illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
If you throw in Dick Butkus who played at Illinois and the awards is named after, then we have our 3..../s
Last year I remember we got 10k new season tickets sold, so this year should be a slight bump in attendance if most of those 10k from last year kept their seats.
Awesome! A large season ticketholder population is absolutely essential to continuing the good attendance trend. We saw in 2022 just how difficult it is to sell thousands of brand new tickets in a week's time ... we went from drawing 34k for our home game vs. Virginia (when we were 1-1) to 46k vs. Minnesota (when we were 5-1 and ranked #24) to over 56k vs. Michigan State (when we were 7-1 and ranked #16), but we would have sold out multiple games during that stretch if we had a high enough floor due to a large season ticket base.
Robert just started up his LLUOI series and hoooo boy am I loving the Tanner Heckel write up. Give me every off-the-radar recruit that signs around NSD.
I'm fully signed up and invested in Coach Parker. He has a bright future ahead of him, and I hope he sticks around Champaign in bigger and better roles before other programs steal him from us.
I was thinking more about this as I posted about our average basketball attendance in another thread and how different of a dynamic we have for football. People can say basketball simply has smaller capacities, but I think this is a bogus argument for two reasons. (1) Not every basketball game is a once-per-week weekend event, so it will inevitably drive down attendance; (2) basketball games are not "events" in the same way football games are, so you will always have some people who simply want to go to a college football game on a beautiful fall Saturday and (3) EVERY program has the same dynamic where more people go to football games, so it is apples-to-apples comparing football vs. basketball as a package across different schools.Awesome! A large season ticketholder population is absolutely essential to continuing the good attendance trend. We saw in 2022 just how difficult it is to sell thousands of brand new tickets in a week's time ... we went from drawing 34k for our home game vs. Virginia (when we were 1-1) to 46k vs. Minnesota (when we were 5-1 and ranked #24) to over 56k vs. Michigan State (when we were 7-1 and ranked #16), but we would have sold out multiple games during that stretch if we had a high enough floor due to a large season ticket base.
I always wonder what the Central Illinois/Chicagoland/Other ratios are for our basketball crowds vs our football crowds.I was thinking more about this as I posted about our average basketball attendance in another thread and how different of a dynamic we have for football. People can say basketball simply has smaller capacities, but I think this is a bogus argument for two reasons. (1) Not every basketball game is a once-per-week weekend event, so it will inevitably drive down attendance; (2) basketball games are not "events" in the same way football games are, so you will always have some people who simply want to go to a college football game on a beautiful fall Saturday and (3) EVERY program has the same dynamic where more people go to football games, so it is apples-to-apples comparing football vs. basketball as a package across different schools.
Also even just the price. If we are going to come for a football game, the wife and I prefer two nights anyway … but when the Hyatt (only cool hotel Downtown to my knowledge) is charging $700 per night, no thanks. Thankfully this past year for PSU, we found a great Airbnb option less than a mile west of the stadium. However, it is my perception that the Airbnb scene is still VERY underdeveloped in Champaign, considering it’s a major college town with like 250k people in the metro.I always wonder what the Central Illinois/Chicagoland/Other ratios are for our basketball crowds vs our football crowds.
My anecdotal sense is that the hardcore Central Illinois fanbase who have relatively quick and easy transportation to the games fills SFC but doesn't come even close to filling MS and thus the marginal attendance needs to come from further afield. (Braggin' Rights versus football games in the St Louis dome having a similar effect, we have a dedicated fanbase in that area, but it's only so big)
My other pet theory is that all the hotels in CU having two-night minimums on football weekends is an underrated contributor to the inability to attract those out-of-towners. It is certainly a negative impact for me personally.
This hits the nail right on the head. The 11:00 am starts are a killer when coming from out of state. This necessitates finding a room for Friday night only. So I have to stay in Tuscola or Arcola. No room at the inn as the story goes, for the greater CU area. I even tried to book the Hilton one year in advance, no go. I care not for the explanations for attendance about students wanting to go to the bars. All students will be alumni in less than 4 years.My other pet theory is that all the hotels in CU having two-night minimums on football weekends is an underrated contributor to the inability to attract those out-of-towners. It is certainly a negative impact for me personally.
This hits the nail right on the head. The 11:00 am starts are a killer when coming from out of state. This necessitates finding a room for Friday night only. So I have to stay in Tuscola or Arcola. No room at the inn as the story goes, for the greater CU area. I even tried to book the Hilton one year in advance, no go. I care not for the explanations for attendance about students wanting to go to the bars. All students will be alumni in less than 4 years.
QB McNamara will be back from injury, hired a new OC Tim Lester (from the Bill Cubit coaching tree (!) funny enough) who will at least be better than B. Ferentz. I don't know if I would say they'll be 9 points above average. Lester had one year at Elmhurst where the stars aligned and got into the DIII playoffs and then broke into the FBS. Since then, had average to slightly above average QB play. Not that impressed with his body of workOK, how is Iowa’s offense projected to outperform the FBS average by 9 points? Doesn’t their defense generally out score their offense? Maybe I don’t understand the table.
Sure, I knew Brian finally got the boot, but daddy seemed pleased enough with his body of work. Doesn’t the head coach still have a vote in offensive strategy? I’d assumed Kirk was inherently cautious and plodding. Nine points above average sounds like a fever dream with respect to their baseline performance unless Kirk changes his approach.QB McNamara will be back from injury, hired a new OC Tim Lester (from the Bill Cubit coaching tree (!) funny enough) who will at least be better than B. Ferentz. I don't know if I would say they'll be 9 points above average. Lester had one year at Elmhurst where the stars aligned and got into the DIII playoffs and then broke into the FBS. Since then, had average to slightly above average QB play. Not that impressed with his body of work