Gies Memorial Stadium

People will disagree, and that's fine, but the student section is at the point where need to prove that they should be moved back to a premium section. That is a lot of revenue lost by putting them in the main sections. I get that they haven't grown up around seeing Illinois successful. Still, to see the number of games this year where it couldn't remain full even into the late 2nd quarter, especially when the team has had their best 4 year stretch in over 3 decades, it was embarrassing.

I will also sound old, even though I am not, but the sitting down during each timeout for both basketball and football is lame. I see 50 year olds in the crowds stand longer than these 18-22 year olds. It's a 2-3 hour game. You'll survive standing for 90% of it!

Imo... the student section setup we have is one of the worst in college football. NEZ is high up, far away, always unshaded, and completely detached from the rest of the crowd. You truly feel seperated from the game. I will never be mad at students for not showing up and staying as long as that atrocity to stadium design is there.

illinoistradition said:

People will disagree, and that's fine, but the student section is at the point where need to prove that they should be moved back to a premium section. That is a lot of revenue lost by putting them in the main sections. I get that they haven't grown up around seeing Illinois successful. Still, to see the number of games this year where it couldn't remain full even into the late 2nd quarter, especially when the team has had their best 4 year stretch in over 3 decades, it was embarrassing.

I will also sound old, even though I am not, but the sitting down during each timeout for both basketball and football is lame. I see 50 year olds in the crowds stand longer than these 18-22 year olds. It's a 2-3 hour game. You'll survive standing for 90% of it!

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I have four comments regarding this. They're not necessarily meant as direct rebuttals to you, as you bring up some good points ... I just like talking about this stuff, haha.

1) I find it odd that we are acting like this is some radical idea. The students were in East Main for W-A-Y longer than they have been in the NEZ, and the DIA found a way to make it work economically during years where we were frankly drawing way fewer fans than we are now, not to mention getting SO much less money from the Big Ten distributions. The radical idea was RG moving them to the NEZ in the first place. So, I am so incredibly skeptical that it's just some financial impossibility. This attitude also assumes that there is no long-term financial gain from dramatically improving the gameday atmosphere ... a short-term cost of lost revenue in literally two sections of the stadium could very well be outweighed by the future gains from more victories at home because of a better environment, more casual fans starting to think of GMS as an elite atmosphere that they want to visit once per year regardless of how good we are, one extra difference-maker recruit per year being impressed with our fan support and it potentially being the tie breaker between us and someone else, etc. I mean, guys, imagine if Orange Krush had always been up in C Section for the last 30+ years ... how much pushback would we get that we simply can't give up such good, revenue-earning seats and give them to college kids?? Thankfully we decided not to think that way a long time ago, but if the decision were being made today, there would no doubt be a lot of opposition, and I would argue that it would be short sighted.

2) We really aren't talking about that many seats, and I will be referencing the map below. IIRC, the NEZ (132-137) seats like 5.5K or something like that. Let's just assume for a moment that is true, and we need to find 5K seats elsewhere. Per Wikipedia, East Main seats 18K, so I am assuming each section (101-109) seats 2K each. Let's start with 109, as the fact that visiting fans are still taking up 109 is nothing short of negligence on the part of the DIA, and they should feel ashamed for such a dumb placement. That is a literally FREE section to work with. Let's act like a big boy program and move the visiting fans to 201 or 209 where they belong, and we have now found a home for 2K of our 5.5K students ... 3.5K to go. 104-106 are the only sections in East Main that are marked as "prime" seating, so I will assume we don't want students there ... and that's fine! However, even just giving the students 108 (i.e., right next to 109 to now have a 2-section student section in East Main) gets us up to 4K out of our 5.5K students. Ideally, we would just give them 107, as well, but let's say we absolutely cannot ... we only have 1.5K seats we need to find, so put some in the 110-111 corners of the Horseshoe or up in 207-208 in the East Balcony to pin the visiting fans between a rowdy student section and a brick wall. This just is NOT that hard ... the DIA is just being complacent and unimaginative.



3) The issue really shouldn't be giving the students prime seating or not ... hardly anywhere gives them the best seats, and plenty of awesome student sections are behind one end zone! The issue is that at our stadium, both end zone seating areas are not in any way, shape or form "on top of the field," and any student section that isn't going to absolutely and totally suck needs to be right on top of the players. If the NEZ structure had been built at field level at a super steep incline, it would be a perfectly fine place for the students! Instead, it's like 30 frickin' feet up in the air and extending back at a gradual angle, making them feel even more removed from the action. We don't need to discuss the Horseshoe's issues, being ten miles from the end zone, lol. I would love to put the students in whatever structure we build in the SEZ, but I am sure people will think that is financially unrealistic, too, as they'll want to make money on those brand new seats. I think an ideal scenario is a "wall" of students in the middle of the new SEZ stands, with luxury suites above them and revenue-generating (perhaps actual seats and not bleachers??) on either side of them.

4) I think part of the problem with students leaving early might BE the NEZ itself. As others pointed out, it is the most sun-drenched area of the stadium, and it feels cutoff from the rest of the stands. If students felt like they were a part of the same rowdy crowd as all 61K of us, it might seem more fun. I've never sat in the NEZ, so I am only guessing here.

Fighter of the Nightman said:

I have four comments regarding this. They're not necessarily meant as direct rebuttals to you, as you bring up some good points ... I just like talking about this stuff, haha.

1) I find it odd that we are acting like this is some radical idea. The students were in East Main for W-A-Y longer than they have been in the NEZ, and the DIA found a way to make it work economically during years where we were frankly drawing way fewer fans than we are now, not to mention getting SO much less money from the Big Ten distributions. The radical idea was RG moving them to the NEZ in the first place. So, I am so incredibly skeptical that it's just some financial impossibility. This attitude also assumes that there is no long-term financial gain from dramatically improving the gameday atmosphere ... a short-term cost of lost revenue in literally two sections of the stadium could very well be outweighed by the future gains from more victories at home because of a better environment, more casual fans starting to think of GMS as an elite atmosphere that they want to visit once per year regardless of how good we are, one extra difference-maker recruit per year being impressed with our fan support and it potentially being the tie breaker between us and someone else, etc. I mean, guys, imagine if Orange Krush had always been up in C Section for the last 30+ years ... how much pushback would we get that we simply can't give up such good, revenue-earning seats and give them to college kids?? Thankfully we decided not to think that way a long time ago, but if the decision were being made today, there would no doubt be a lot of opposition, and I would argue that it would be short sighted.

2) We really aren't talking about that many seats, and I will be referencing the map below. IIRC, the NEZ (132-137) seats like 5.5K or something like that. Let's just assume for a moment that is true, and we need to find 5K seats elsewhere. Per Wikipedia, East Main seats 18K, so I am assuming each section (101-109) seats 2K each. Let's start with 109, as the fact that visiting fans are still taking up 109 is nothing short of negligence on the part of the DIA, and they should feel ashamed for such a dumb placement. That is a literally FREE section to work with. Let's act like a big boy program and move the visiting fans to 201 or 209 where they belong, and we have now found a home for 2K of our 5.5K students ... 3.5K to go. 104-106 are the only sections in East Main that are marked as "prime" seating, so I will assume we don't want students there ... and that's fine! However, even just giving the students 108 (i.e., right next to 109 to now have a 2-section student section in East Main) gets us up to 4K out of our 5.5K students. Ideally, we would just give them 107, as well, but let's say we absolutely cannot ... we only have 1.5K seats we need to find, so put some in the 110-111 corners of the Horseshoe or up in 207-208 in the East Balcony to pin the visiting fans between a rowdy student section and a brick wall. This just is NOT that hard ... the DIA is just being complacent and unimaginative.

3) The issue really shouldn't be giving the students prime seating or not ... hardly anywhere gives them the best seats, and plenty of awesome student sections are behind one end zone! The issue is that at our stadium, both end zone seating areas are not in any way, shape or form "on top of the field," and any student section that isn't going to absolutely and totally suck needs to be right on top of the players. If the NEZ structure had been built at field level at a super steep incline, it would be a perfectly fine place for the students! Instead, it's like 30 frickin' feet up in the air and extending back at a gradual angle, making them feel even more removed from the action. We don't need to discuss the Horseshoe's issues, being ten miles from the end zone, lol. I would love to put the students in whatever structure we build in the SEZ, but I am sure people will think that is financially unrealistic, too, as they'll want to make money on those brand new seats. I think an ideal scenario is a "wall" of students in the middle of the new SEZ stands, with luxury suites above them and revenue-generating (perhaps actual seats and not bleachers??) on either side of them.

4) I think part of the problem with students leaving early might BE the NEZ itself. As others pointed out, it is the most sun-drenched area of the stadium, and it feels cutoff from the rest of the stands. If students felt like they were a part of the same rowdy crowd as all 61K of us, it might seem more fun. I've never sat in the NEZ, so I am only guessing here.

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I always appreciate your insights, and I respect (and actually agree with several) your points. I think putting students in a future SEZ structure would make sense. It would match what a lot of stadiums do, though I also agree that there will be hesitancy since that section will be looked at as being revenue producing.

I, too, have never sat up in the NEZ. It was created for my freshman year, which also happened to be the Rose Bowl year. I think my thoughts behind this are spurred on by the fact that the section was pretty full (or completely full) throughout the 2007-2011 years, of course excluding the 2009 season. I do think the DIA is ultimately unwilling to demolish a less than 20 year old structure, even though they probably should. It definitely needs to be reworked and repurposed in the future, but I believe that our students just don't see themselves as the potential game changers in football or in basketball that past student sections did see.

I would argue the biggest reason for that is lack of traditions (or knowledge of them) that we have. Look up at the NEZ during William Tell. That used to be the whole section participating. Now it's maybe 50%. There are a number of other small things, like things during Oskee Wow Wow, that I have been amazed to see die out and done by very few people. I would never suggest a video like Mizzou did a few years ago to teach these things, mainly because they got roasted on social media, but there does need to be some more significant education to get those things to spread back and allow for new ones to emerge. That will certainly help with the overall stadium environment and passion of the fan base.

Fighter of the Nightman said:

s ... 3.5K to go. 104-106 are the only sections in East Main that are marked as "prime" seating, so I will assume we don't want students there ... and that's fine! However, even just giving the students 108 (i.e., right next to 109 to now have a 2-section student section in East Main) gets us up to 4K out of our 5.5K students.

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Just an FYI, students already have sections 101 & 102, which are equivalent to sections 108 & 109, just the other end of the stadium.

illinoistradition said:

I always appreciate your insights, and I respect (and actually agree with several) your points. I think putting students in a future SEZ structure would make sense. It would match what a lot of stadiums do, though I also agree that there will be hesitancy since that section will be looked at as being revenue producing.

I, too, have never sat up in the NEZ. It was created for my freshman year, which also happened to be the Rose Bowl year. I think my thoughts behind this are spurred on by the fact that the section was pretty full (or completely full) throughout the 2007-2011 years, of course excluding the 2009 season. I do think the DIA is ultimately unwilling to demolish a less than 20 year old structure, even though they probably should. It definitely needs to be reworked and repurposed in the future, but I believe that our students just don't see themselves as the potential game changers in football or in basketball that past student sections did see.

I would argue the biggest reason for that is lack of traditions (or knowledge of them) that we have. Look up at the NEZ during William Tell. That used to be the whole section participating. Now it's maybe 50%. There are a number of other small things, like things during Oskee Wow Wow, that I have been amazed to see die out and done by very few people. I would never suggest a video like Mizzou did a few years ago to teach these things, mainly because they got roasted on social media, but there does need to be some more significant education to get those things to spread back and allow for new ones to emerge. That will certainly help with the overall stadium environment and passion of the fan base.

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I definitely agree with the last part. There is a very palpable "blandness" to the Illini fan identity compared to many of our Big Ten rivals. If you will imagine each Big Ten fan base enduring a 2-10 season and attending games in cold weather, the Illini fans seem the most miserable and having the least fun out of anyone, haha. Wisconsin students still have Jump Around to look forward to, Iowa fans have the Wave, Purdue has tons of dorky little traditions that go all game long, Nebraska does an excellent job of indoctrinating their students that Nebraska Football is somehow special no matter how many years in a row they suck, etc.

It's been talked about ad nauseum here, but Memorial Stadium needs to take on a life of its own. The reason Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are thought of so fondly by baseball enthusiasts is because they are vibes in and of themselves; the product on the field is one factor of the gameday experience, but it isn't even close to everything. I think a ton of Illini fans (especially more casual ones) think of Memorial Stadium as little more than the physical facility where you go to watch the Illini play football, and thus our attendance / crowd enthusiasm falls and rises drastically based on on-field success. We need people to think of Memorial Stadium as a trip for the family and friends that is worth the price of admission regardless of if the Illini are terrible or undefeated ... obviously it will be MORE worth that price if we are good, but we can't have the value of a trip to GMS be zero for casual fans when we are terrible, either. The DIA should be doing everything possible to SCREAM from the rooftops about the stadium's unique history, putting up more references to that history everywhere, hopefully replacing SEZ / NEZ architecture with something that better honors that history in the future, having more announcements during the game that remind people that this isn't just another stadium, etc.

I love Memorial Stadium so much, and I constantly try to get all of my non-Illini fans to come around to seeing what a jewel it is ... but I would argue the DIA does me no favors in this endeavor, lol. The sad fact is our gameday experience seems like it could be transported just about anywhere for any program with any team nickname. I'm not necessarily the genius to fix this, but we need it to feel distinctly Illini. That's a tall order with the Chief gone, and I get that ... but we are frankly really lucky that we have all of the military-themed history to work with, and we for some reason seem terrified to touch it other than on Veterans Day and stuff like that. No one will be offended if we actively try to rebrand Memorial Stadium as a distinctly historical and veterans-centered experience.

fuddrules said:

Just an FYI, students already have sections 101 & 102, which are equivalent to sections 108 & 109, just the other end of the stadium.

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True, but don't those quite often not fill up? It seems our "core" would fit in East Main quite easily once we move the visitors, and if we need to find room for overflow students that are separated from the main group ... well, we already have that issue anyway!

Fighter of the Nightman said:

True, but don't those quite often not fill up? It seems our "core" would fit in East Main quite easily once we move the visitors, and if we need to find room for overflow students that are separated from the main group ... well, we already have that issue anyway!

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They don't fill it but they rarely stay for an entire game in any section.

If East Main it is, put the students in 101/102/103. You'll end up with a big vacant area on TV in the later parts of the games.

I personally don't think this solves anything, just moves them for the sake of moving them. As far as the students being far away, they are ~25' closer to the action than those people sitting dead center in the SEZ.

The current visitor seating aren't prime seats (East side, back of endzone), the stadium rarely sells out (a true sellout, not give aways) so those aren't very valuable seats. I don't know if it's an ADA issue on why they are in the lower section vs. the upper section? I don't believe there is an elevator on the East side so it's different than the West for accommodations. In the wild, I know more people that won't sit in the balconies because of a health condition and walking up the ramp than talk about where the students sit or where the visitors sit. The later two seemed to be confined to this message board. Although that may be my age group

Overall it seems like it's a non-issue yet continuously gets brought up here as some huge uplift to the football program. It won't be. It's far more likely to be one big eyesore in the second half of games. And it could be detrimental to revenue as that is the #1 driving force in athletics today.

Edit: No elevator on East side: https://fightingillini.com/sports/2022/8/11/football_accessible-services.aspx

So there's ADA access everywhere in Gies other than the East balcony. <-- Only a guess as to why visitors are where they are.

After review, I think my ADA theory is hogwash.

If you need ADA seating and are a visitor, you're going to be sitting in the horseshoe or west balcony, those are the designated areas. They also have a designated area in the NEZ, maybe that's available beyond just students? I don't know.

I don't think comparing the NEZ and SEZ distance to the field is a worthwhile exercise, though. For one, no first row of seats should EVER be as far away from the field as the current Horseshoe setup ... so comparing anything to it is setting the bar astonishingly low. The main point I am making, though, is that the issue with the NEZ isn't where the literal structure begins in relation to the end zone ... obviously, the actual brick wall base is pretty close:



The issue is that the first row of students is actually very far from the field (as seen with the angle of the photo above) AND super high up in the air...



When taking into account the angle and height, the students are effectively in what would be like row of an East Main-type structure. So, they're truly very far away from the action, even if it is a different type of setup than the Horseshoe's issues. Again ... if the NEZ stands went right down to field level and students were right on top of everything, that would be fine and while I wish the stands would be more enclosed, it would be an okay spot for the student section. However, when you actually look at the trajectory of the stands and how high up that first row is, they're more or less in what would be like row 20-30 of an East Main-type structure:

illinoistradition said:

People will disagree, and that's fine, but the student section is at the point where need to prove that they should be moved back to a premium section. That is a lot of revenue lost by putting them in the main sections. I get that they haven't grown up around seeing Illinois successful. Still, to see the number of games this year where it couldn't remain full even into the late 2nd quarter, especially when the team has had their best 4 year stretch in over 3 decades, it was embarrassing.

I will also sound old, even though I am not, but the sitting down during each timeout for both basketball and football is lame. I see 50 year olds in the crowds stand longer than these 18-22 year olds. It's a 2-3 hour game. You'll survive standing for 90% of it!

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The older folks behind me in the west balcony are always telling everyone to sit down lol

illinoistradition said:

People will disagree, and that's fine, but the student section is at the point where need to prove that they should be moved back to a premium section. That is a lot of revenue lost by putting them in the main sections. I get that they haven't grown up around seeing Illinois successful. Still, to see the number of games this year where it couldn't remain full even into the late 2nd quarter, especially when the team has had their best 4 year stretch in over 3 decades, it was embarrassing.

I will also sound old, even though I am not, but the sitting down during each timeout for both basketball and football is lame. I see 50 year olds in the crowds stand longer than these 18-22 year olds. It's a 2-3 hour game. You'll survive standing for 90% of it!

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You cannot build a strong football culture overnight. We need to have sustained success across multiple years to build that culture so it can be passed down through the classes and championed by the alumni. If you are a senior, you are living it up right now! But think back to when the current seniors were freshman and the experience that their senior peers had in football, and the senior class before that, and the senior class before that...

Something I've also been pondering lately is how the school's commitment to increasing international enrollment may be helping or hurting us with the revenue sports. As I understand it, ~20% of the student body are international students. Are these students interested in American collegiate sports? Do they attend games? Will they remain in the US post-graduation and contribute their time and/or treasure to U of I college athletics? To be clear, this isn't a call to ban international students or anything of the sort, just curious to understand what impact, if any, they may have on our athletic department.

Marshall_Lucky said:

The older folks behind me in the west balcony are always telling everyone to sit down lol

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I was a student in the East Main days and very much same. And that was when the team was doing well. ('89 - '93 seasons)

Fighter of the Nightman said:

True, but don't those quite often not fill up? It seems our "core" would fit in East Main quite easily once we move the visitors, and if we need to find room for overflow students that are separated from the main group ... well, we already have that issue anyway!

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Another thing to consider if moving students and visitors, they just sold a record number of season tickets this year and put everyone through a reseat. They basically guaranteed you’ll have those seats until 2028 or whenever the next reseat is. If they rearrange sections before then, it would probably affect some season ticket holders again.

Fighter of the Nightman said:

I don't think comparing the NEZ and SEZ distance to the field is a worthwhile exercise, though. For one, no first row of seats should EVER be as far away from the field as the current Horseshoe setup ... so comparing anything to it is setting the bar astonishingly low. The main point I am making, though, is that the issue with the NEZ isn't where the literal structure begins in relation to the end zone ... obviously, the actual brick wall base is pretty close:

The issue is that the first row of students is actually very far from the field (as seen with the angle of the photo above) AND super high up in the air...

When taking into account the angle and height, the students are effectively in what would be like row of an East Main-type structure. So, they're truly very far away from the action, even if it is a different type of setup than the Horseshoe's issues. Again ... if the NEZ stands went right down to field level and students were right on top of everything, that would be fine and while I wish the stands would be more enclosed, it would be an okay spot for the student section. However, when you actually look at the trajectory of the stands and how high up that first row is, they're more or less in what would be like row 20-30 of an East Main-type structure:

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You don't consider the MI students?

Ghost77 said:

You cannot build a strong football culture overnight. We need to have sustained success across multiple years to build that culture so it can be passed down through the classes and championed by the alumni. If you are a senior, you are living it up right now! But think back to when the current seniors were freshman and the experience that their senior peers had in football, and the senior class before that, and the senior class before that...

Something I've also been pondering lately is how the school's commitment to increasing international enrollment may be helping or hurting us with the revenue sports. As I understand it, ~20% of the student body are international students. Are these students interested in American collegiate sports? Do they attend games? Will they remain in the US post-graduation and contribute their time and/or treasure to U of I college athletics? To be clear, this isn't a call to ban international students or anything of the sort, just curious to understand what impact, if any, they may have on our athletic department.

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The top paragraph is something I indirectly touched on in a postgame thread a few weeks ago that was full of people ragging on the student (it was Maryland when the entire Illini section of the internet was ragging on them, not just here). My main point there was that many of the prevalent issues that get talked about with the students are also prevalent issues with the rest of the fanbase. A large part of that is the thing you mentioned. We've had multiple full cycles of students come and go now, and the students aren't just doing what the ones before them did. None of the fanbase has a great track record with attendance or cheering well/at the right times because it was an issue when they were students. Neither of those issues are unique to the students. We rag on them because they're the students, but their point of comparison is the rest of the fanbase doing the same things.

The students, at best (best being a sellout), make up just over 12% of the stadium. You can't build a strong football culture overnight, and you definitely can't build one when so many of the fans making up the other 88% of the stadium actively refuse to do their part unless the 12% does it first to their standard. And they likely the same people having fits over an 8-4 year, so I'm sure they'll move the goalposts on the students the first chance they get. Individually, we should just cheer and be as loud as possible. It shouldn't have anything to do with how loud or quiet the fans around us are being. It's infectious, and eventually, people around you will start doing it too.

As for your comment on the international students. They make up 20% of the student body, but considering we only have 7500 student seats, it shouldn't create any attendance issues. At best, they're super interested in going to games, and if not, there are over 50k other students on campus to show up instead.

All of the above. Good discussion.
-The stadium itself is not an agent that draws casual fans in
-The in-stadium game environment is not an agent that draws fans in
-I've heard too that the student body is becoming more and more int'l. Would love to see stats, but if true, I suspect it hurts student attendance
-Long term, highly successful sustained football success is MOST important and we've not achieved that. Chicagoland Illini Nation will not make the drive and attend more regularly until this starts happening.

illinoistradition said:

People will disagree, and that's fine, but the student section is at the point where need to prove that they should be moved back to a premium section. That is a lot of revenue lost by putting them in the main sections. I get that they haven't grown up around seeing Illinois successful. Still, to see the number of games this year where it couldn't remain full even into the late 2nd quarter, especially when the team has had their best 4 year stretch in over 3 decades, it was embarrassing.

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A couple games toward the end of the season when the weather was still decent they were giving out passes for free cover charge at Kam’s to students if they stayed. They had to stay until the end of the 3rd quarter, I think. If they have to bribe them to stay, I don’t see them getting premium seats anytime soon.

Umgawa1 said:

You don't consider the MI students?

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I mean, technically yes? They spend a lot of the game physically unable to cheer because they're playing instruments, lol. And even so, the first row of non-MI students starts stupidly high above even the MI!

I don't know how anyone could say that we wouldn't want the students closer to the field than they currently are, haha.

Rooftop said:

All of the above. Good discussion.
-The stadium itself is not an agent that draws casual fans in
-The in-stadium game environment is not an agent that draws fans in
-I've heard too that the student body is becoming more and more int'l. Would love to see stats, but if true, I suspect it hurts student attendance
-Long term, highly successful sustained football success is MOST important and we've not achieved that. Chicagoland Illini Nation will not make the drive and attend more regularly until this starts happening.

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The stats are not hard to find. 24% of students are international. With 87% of those from Asia.

It is also a large engineering school. I have had season tickets for 25 years. My son is a freshman in engineering and he goes to the games with us but most of the people he knows in engineering do not go.

Purdue has same issue. Michigan would too except for their large non alum fan base.

No matter who sits there, the NEZ has no connectivity with the rest of the stadium. Can’t go talk to a family member sitting elsewhere at halftime, can’t walk across the stadium to try a special food truck, etc.

Until that’s resolved, I think the students are more tolerant of that kind of setup, than families. I would not like to feel “trapped” with my family my of 4 by sitting there. We often leave during breaks to visit family sitting elsewhere in the West Main, or take the boys to walk/“look around”, etc.

I think connectivity for the NEZ (whoever is sitting there) to the rest of the stadium should be a priority. Our seats are in Section 130, and it kills me that you can’t casually walk through the NEZ area to access Section 101 and the rest of East Main.

DERV64 said:

Yeah im not saying making it a 6-10k student section like it is now.....more like a 3k reserved student section. And ive been to every game this year and the students for the most part filled the NEZ and had an overflow section.

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But only until the 3rd quarter.

illiniE said:

The stats are not hard to find. 24% of students are international. With 87% of those from Asia.

It is also a large engineering school. I have had season tickets for 25 years. My son is a freshman in engineering and he goes to the games with us but most of the people he knows in engineering do not go.

Purdue has same issue. Michigan would too except for their large non alum fan base.

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True, but we have at least the same number of US students as we did in the 1980’s. The total number of students has just gone up significantly. Wisconsin is interesting because the have a huge student attendance. The student section was full for our game even though they had an awful record.

I think our week in stadium environment and lack of tradition is a major contributor. So we are going to need several years of success turn it around.

Ghost77 said:

Something I've also been pondering lately is how the school's commitment to increasing international enrollment may be helping or hurting us with the revenue sports. As I understand it, ~20% of the student body are international students. Are these students interested in American collegiate sports? Do they attend games? Will they remain in the US post-graduation and contribute their time and/or treasure to U of I college athletics? To be clear, this isn't a call to ban international students or anything of the sort, just curious to understand what impact, if any, they may have on our athletic department.

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A while back I dug the data up on international enrollment, both undergraduate and graduate. IIRC it’s currently about 25% of grad and undergrad enrollment, up from about 15% fifty years ago. However enrollment itself has increased from 35,000 to 60,000 in those 50 years, so the number of non-international students is at an all time high. International enrollment isn’t a factor.

Dkayak said:

A while back I dug the data up on international enrollment, both undergraduate and graduate. IIRC it’s currently about 25% of grad and undergrad enrollment, up from about 15% fifty years ago. However enrollment itself has increased from 35,000 to 60,000 in those 50 years, so the number of non-international students is at an all time high. International enrollment isn’t a factor.

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Well if I do the math, that's 15,000 students a year. Would be interesting to understand the percentage of sports attendance for international students vs domestic students. My hypothesis would be that international students attend less collegiate sporting events and watch less live collegiate sporting events compared to their domestic student peers.

Post graduation for international students is interesting too. Fascinating to consider the lifetime value of a fan and how fans even get created in the first place. The greatest opportunity for fan conversion is within your own walls, and through that unique conversion process, you are counting on those students to engage with your product and evangelize your message moving forward. Perhaps the raw numbers could seem small in the short term, but overtime and with the possibility of exponential growth driven by alumni fans converting non-fans, the low numbers may serve as one factor that hinders the broader cultural sustainment and growth.