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January 2023 by Tina P
This arena is beautiful. Restrooms are clean and plentiful. Concessions were good and plentiful. Everything was clean. Parking was easy. Basketball experience was top notch!
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May 2021 by Orion Weill
NO SUCH PLACE!!!
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September 2019 by Gafilpoo
Wow - Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena offers the greatest hospitality of at college venue I've ever been in. Lots of people were there to give directions. They even gave a heartfelt thanks for coming to the volleyball match, even though we were clearly from the opposing team!!! It's easy to get to your seats, with great visibility from every seat. Easy restroom access. Beautiful facility. Easy access to parking too.
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July 2019 by Bruce N
On Saturday, June 22, 2019, the McCormick MS Recognition Ceremony was held in Welsh-Ryan Arena. What a beautiful venue for a graduation ceremony let alone a basketball game. If you ever attend a graduation ceremony there, you should have plenty of seating so no need to go extremely early. It is an excellent facility with plenty of space for a high school or Northwestern graduation.
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March 2019 by danbear52
My friend and I traveled to Evanston for the Purdue-NW game. Found the parking to be close and reasonable at $15. The people in the arena were all very friendly and we were greeted and welcomed by several different folks. The seating is comfortable, bathrooms plentiful and concessions were readily available. Nice place and nice folks.
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February 2019 by TJones6900
Went to college basketball game and enjoyed the game but could't believe how cramped the seating was. Imagine a Spirit Airlines seat and that would be a good comparison. You cannot stretch or cross your legs. A woman sat next to me and I couldv'e felt her up without half trying. This arena was recently re-done so I was expecting a much nicer experience. In addition, the metal flooring is cheap and the stairs up and down to the seating are narrow and dangerous. I also tried to call for information in handicapped parking and was not able to get through to a living person. All in all, I probably would avoid going to another game at this venue.
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February 2019 by D W
Attended the Illinois vs Northwestern basketball game. Have been going to games there for 50 years. I remember when the capacity was 10,000. Then 8,117. Now 7,039. For a team that is on the rise you would think "stadium expansion" would also be in with renovation. I think all of the attention was spent on the "Wilson Club" which is for the high $$$ donation. For the average fan Northwestern's arena is just average which is sad for the money they spent on renovating it. If you sit in the lower level you get nice cushy seats. If you sit in the upper level you get hard plastic seats. Most arena's you can get to your seat on two sides. There are a few sections that you can only enter from one side and one of them you have to cross 13+ seats to get to yours. Cup holders are not very deep. Maybe you might think I am being too picky, but for 110 million it is just average. Want to check out a newer arena which is only 1 year older go to Wintrust Arena (10,000 capacity) and see a DePaul play. Yes they spent 65 million more, but Northwestern has billions in their endowment fund. If they wanted a great experience for all fans and not just the Wilson Club, then they could have dipped into the endowment to fund. Bathrooms are okay and concessions are better, but nothing special. If you want a great college basketball experience go to Allen Fieldhouse and watch Kansas. The building looks the same size as Welsh-Ryan Arena, but has a capacity of 16,000. The difference is at Kansas the basketball court is turned length wise over the peek of the roof. It may not have all individual seats, but it's fun and loud. Northwestern always compares itself to Duke. They could have renovated in a modern yet a old time feel like Cameron Indoor (capacity 9,314) at Duke. Well, like the football stadium going from 55,000 to 49,256 to 47,130 it looks like Northwestern will always be in shrinkage mode with every renovation. It isn't a bad arena, but with so much to draw from other arena's, it is sad that they didn't try hard enough to make every one of the 7.039 seats the best. I would like to give a big shout out to the basketball band. Always enjoy their music. Wish they would play more, but marketing requires more jock jams over the speakers. Update: Went to see Northwestern play the 0-10 Penn St. Well now it is the 1-10 Penn St. Boring game, not much energy in the stands and I wondered why they did put those barriers for the Wilson Club. Everyone in the Wilson Club has a wrist band to enter the club so why the barriers? There is something that just isn't right about it. TEAR DOWN THOSE BARRIERS!!!!!
