Robert makes valid points and there is truth in them. But as has been discussed at length in the Memorial Stadium Experience thread, there is much, much more to the story. And it’s not the same story for every fan. There is also a lost generation of fans that either had a bad or no student experience at all as a football fan. There is work to do and some will take time, but it can be fixed. Like the guy who called in to Monday Morning QB complaining that concessions in his area were sold out shortly after halftime. If you’re bringing a young family to the game, there better be food available.
I agree. I really respect Robert and love his work, and I admit that he probably has as good of an understanding of the state of Illinois athletics as anyone. But him simplifying this issue down to a faction of fans that said "not a cent" for whatever condition and somehow convincing the masses to go along with them sounds like a bit of a conspiracy theory. Not all Illinois fans are on message boards or Twitter or Facebook consuming toxic reactions to Illinois athletics.
Rather, I think we need to look at this as a perfect storm that has crushed enthusiasm for our football team due to many, many factors, some more easily controllable than others. Poor performance. Lacking amenities for the stadium. Sometimes odd ticket prices. Depressed student attendance leading to generations of alumni that have no desire to come back down to attend football games (a point that I hadn't really realized but I think it makes all the sense in the world). The list goes on and on.
Two points I'd make about the students as well. I know picking a college for their sports team can be a relatively silly reason for a decision that will shape the rest of your life. But for some, it happens. Building excitement from following a college team can build your enthusiasm for going to that school. Maybe you still have many good, practical reasons for choosing that university other than sports. But it could be the sports that makes some fall in love with a school. To that point, these prospective students out there who prioritize football and would end up showing great enthusiasm and support for our football team are getting, are getting captivated by other teams. Compared to schools in some other regions of the country, there are
countless options for high level academic institutions in our region that have excellent football culture. Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Michigan, OSU, even Iowa. I just think that the huge football fans over the past 20 years are going to be more likely to go to one of those schools because they grow up cheering for those teams because they have been good. I know my experience in high school in the Chicago area there were barely any known Illinois fans. Every supported one of those teams I mentioned. This isn't
the problem. Its one of many.
On a related point, and one that I think has a huge effect that is rarely talked about (out of a fair concern from the conversation turning xenophobic): international students. It looks like currently 1 out of 5 students at Illinois are international students. That is a massive number. These students come to Illinois with
no experience in American football culture. It is a completely new thing to them. Surely, I'm sure many come with baffled with our country's obsession with the sport. Now maybe its not impossible to get them to buy into coming to games. But I imagine its a whole lot harder to get them to buy in if the team stinks and the hype is down. So we probably have been looking at 10-15 years of one fifth of the student body coming in, maybe going to one or two games their freshman year, and then never returning, because why would they? This isn't
the problem. Its one of many.
But why do I think its a major problem for Illinois in particular? Look at other schools. We've been comparing ourselves to Kansas this whole season. Why does their attendance snap back up to capacity so quickly? Look at the numbers. We have one in five students being international students. They have roughly one in twenty. Robert has compared us to Iowa State. Why has their attendance improved so quickly when they are good and our doesn't? They have 8% international students, we have 20%.
Finally, why do I think this has a lot to do with it when we are only talking about a fraction of our student body? Let's compare ourselves to a few other schools. If I were to say "think of two other schools in a similar boat to Illinois that are massive flagship state institutions with very good academics and a massive international student population," I think we would all think of the same two schools: Cal, and UCLA. What do these schools have in common with Illinois? Terrible football attendance. In fact, we have spent so much time comparing ourselves to Kansas, but UCLA has had just as much of an incredible resurgence this season that we should be comparing Illinois to. Lets look at their attendance numbers at the 90k+ seat Rose Bowl: 27,143, 33,647, 29,344, 41,343, 42,038, 43,850, and 44,430
as a top 12 ranked team with hopes of reaching the CFP. Those are Illinois numbers. Yes their stadium is off campus, but I'm sure if we were talking about Cal we'd see the same thing. Rather than Kansas and Iowa State, Cal and UCLA are our peers in facing these kind of football problems.
So while Robert has had an exorbitant amount of interactions with adult Illinois fans over the past 15 years, I guarantee you he is not mingling with the students that much. The students aren't failing to show up do to some "Team Eyeball" campaign over the past 10 years. As I have demonstrated, we are now a university with a massive population who have no interest in American football culture and who leave the state and country after graduation, and another large chunk of the population who are more academically focused and did not come to Illinois to support the sports, and suddenly we are talking about a school with a fraction of the football-interested population that you would expect. Their lack of interest to coming to games as students and spilling over to post-grad years, combined with all of the other logistical issues we face are the collective reason we have the lack of support that we do.