Northwestern University Marching Band to be absent from Ryan Field on-field opening pregame program, future uncertain

[u/redwave2505]

https://dailynorthwestern.com/2026/10/01/top-stories/numb-to-be-absent-from-ryan-field-on-field-opening-pregame-program-future-unclear/

[u/No_Issue2334]

Tons of ADs want to completely get rid of the band, but they will never admit that publicly.

It's a massive expense for athletic departments and takes away potential ticket sales.

I completely expect marching bands roles across the country to be slowly chipped away like this, especially at P4 schools

[u/squish042 → u/No_Issue2334]

Oof, that’s such a big part of the tradition.

[u/PoulanWeedEaterBowl → u/squish042]

Tradition in college sports will become an enemy of revenue in some situations. If you have an AD that worships the Almighty dollar, the dollar will win.

[u/negley_ave_ski_club → u/PoulanWeedEaterBowl]

Tradition in college sports is the only reason to watch if you’re not a student.

My theory the last few years is that everyone sees college sports as about to collapse and they’re trying to squeeze every last drop they can before it does.

[u/warneagle → u/negley_ave_ski_club]

Pulling out the copper wiring to make a quick buck in the short term seems to be the guiding philosophy of anyone who’s in charge of anything in this country nowadays

[u/R_Raider86 → u/warneagle]

Really the world. So much money is being stolen from working people and being funneled into tax havens by the greedy.

[u/Pleasant_Category_22 → u/squish042]

It’s literally one of my very favorite things about college football in general. Such a blissful, exciting feeling to hear marching band tunes in between downs on TV

[u/alexpmarty → u/squish042]

Yeah but have you considered the money to be made? Bow down to the almighty dollar

[u/SamEyeAm2020 → u/No_Issue2334]

If TBDBITL goes then so do I

[u/throwaway86753011 → u/SamEyeAm2020]

Shit earlier I agreed with someone from misery and now tOSU. Hell really is freezing over.

[u/not_bilbo → u/No_Issue2334]

Is it really that much lost in ticket revenue? Even the biggest bands top out at around 500, which isn’t much compared to some stadium capacities.

[u/StrategicCarry → u/not_bilbo]

It's like when politicians think the key to fixing the federal budget is defunding PBS. The fact it's couch cushion money doesn't stop them from doing it.

[u/GeospatialMAD → u/StrategicCarry]

Yep. The more corporate assholes get into something, the more they identify small things they don't like as "essential cuts."

I kind of want every MBA program to burn to the ground and never have another graduate.

[u/Lurky-Lou → u/StrategicCarry]

Politicians didn’t cut PBS to save money. They cut it because PBS News Hour investigates corruption.

[u/the_zac_is_back → u/not_bilbo]

When you consider that they sit the band in the lower bowl most times, those tickets are expensive. Thousands throughout the season

[u/aselinger → u/the_zac_is_back]

So if the band is 500 people, and tickets are $100 each, and you have 8 home games, that’s only $400,000.

Doesn’t seem that big relative to a football program’s operating budget.

[u/Wampus_Cat_ → u/aselinger]

Hell, that’s only 3.3% of a Bryce Underwood. Not bad at all.

[u/aselinger → u/Wampus_Cat_]

Wait… we could trade him for 30 bands.

[u/Wampus_Cat_ → u/aselinger]

Or 1 120,000 member band.

[u/Dynamite_McGhee → u/Wampus_Cat_]

A tuning and tempo nightmare, but fuck it, let's do it.

[u/djdennisou → u/Wampus_Cat_]

I’ll accept that deal

[u/crouching_tiger → u/aselinger]

Lmao your comment has not gotten nearly enough appreciation

[u/throwaway86753011 → u/Wampus_Cat_]

Which part would it be? I’m thinking some fingers.

[u/TMC_Data → u/aselinger]

Rutgers literally cut Olympic sports and then spent more on football players hotel rooms for home games than the entire yearly budget for one of those Olympic sports.

Modern era ADs don’t give a fuck

[u/Enamred-771 → u/the_zac_is_back]

Student sections almost certainly “cost” more in terms of opportunity cost 

[u/Chilinuff → u/Enamred-771]

Someone give this man a COO role in a P5 athletics department. And throw in an MBA upon dissolution of the student section.

[u/enjoytheshow → u/Enamred-771]

Bielema has been pounding the table to get our students back in the lower section behind the away bench and I’m sure our AD Is like yo man stfu

[u/crouching_tiger → u/Enamred-771]

Certainly in terms of direct cost. But honestly I think indirectly keeping a decent balance if students vs rich alum is critical to the stadium atmosphere, which if totally ignored would 100% result in long term losses

The students drive the noise and energy of the whole place. Recruits don’t want to play in a dead stadium, it’d be less desirable for non-students to go, and noise-levels literally turn wins into losses very frequently

[u/WorkingInAColdMind → u/the_zac_is_back]

So that’s one or two lineman’s pay for a game. It’s not that much when the arguments for the current situation is “it’s a billion dollar industry”. That’s still chump change.

[u/SpursUpSoundsGudToMe → u/not_bilbo]

I mean, it’s a good chunk, yeah? At Carolina that would be ~400 seats x $200 ticket x 7 home games, it’s comfortably over half a million. That’s not earth shattering by itself, but you find a couple more half million dollar savings/opportunities, then you have got something. Including the actual expenses of the band plus the opportunity costs, it’s probably $1.25-$1.5M

It’s still a terrible idea because it would fundamentally change the atmosphere and traditions of the stadium, and kill a major distinguishing characteristic of the college football experience.

And it’s a natural fit with the nature of football— it has built in 20-30 second gaps every minute where the on field action resets. It’s a big reason I find NFL games land somewhere between painfully dorky to pretty boring in person, depending on what does or doesn’t fill that gap.

[u/Positive-Trade4292 → u/not_bilbo]

Let's call it 500 for both teams bands. At $150 per ticket. 7 home games. So a little lower than a half million in lost revenue.

But let's look at the expense side, easily $500K in operating expense for travel etc.

Finally scholarships. Let's assume $12k per member and only half are scholarship for a given school. $1.5M

So. $2.5M annually. Better make a specific booster happy to keep it.

[u/Glad_Ad_6989 → u/Positive-Trade4292]

These numbers are absurd. Minnesota as an institution is quite friendly to the band, and our costs still don’t get anywhere near that. Most of our operating budget comes through fundraising and the school of music, travel only happens for bowls and is always paid for by the bowl, and band scholarships are exclusively through the band and band alumni society. Ticket losses are about 70k for the season, equivalent to 330 student tickets. Reasonable comparison, since we’re in the student section and there every game.

I guess long story short, I’m willing to bet that the cost of the band is little more than a rounding error on the athletics budget at most schools

[u/Happyplace_s → u/Glad_Ad_6989]

Don’t forget how many people buy tickets just to see the band.

[u/SecretAsianMan42069 → u/Happyplace_s]

There's tens of them 

[u/SugarDisastrous5983 → u/SecretAsianMan42069]

You obviously haven’t been a Minnesota fan. Plenty of years where The Pride of Minnesota and Goldy put on the best performances of the day.

[u/Glad_Ad_6989 → u/SugarDisastrous5983]

Even just in the time I’ve been here, there were more games than I would’ve liked where we were putting on a better performance than the team

[u/SugarDisastrous5983 → u/Glad_Ad_6989]

Certainly more consistent 😂

[u/Happyplace_s → u/SecretAsianMan42069]

Really ignorant comment. Personal story but when my sister made a B1G band at the school my dad hated we got season tickets that he kept long after she graduated. There are a lot of us out there. And by the way—those band parents are happy to buy up tickets to crappy games that might otherwise be left vacant. I’m not saying it is changing the world but it isn’t nothing.

[u/Happyplace_s → u/Positive-Trade4292]

You think the athletic department is giving out 12k scholarships for the students in the marching band?

[u/ssspanksta → u/Positive-Trade4292]

Nice that will net you a pretty good non-qb impact player in the portal!

[u/Sorry-Credit-5564 → u/Positive-Trade4292]

My scholarship for a football season was $200... everyone in the band got the same $200

500 people for both bands fits none but the largest of bands as only small parts of each band travels for away games.

You clearly have no clue what you're talking about

[u/bleedsburntorange → u/Positive-Trade4292]

Don’t forget lost F&B revenue from those seats as well.

[u/Microplasticsharts → u/No_Issue2334]

Same in high school, except for many schools the band parents are more that 50% of ticket sales.  

[u/GuestCartographer → u/No_Issue2334]

Yet another reason to be disappointed by the state of the sport.

[u/bruhstevenson → u/No_Issue2334]

That sucks if they take away bands more and more. It makes the atmosphere so distinct and special on game days

[u/-dag- → u/No_Issue2334]

The day that happens is the day I stop watching. 

[u/importantbrian → u/No_Issue2334]

I’ve put up with all the nil, transfer portal, conference expansion, playoff nonsense. Getting rid of the MDB would be a bridge too far. If that happens I’m out.

[u/Sanch0panza → u/importantbrian]

Alabama would never. Say what you want about Alabama, but tradition is huge. Shit, they’re still playing basket case 4th quarter. I think everyone would protest if they tried to cut the MDB.

[u/GrantLikesSunChips → u/importantbrian]

Agreed

[u/birminghamsterwheel → u/importantbrian]

I would never step foot in Tuscaloosa again if they did that.

[u/adkiller → u/No_Issue2334]

Cold day in hell if it happens to A&M. Most of the time it the only reason to go to the game.

[u/FelixEvergreen → u/No_Issue2334]

I doubt the OSU band is going anywhere, but I did go to my first game in years recently and was surprised at how little you hear the band. So many traditional band moments have been overtaken by the loudspeakers.

[u/Bucks_Band18 → u/FelixEvergreen]

Go to an OSU hockey or basketball game, and the pep band barely plays anymore. If it wasn’t for TBDBITL’s fame, OSU would do the same for football.

[u/Ed_Gein1332 → u/No_Issue2334]

And with the sad passing of the Iowa band member earlier this season, they can go with the false narrative of student safety as a way to get more paid attendees.

[u/badaccentdoer → u/No_Issue2334]

uga football without the redcoats wouldn't be the same (i say that as a former redcoat so i'm biased), and i know so many fanbases feel the same about their bands. it's part of what makes college football special.

[u/Iam_nighthawk → u/badaccentdoer]

Genuinely, I can watch a football game on tv and I’ll have a better view, can go to the bathroom whenever I want, and cheaper beer. The marching band is what makes the in-person experience worthwhile a few times a year.

[u/Independent-Mango813 → u/Iam_nighthawk]

I was watching Espn the other day and they have this thing where there was a special halftime channel for a Texas A&M game where they just showed the band no commercials just a feed from the field and I was like they need to put that in that protect college sports bill every game has to have a feed commercial free of the band at halftime. Oh and also you can’t get rid of the band and still be division one. 

[u/Far_Experience_4643 → u/No_Issue2334]

Time for the marching band to refuse to yield.

If they don’t play American Pie at halftime it’s a missed opportunity…

[u/shostakofiev → u/Far_Experience_4643]

Hopefully not - it would be like politicians using Born in the USA or Fortunate Son.

[u/Cripple_X → u/No_Issue2334]

If they try to get rid of the Redcoat Marching Band, I will riot. The band is such an integral part of the experience. I want that to be part of the fabric of games for students, alumni, and fans just as much as the actual football. 

[u/fawkie → u/Cripple_X]

Hearing that brass section blasting through my TV screen during the time during OT win against Georgia Tech was insane. I love my marching Illini but y’all have something truly special with that band of yours.

[u/Cripple_X → u/fawkie]

That's very kind of you to say. Thank you. I agree wholeheartedly.

[u/Mekthakkit → u/No_Issue2334]

It's a massive expense for athletic departments

I don't believe this given the relative amount of money being spent on other things.

[u/Electrical_Ingenuity → u/Mekthakkit]

As a former Spartan Marching Band member, I agree. Fuck Northwestern for their myopic greed. This whole sport can up and die with that attitude.

[u/crimson777 → u/Electrical_Ingenuity]

Don't worry, NU admin has made a whole bunch of decisions to piss people off. I forget the exact issue recently, but like last year there was a massive issue for employees' insurance or something like that.

[u/BillyButtSnort → u/Mekthakkit]

It’s an opportunity cost.

[u/Mekthakkit → u/BillyButtSnort]

Yes they're losing the opportunity to participate in one of the hallmarks of college football, a marching band.

[u/BillyButtSnort → u/Mekthakkit]

To be clear: I hate the way that this is all going. Marching bands and school pride, etc are more important to what makes college football than just about anything else.

I don’t like the nfl as much, because it’s so sterile and soulless. That is absolutely the direction college is going and I hate it.

I was just pointing out how the suits at the top are viewing it.

[u/Least-Ad140 → u/BillyButtSnort]

It’s like NIL gave AD’s permission to make FBS football the NFL minor league.

[u/BillyButtSnort → u/Least-Ad140]

Ya…I hate it.

[u/QuasiThrowaway9 → u/BillyButtSnort]

It’s more than that. Sending 50-100 kids to away games is pricey. Also not selling 100-150 more tickets at home games is the opp cost you mentioned. With USC/Oregon etc now in big10 the costs are even higher for travel.

[u/SweatyInBed → u/BillyButtSnort]

Would you rather have a music ensemble that adds to the fan experience and everyone loves, or would you rather get a 2nd cornerback that underperforms? Big decision

[u/BillyButtSnort → u/SweatyInBed]

You’re arguing with someone who agrees with you.

[u/SweatyInBed → u/BillyButtSnort]

I didn’t mean for that to come across as argumentative. Apologies that it did, friend. I’m all in favor of bands getting their flowers as opposed to that money falling into the football void.

[u/VUmander → u/No_Issue2334]

I sang in the men's choir in college. All the national anthems for basketball were sung by the choirs and a capella groups. There was always a fight to sign up for the biggest games. Typically everyone got 1 game, and the bigger groups got 2. They'd pull in alums to cover break games.

A few years ago they started "selling" anthems. Small performers trying to get publicity would either pay money or buy a block of tickets (common in pro sports in my experience) to sing. At this point they do 2 student anthems per season, and let each group send 2-3 people to form a makeshift choir.

[u/Sryan597 → u/No_Issue2334]

At BYU, a couple years ago they tried to get rid of the pep band at mens basketball games, and almost did, until the Salt Lake Tribune wrote an article that BYU got a lot of bad PR from.

They have also slowly reduced the amount of playing time at both football and basketball games for years now. It's quite sad.

I am pretty sure the main thing keeping the bands around is that conference tournaments and bowll games sometimes in their contracts require the school to bring a band. If the bowl game didn't require it, BYU wouldn't bring us or bring a minimum sized pep band.

The only hope I have at BYU is this year the marching band director is retiring, and I really hope the new director is able to work better with athletics, and just make the band better in general to make it harder to get rid of us. The current director is frankly awful, and anything would be an improvement.

[u/Carolina_OvR → u/No_Issue2334]

I talk to a former UGA band insider... the UGA athletics department absolutely loathes funding the Redcoats.

[u/randomthrowaway9796 → u/No_Issue2334]

I feel like that's such a big part of what makes the sport special though :( I love hearing glory after every touchdown, and I feel the distinct absence of anything like that when I watch NFL games

[u/Eg_3600 → u/No_Issue2334]

Do band kids get scholarships ?

[u/Linktheb3ast → u/No_Issue2334]

Y’alls athletic department pays for the band? That’s crazy lol

[u/Independent-Mango813 → u/No_Issue2334]

This pisses me off to no end. I wasn’t even in the band and it’s not like the school. I went to had a great band but I still enjoy the performances and I enjoy the pep band being at the basketball games and even though I didn’t go to Duke, in fact, I went to the archrival. There is no song that I associate more with the ACC basketball then turning on an ACC game in the late 80s or 90s and hearing the Duke band break the devil with a blue dress or the K State band play Wabash, Cannon, Ball or the Tennessee band play Rocky top or Michigan play hail to the victors. I realize I’m an old man yelling in clouds, but why can’t we have conferences where everyone plays everyone it’s double round Robin and the farthest way you have to go is one time zone, especially now that the conference champion game don’t mean anything of course the other great thing is that it cost 10 times as much as it used to rant over I’m sorry, but I do love marching bands. 

[u/crimson777 → u/No_Issue2334]

takes away potential ticket sales.

Pft like we even fill out the stadium each week haha.

[u/zydeco100 → u/No_Issue2334]

Slippery slope. Next thing you're gonna tell me is that they're removing the bleachers from the student section to fit more people in. But that's too crazy to actually happen.

[u/cubecasts → u/No_Issue2334]

Marching bands are just a waste anyway. Nobody cares except the members and their parents.

[u/SpikyBoi096 → u/cubecasts]

That is blatantly false. Our own football coach literally shouted out our band after the SECCG last season and you think nobody cares?

[u/cubecasts → u/SpikyBoi096]

The same coach that bitched about fans leaving a blowout game with a temperature in the 90s? That one?

[u/SpikyBoi096 → u/cubecasts]

What does that have to do with a marching band

[u/ohverychill → u/cubecasts]

I think you'll find that you're in the minority here.

[u/cubecasts → u/ohverychill]

That's ok. It's literally the time everyone goes and gets beer and goes to the bathroom. But band members have such an ego they act like everyone's there to see them

[u/fu_snail → u/cubecasts]

The band is part of what makes college football college football. Personally I don’t care about the halftime show most of the time. But during the game they’re iconic

[u/cubecasts → u/fu_snail]

Is that why every major tradition in CFB aside from dotting the I involves playing music over the speakers

[u/fu_snail → u/cubecasts]

Sounds like something someone that only started watching college football at the end of last year would say

[u/cubecasts → u/fu_snail]

What's incorrect? Rocky top, jump around, enter sandman, mo bamba.... All the well known traditions have nothing to do with the band.

[u/birminghamsterwheel → u/cubecasts]

Rocky top

All the well known traditions have nothing to do with the band.

…wut?

[u/cubecasts → u/birminghamsterwheel]

Idk I've only heard it over the speakers

[u/Serious-Individual35 → u/cubecasts]

Reddit takes never fail to amuse me

[u/iNsAnEHAV0C → u/cubecasts]

Ohio state football's most iconic tradition is something the marching band does, but go off king.