Getting to play the first game in your new home stadium is a rare treat that few players get to enjoy. On Friday, Northwestern is officially set to open its brand-new, privately funded $875 million Ryan Field stadium. The Wildcats have left no expense in making their own players feel comfortable, while adding some psychological hurdles for the opponents who will come to visit.

As Penn State players and staff will enter this new stadium for its debut, they will be met with a scene that will not boast of any luxury or comfort. In fact, such a tactic harkens back to an old tradition of college football.

The terrible visiting locker rooms. While the home side enjoys an “NFL-style nightclub” complete with starlight purple ceilings and personal digital screens, Northwestern purposefully left the visitors’ quarters as a cramped, bland, fluorescent-lit box that looks like a high school storage closet.

A video on X captures the contrast between the two rooms and we can clearly infer the mental impact it will have on the players. The spacious home locker rooms can attract the envy of any college program in the FBS, with each seat being personalized and each player’s face being shown on screens above their own assigned comfortable seats. But the purpose of such a move goes beyond simply showing off the better facilities. There is a mind game at play here.

The history of strange visiting locker rooms takes us back to 1979, where legendary Iowa coach Hayden Fry decided the battle begins much before the starting whistle on the gridiron. Having graduated with a degree in psychology, Fry knew about studies suggesting that the color pink had a passive, soothing effect that could temporarily subdue aggression and lower adrenaline.

He ordered the entire visiting locker room painted Baker-Miller pink. Iowa didn’t stop at the walls though. When the stadium was later renovated, they put in pink lockers, pink sinks, and even pink carpeting. Northwestern’s subdued visiting locker room is on a similar line of psychological gamesmanship meant to weaken the resolve of the opposing players before they even take the field.

“When I talk to an opposing coach before a game and he mentions the pink walls, I know I’ve got him,” Fry wrote in his book, A High Porch. “I can’t recall a coach who has stirred up a fuss about the color and then beat us.”

Key Members Missing From Opening

While the grand opening promises to be a landmark moment for the Wildcats, one essential part of the celebration will be missing from the scene.

The Northwestern University Marching Band will be entirely absent from the on-field pregame performance, leaving the highly anticipated opening of the new Ryan Field without one of the university’s most recognizable traditions.

“NU Marching Band performance is still central as a part of the pregame festivities,” the statement read, “but with the Great Chicago Food Festival running from 5 pm to 7 pm, they are playing to where the fans will be.”

The Ryan Field Foundation stated that the change was made so the band doesn’t “play to an empty bowl” inside the stadium early in the evening. Instead, the band is being deployed to the Great Chicago Food Festival grounds, which is a 200,000-square-foot pregame fan zone to play where the crowds gather.

The actual on-field pregame slots are instead being filled by a show produced by Emmy-winning Jesse Collins Entertainment. While the university maintains that the band remains a “central part” of the game-day experience, their removal from the pregame field breaks decades of school tradition.

The pregame ceremonies will also feature a heavy military and community showcase of the 122nd Fighter Wing of the Indiana Air National Guard. They will conduct a roaring flyover directly above the stadium right before kickoff. A massive American flag that completely blankets the entire new playing surface will be unfurled and presented by 100 selected local community members.

“The first game also has a unique pregame program,” the Ryan Field Foundation statement read, “related to honoring the history of the old stadium and the opening of the new stadium.”

Unlike the rest of the Power Four and Big Ten conferences, where iconic pregame traditions define the college football atmosphere, Northwestern is actively moving away from student-led pregame field routines. In the past, NUMB historically led the crowd in the “Push On Song” (Rise, Northwestern!) and formed a tunnel for the players to run through. However, NUMB will still perform its regular halftime show inside the new stadium.

“The band’s presence at Northwestern football games means a great deal to our fans and the people who have been part of it,” the statement read. “Although their role in the pregame show will look different for Friday’s game, the marching band will add to the energy on the field at halftime and at the festival, where a lot of time and effort has gone into the fan experience.”

The primary concern for band members is that university officials have refused to commit to allowing the band back on the field for pregame shows for any future games this season. Members have expressed severe disappointment, stating they are worried this shift to outsourced entertainment represents a permanent replacement of their pregame footprint.

What does the new stadium look like?

The stadium holds 35,000 fans, a reduction of over 12,000 seats compared to the old 47,130-seat stadium. This makes it the smallest football stadium in the Big Ten Conference. Despite holding fewer people, the actual building is 78% larger than its predecessor. This creates double the square footage per fan, completely eliminating standard cramped stadium corridors. Aluminum metal bleachers have been entirely eliminated. A 360-degree canopy roof is added to protect every seat from the elements and traps crowd noise.