I'll try to graph this and post it some other time (maybe, lol...), but I have to point out again what a huge uptick in fan enthusiasm we have seen since Bret got here and turned us into an actually competitive program. Below is the trend in attendance as a percentage of our stadium's capacity of 60,670 since Bret's first game. Again ... would look better in a graph, but this still kind of shows it. Each line below represents a home game:
2021
-------------------------------------------------------------------- 68%
-------------------------------------------------------- 56%
------------------------------------------------------------- 61%
-------------------------------------------------- 50%
------------------------------------------------------------------ 66%
------------------------------------------------------------- 61%
---------------------------------------------- 46%
2022
-------------------------------------------------------------- 62%
-------------------------------------------------------- 56%
-------------------------------------------------------------- 62%
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 74%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 75%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 93%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 75%
2023
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 81%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 81%
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 88%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 77%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 89%
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 88%
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 70%
Last year we never drew below 70% capacity, and we were consistently near or well above 80% for all games besides the notoriously poorly attended Thanksgiving Weekend game vs. Northwestern. Attendance tends to lag success, so I hope we still have some lingering enthusiasm from the fan base that can keep Memorial Stadium drawing good crowds this fall and help to further establish our gameday atmosphere!!
Also, it kind of messed up the visuals to include team names, but these were the opponents:
2021
68% vs. Nebraska
56% vs. UTSA
61% vs. Maryland (Friday)
50% vs. Charlotte
66% vs. Wisconsin
61% vs. Rutgers
46% vs. Northwestern
2022
62% vs. Wyoming
56% vs. Virginia
62% vs. Chattanooga (Thursday)
74% vs. Iowa (Friday)
75% vs. Minnesota (Illini ranked #24)
93% vs. Michigan State (Illini ranked #16)
75% vs. Purdue (Illini ranked #21)
2023
81% vs. Toledo
81% vs. #7 Penn State
88% vs. FAU
77% vs. Nebraska (Friday)
89% vs. Wisconsin
88% vs. Indiana
70% vs. Northwestern