues, and on Isabella Street and Lincoln Street between Poplar and Ridge. Cars parked there are towed. For the opener, the ban started five hours before kickoff and lasted until about an hour after the game. On every other street bounded by the North Shore Channel to the south and east, Isabella Street to the north and the Metra tracks to the west, parking is limited to permit holders from two hours before each game until one hour after. Violations carry a $125 fine. According to The Daily Northwestern, Deputy City Manager Carina Sánchez said the restriction signs must go up 48 hours before each event, along streets including Ashland Avenue and Central Street. For a Saturday game, that means the signs should be up by Thursday.

Ashland changes direction on game days. Between Lincoln and Central, it becomes one-way northbound for shuttles and local traffic, the reverse of its usual southbound flow. North of Central, after games, it carries two northbound shuttle lanes and one southbound lane for cars leaving the west lot, which are sent west on Central.

Neighbors have reported mixed experiences so far. In the RoundTable's interviews after the first two games, one resident living near the stadium described game-day litter along Central Street. He also said the Friday night opener hit right at rush hour and caused far more traffic than the Saturday game that followed. A Jackson Avenue resident told the same reporter that his street felt easier than in past seasons because of the new parking restrictions, and that the new stadium seemed quieter from his house than the old one. Both November games are Saturdays, the format that resident found calmer.

Sound is still being worked out. On Oct. 14, the Ryan Field Community Advisory Council recommended three changes: no amplified sound at the stadium before 9:30 a.m., no outside amps in the east lot, and a 70-decibel cap on tailgate amps in the west lot. The council passed these to city staff to work out with Northwestern and stadium operator Oak View Group, the RoundTable reported. For now they are recommendations, not posted rules. The city directs complaints about noise and traffic to Evanston 311.

Central Street Now Sells Inside the Gates, and Gets a Saturday Without a Game

Some of the stadium's food comes from businesses the neighborhood already knows. Mustard's Last Stand has stood outside Ryan Field for decades, and on opening night it sold food inside the stadium for the first time. "We've been next door for 57 years, so it's an honor to be in here," Michelle Starkman, whose husband Lonnie co-owns the stand, told The Daily Northwestern. Bluestone owner Patrick Fowler told the paper that game nights brought regulars and also new customers asking where the restaurant was.

Between the two games, Central Street has a Saturday of its own. The Holiday Stroll and Tree Lighting is Saturday, Nov. 14, with shopping and dining specials, free trolley rides, pop-up entertainment and a 5 p.m. tree lighting at Independence Park. No home game is scheduled that weekend.

After Nov. 28, the stadium's calendar quiets down until 2027. Northwestern won City Council approval in 2023 for up to six concerts a year starting in 2027, the Evanston RoundTable noted in its neighbor coverage. Before any concert can be held, the city manager has to approve a concert operations plan. As of mid-October, no details about next year's concerts had been released.

We'll be shopping on Central Street and downtown on these Saturdays too, and we'll keep following the stadium calendar as the 2027 concert plan takes shape. If you live in the District 6 permit area and want to know how a stadium-adjacent address reads to buyers now that the new Ryan Field is open, Allie Payne and our team are happy to talk it through. Request a free home valuation whenever you're ready.