Illini Football 2023

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#502      

Bbuck21

B
Bbuck21
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I love hearing stats like this that we would not be able to normally find ourselves! The article on the front page of IL right now says over 9.5k new season ticket holders, so let's round to 10k assuming some more buy in the next couple weeks? That is a 40-45% increase in season ticket sales in one year! Using 23k for last season, that means we sold the following number of single-game tickets for our home games last season:

14,832 vs. Wyoming
10,669 vs. Virginia
14,579 vs. Chattanooga
21,910 vs. Iowa
22,683 vs. Minnesota
33,092 vs. Michigan State
22,574 vs. Purdue

Now, new season ticket holders are probably disproportionately from that population of fans who bought single game tickets last year, but not ALL of them, right?? While we no-doubt lost some "single" fans that converted into the season ticket population, one has to figure that such a huge increase in season ticket sales will at least translate to the type of excitement that adds more "single" fans and new fans. Last year is clear evidence that Illini Football can get over 30k people to buy a single game ticket when the excitement and promotion is there, and getting 20k single game tickets bought for a Big Ten home game seems quite ordinary now.

If we are starting with a base of 33k season tickets this season, ANY game where we sell 20k or more will have the stadium looking full ... that is very encouraging. We only have a bit over 27k to go before we have a sellout. Again, it's NOT apples to apples, but these would have been our attendance numbers last year if we sold the same number of single game tickets but started with a base of 33k, just for illustration purposes:

47,832 vs. Wyoming
43,669 vs. Virginia
47,579 vs. Chattanooga
54,910 vs. Iowa
55,683 vs. Minnesota
60,670 vs. Michigan State (sellout)
55,574 vs. Purdue

I am now quite confident that there will be over 55k vs. Penn State, and that is all I really care about. The sellout is nice to break the streak and for the statement it makes, but the stadium looks packed with anything over 55k (you could not see a single empty seat vs. MSU last year on TV, and we were 4.5k short of a sellout). My wife has only been to Memorial Stadium once, and it was the Purdue game last year ... a frustrating loss in freezing cold weather with most of the upper deck empty. My parents have not been to Memorial Stadium since our blowout loss to Louisiana Tech in Beckman's first year (2012). I myself have not been to Memorial Stadium in a month other than November since 2012, as well ... I'm excited to see the atmosphere we can put together for such a hyped game with beautiful weather.

P.S. Are you just assuming there will be now flash sales or anything this year? I hope the DIA realizes how invaluable of an opportunity it is to showcase the stadium, town and program for Big Noon Kickoff vs. Penn State ... if there are a substantial number of tickets unsold (especially among students) for this one by Week 2, they need to be pulling out all of the stops to fill the place up!
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I wouldn't count on the students anymore
 
#506      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
Bbuck21 said:
I wouldn't count on the students anymore
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Curious why you say that? They disappointed for the MSU game last year, but before that they were carrying their weight WAY more than the rest of the stadium. For the Iowa and Minnesota home games, our student section was packed to the top row, while the rest of the stadium was about 75% full, with the upper deck being less than half full.
 
#511      

rtbritt

rtbritt
rtbritt
Illinirog70 said:
Did I miss something? I see no mention of Gabe Jacas in the preseason polls! I think he could be an All-American!

And only a sophomore...
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My guess is they view Coleman as the guy who will stand out above Jacas and with Newton and Randolph already getting the hype, they don't view all 4 as getting all the love.....kind of like when 2 studs from the same team cause voters to split an MVP vote or whatever.
 
#516      

Chief1976

C
Chief1976
I think something Toledo will do to offset our strong D front is to throw inside bubble screens and quick outside throws to test our secondary. The early games will be a lot of fun as I expect KU, Toledo, and FAU to throw the kitchen sink at our D.
 
#517      

DeonThomas

DeonThomas
South Carolina
DeonThomas
- All conference representation
- Our top 3 superstars attending Big 10 media days and looking the part
- Ticket sales on the climb
- Media blitz everywhere you look
- Bielema talking football like a true football guy
- Illini predicted as "in the hunt" for the Big 10 West title by Jerry D.
- Jim Leonhard hired out of nowhere as Football Analyst

Wow -- we're like a really legit football team again!
 
#520      

jmwillini

J
Tolono, IL
jmwillini
Surprisingly nice quotes from Barry Alvarez

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#523      

kyillinifan

K
kyillinifan
Haven’t heard much from how McCray is doing this Summer. I can’t wait to see him run over Toledo’s d. We have three big running backs. I wondered why a night game first. I was at the last two openers. It was very hot. Go Illini. I got my Familly magnet yesterday.
 
#524      

KnoxIllini2

KnoxIllini2
KnoxIllini2
Fighter of the Nightman said:
There are certainly no more than 1-2 gimmes all season. We need to bring it every week. With that said, there’s not a game on the schedule where we won’t have a chance, and saying that as an Illini fan is surreal!
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You can double check me on this, but the last back to back 8 win seasons was a stretch of roaring success back in 1901 through 1904 where we won 8 or more games in consecutive seasons.

If we ever become a consistent 8 win team, build Belima's statue before he retires so he can enjoy his bronziness.

While I dabble in the orange koolaid from time to time, we are messing with some serious historical things here should games break in our favor.
 
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