Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I decided to cap it at top 35, so top 10 teams in the RV category.
Illinois #12 in Preseason AP Poll
- Status
All I know is the #12 team in the nation deserves to sell out its home opener…
I don’t know if we can do it, but c’mon, Illinois fanbase. Make it happen.
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
The most overrated teams over the last 35 years via statistical research by Stassen.
10. UF
9. LSU
8. TX A & M
7. Michigan
6. The U
T4. Notre Dame
T4. FSU
3. OU
2. USC
1. TX
Now look at those rankings again. Stained a bit now aren’t ya?
10. UF
9. LSU
8. TX A & M
7. Michigan
6. The U
T4. Notre Dame
T4. FSU
3. OU
2. USC
1. TX
Now look at those rankings again. Stained a bit now aren’t ya?
1 - New QB
2 - Experienced QB
3 - New QB
4 - Experienced QB
5 - New QB
6 - New QB
7 - New QB
8 - New QB
9 - Experienced QB
10 - New QB
11 - Experienced QB
12 - Luke
illinifan31
Former Krush Cow
- South Bend, IN
Lol this is the entire length of time I have been an Illinois fan.
Illinir1
- Camdenton, MO
If we don't truly sell the first game out we can always "Nebraska" it......Say it was a sellout when it really wasn't.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Great post. I have to agree with Coach, there are 4 teams that should not be ahead of us in pre season poll. So keeping that chip on each shoulder absolutely
Just in Big10 there are teams that should be receiving more votes.
Iowa should step forward this year
Indiana isn't going anywhere unfortunately. Forgot they picked up Mendoza from Cal.. qb1. Dude is a beast.
Oregon has lost their qb1-3 straight seasons, yet they are 36-6..
Michigan st should take leap forward
USC should know what to expect in Big10, simply to much talent.
Our Illini, the d line is probably our biggest question mark. Closely followed by who is ready to fill Franklin and Pats shoes. Huge shoes! I love our outlook.
Iowa should step forward this year
Indiana isn't going anywhere unfortunately. Forgot they picked up Mendoza from Cal.. qb1. Dude is a beast.
Oregon has lost their qb1-3 straight seasons, yet they are 36-6..
Michigan st should take leap forward
USC should know what to expect in Big10, simply to much talent.
Our Illini, the d line is probably our biggest question mark. Closely followed by who is ready to fill Franklin and Pats shoes. Huge shoes! I love our outlook.
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
Those were my Freshman and Sophomore years. I thought those were the normal times.
I'm going to say 73% capacity.
That would be an attendance of 44,289. There are already over 50,000 tickets sold so it's going to be more like an 85% capacity crowd.
Unless you're talking about literal butts in seats...then 44K might be more realistic. But announced attendance is going to be in the low to mid-50Ks.
I wasn't thinking of sold seats....I think the number through the gate on game day is what matters....(yes making money on sold tickets is great, but what does it say they don't show up?)
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Any idea how close we are??
Not very close yet. Appears to be little movement since my Sellout Watch update from the weekend. That showed at least 50,642 tickets sold, so I'd place an attendance estimate at around 53,000 if the game was being played tonight.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
While the out-of-town contingent might be watered down due to the game being on a Friday, let's hope there is a late rush of locals deciding a Friday night Illini game beats their alternative plans! I've said it before, but anything above 56k is VISUALLY indistinguishable from a sellout, so I hope we at least hit that mark ... it would be nice if the guys on the field and the TV viewers could at least look at full stands.
One note on this point, and I think I've mentioned this before, but easily forgotten. I have a theory that a slight caveat exists here, and that lies within the pattern in which seats are made available for sale in the tickets website (if they ever are at all).
Theory: Attendance above 56K give the visual appearance of a sellout...
Our mind goes to the Michigan State game in 2022 as a recent example of your claim, but recall that they did a flash sale the week of the game ($16 tickets for every remaining seat IIRC). This drove a lot of late traffic to the tickets website, and I believe (mostly) all seats were made available for sale on the site for that final week. This resulted in people "spreading out" when they bought their tickets and visually gave the illusion that the East Balcony was full, even if there were several thousand untaken. This is what it looked like:
Caveat: ...except when the upper rows of the East Balcony are never made available for sale on the tickets website.
A recent example of this caveat is the Purdue game from 2024. Attendance was 55,815, a mere 277 below the MSU game in 2022. Yet sales in the East Balcony were slow enough that it never triggered the release of tickets in the upper rows to be made available on the site. Presumably sales in the Horseshoe and East Main were stronger for this game too. So then, despite a nearly identical attendance, we were left with an East Balcony that looked like this:
In case you're wondering, many of the upper rows of the East Balcony for WIU are not yet showing green dots.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
^ Great visuals, thank you! People can talk about how they like sitting underneath the East Balcony overhang all they want (shelter from the sun, shelter from the rain, blah, blah 
), but the DIA's goal should be to have a good gameday environment. To do that, there shouldn't be a single "invisible" East Main row sold before the East Balcony is sold out, IMO!
), but the DIA's goal should be to have a good gameday environment. To do that, there shouldn't be a single "invisible" East Main row sold before the East Balcony is sold out, IMO!And I absolutely HATE that they wait so long to release the top rows, nor do they push those upper end balcony sections for even better season ticket prices. Those are the first sections you see when a broadcast begins, and it is embarrassing to see open rows of seats as people's first impression of our crowd!
Remember how they put fake cutout people into the crowd during Covid? Bring back those guys for open seats. Make it look like a sellout, and encourage the crowd to make it sound like a sellout. Fake it, til you make it (good advice in one's career as well)!
Sorry but I just don't see a cardboard cutout at my desk being a good way to advance my career
I mean, the Cardinals have been doing that for years.
Now, I know we joke about being a football school, but this is a great example of why we never will be.
Football:
Illinois(12th) vs Western Illinois on a Friday Night Home Opener - 7,000 to 10,000 empty seats.
Basketball:
Illinois(NR) vs The University of Jerry's Kids on a Friday Night Home Opener - Call in a favor to snag a seat.
It's a shame, but it is what it is. Our fans b*tch when the product is bad, but then is nowhere to be found when it's great.
- Status