On April 10, 2024, the university announced that a temporary facility would be constructed as part of the complex to serve as the football team's home stadium for the
2024 and
2025 seasons while a replacement for
Ryan Field is built. During its use as an interim football stadium, the facility is known for sponsorship reasons as "Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium", with
Northwestern Medicine signing a two-year exclusive
naming rights partnership in August 2024 for the branding of the stadium. In addition to the school's football team, its soccer teams and lacrosse program continue to play at the venue.
Logistics Background and planning With Ryan Field demolished for the construction of a replacement stadium (
New Ryan Field) at the same location, the football team needed to find a temporary venue to play for two seasons. The university quickly began demolition on their previous stadium soon after receiving approval to, so as to preempt allowing time for any further legal challenges that could delay the project's initiation. The start of demolition came prior to arrangements being made for where the team would play during construction. The football program's plans for a temporarily expanded Martin Stadium were found to be feasible for meeting the needs of gameday logistics and requirements for television broadcasts. These plans was cleared for action once the team received needed approvals from the
NCAA, the
Big Ten Conference, and the city of Evanston to play their games at the stadium. There was a limited timeframe in which the plans could be executed, with preparation beginning in early June 2024 and the first scheduled football home game at the venue taking place on August 31. Northwestern Athletics noted that there would be the ability to potentially enlarge the capacity for the 2026 season thus the enlarged western grandstand could not be extended much further back than the existing grandstand extended. With its many premium seats, the South grandstand generates the most revenue. in its sole premium section (a 350-seat skybox). Since premium seating areas generate larger revenue, this has allowed Northwestern to generate greater per-game revenue during its 2024 season home games at Martin Stadium than it had in its
2023 season home games at the former Ryan Field. The existing turf at the venue was maintained, with minor augmentations made to allow it to accommodate the teams of all three sports that will be using it. The
Walter Athletics Center (a $270 million indoor football practice facility located adjacent to Martin Stadium) was used to house game-day back-of-house operations, as well was the locker rooms for both Northwestern and visiting teams. Northwestern Athletics recommended CTA bus route 201 as one means for those parking in the campus' south lots to get from the parking lot to the stadium, with the nearest stops to the stadium being at Sheridan & Lincoln and Sheridan & Haven. However, this Metra station is significantly further from Martin Stadium than from Ryan Field. Metra riders traveling to the station could alternatively transfer from the Metra
Davis Street station to the CTA Purple Line, which has
an adjacent Davis station, and from there take the Purple Line to Noyes. A Metra-Purple Line transfer also exist between the adjacent
Metra station and
CTA station at Main Street in Evanston
Football games Five home games of Northwestern's
2024 football season were played at the venue, with the final two being played at Wrigley Field (home stadium of the MLB's Chicago Cubs) in November after the conclusion of the MLB calendar. Fox's
Big Noon Kickoff broadcast live on Northwestern's campus ahead of the September 13, 2025, game vs. the
Oregon Ducks at Martin Stadium. Interest has been generated around the unique oddity of a school in one of the four
power conferences playing its games at such a small-capacity venue. Also of intrigue has been the potential for lake winds to impact plays. While the athletic program opted not to use the balcony of the Kellogg Global Hub for ticketed spectators, In February 2026, it was announced that the football program will play the first two home games of
its 2026 season at Martin Stadium, before debuting at the New Ryan Field.
Additional sports events held in the temporarily-expanded venue In addition to the school's football team, its soccer teams and lacrosse program continued to play at the venue. In 2025, it was announced that the stadium would be the location of the 2026 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse semi-finals and national championship. In July 2025, the
Premier Lacrosse League played four neutral site games of
its 2025 season at the venue. The four games took place over two consecutive days, with Evanston city officials anticipating that 3,500 spectators would likely attend each day. This was the first time the league had played games in the Chicago area since 2019. The event received strong attendance in apparent excess of advance estimates. ==Professional and semi-professional tenants==