Illinois 30, Toledo 28 Postgame

IlliniInBuckeyeState · Sep 5, 2023

Fighter of the Nightman said:
2. It looks like @IlliniInBuckeyeState has his final estimate at 46,546, with the caveat that he expected day-of sales to push us over 47,000. He has also been very clear the whole time that his tracker is meant to be somewhat conservative. So, given that we were seeing estimates of SIGNIFICANTLY lower ticket sales, a big hats off to his amazing work, as our final attendance ended up being 48,898!

I said on a few occasions that 48,000+ was in play - I guess I got skittish seeing the lower estimates thrown out by people very much more in the know than me. But the fact of the matter is that the data available through the ticket office site just didn't support attendance in the low 40s. Having an announced attendance over 48,000 felt like strong validation of my methodology. Consider this my victory lap.

Like you, I'm encouraged by the strong showing for Toledo and think that there's potential for an even better crowd against Penn State. The ticket prices are understandably much more expensive though, so I'm curious to see if that impacts how many single game tickets can get moved in the next 10 days.

Grandpa · Sep 5, 2023

BashCtIllini said:
late 90's early 2000s.

Block I got in trouble for the Michigan game in 2000. 6:30 kickoff, the usually sparsely to moderately full block was overfilled, TON of completely wasted students. The card stunts didn't have a chance, it was just 10 minutes of confetti, cards flying everywhere. After we got screwed over on the Anthony Thomas short TD where his knee was down, and the Rocky Harvey fumble where his arm was down first, some students got a little rowdy and started throwing stuff at the Michigan bench. We didn't have a night game for quite a while after that.

I watched from Carle in Urbana. I'd had brain surgery and my head hurt like Heck. I was peeking out from under the cover at the TV as much as the pain would allow. I saw the bad fumble calls. Added to the pain. Season ticket holder friends stopped by after the game. I'm fine BTW with no lasting effects.
Summer at Quail Creek country club in Robinson was an Illini golf scramble. Ron Turner was the guest. I assembled 3 other Illini fans and played. I got there early hoping that Coach Turner would also. He was there, had started drinking early, and was ready to talk. I told him that I was still smarting over the Michigan game. He said that he and a lot of other people also were. He said that it took away some of the team's swagger. Also said that he had no idea how terrible those calls were until after the game when he saw the films.
I still have the Illinois Golf Club hat from the scramble. Good times!

Mr. Tibbs · Sep 5, 2023

Kramerica Industries said:
Time to lower the field and finally dig that bulldozer up. Oh and then rebuild the horseshoe on top of the south end zone of course.

yup

lower the field by 15ft - 20ft
put the old tractor in the east concourse or new hall of fame under SEZ
put in a mega pump for a new sump pit
put in natural grass

that’s a great start

Mr. Tibbs · Sep 5, 2023

IlliniInBuckeyeState said:
I said on a few occasions that 48,000+ was in play - I guess I got skittish seeing the lower estimates thrown out by people very much more in the know than me. But the fact of the matter is that the data available through the ticket office site just didn't support attendance in the low 40s. Having an announced attendance over 48,000 felt like strong validation of my methodology. Consider this my victory lap.

Like you, I'm encouraged by the strong showing for Toledo and think that there's potential for an even better crowd against Penn State. The ticket prices are understandably much more expensive though, so I'm curious to see if that impacts how many single game tickets can get moved in the next 10 days.

well PSU travels well and may account for 3000-4000 or more themselves

Fighter of the Nightman · Sep 5, 2023

IlliniInBuckeyeState said:
I said on a few occasions that 48,000+ was in play - I guess I got skittish seeing the lower estimates thrown out by people very much more in the know than me. But the fact of the matter is that the data available through the ticket office site just didn't support attendance in the low 40s. Having an announced attendance over 48,000 felt like strong validation of my methodology. Consider this my victory lap.

Like you, I'm encouraged by the strong showing for Toledo and think that there's potential for an even better crowd against Penn State. The ticket prices are understandably much more expensive though, so I'm curious to see if that impacts how many single game tickets can get moved in the next 10 days.

Hopefully the DIA "swallows its pride" if ticket sales are not where we want them a week from today. I would argue the long term benefit related to the perception of our program that we would get from Big Noon Kickoff stage being surrounded by a rowdy crowd in Grange Grove and Fox showing aerial footage of a packed/orange Memorial Stadium far outweighs whatever short term financial losses are associated with having to run some last second deals next week!

Fighter of the Nightman · Sep 5, 2023

Ramrod2010 said:
Honestly, the horseshoe doesn't bother me nearly as much from this angle. And honestly I think it's cool you can see the trees behind the stadium.

This leads me to believe my issue (which I think is a common issue amongst everyone on the board) stems from the distance between the end zone and the horseshoe. Tighten that up and I think you can get away without doing too much work on it.

Yeah, it's not that I hate a "Horseshoe-like structure" in all its forms. As others have alluded to, the issue is that our seats have two features that I think make that area of the stadium detract from our overall aesthetic/architecture (which is phenomenal in the other areas of Memorial Stadium!):

1. The seats are way too far back, so they are not at all imposing upon the end zone.
2. They're not steep enough or tall enough, so from field level it just looks like a super underwhelming end zone.

As I posted in a previous thread, I think these two things together make the Horseshoe a total eyesore ... but that doesn't mean we have to scrap it entirely! If we lowered the field and got those seats down closer to field level and perhaps just touched up the Horseshoe a bit, it would be fine. The goal is to enclose the stadium, trap the noise and provide an intimidating visual for the opposing players (and an inspiring visual for our players!).

Fighter of the Nightman · Sep 5, 2023

Mr. Tibbs said:
well PSU travels well and may account for 3000-4000 or more themselves

I'm genuinely asking here, but does PSU really bring that many fans to Champaign usually? I know their fans travel really well overall (they quite often take over Maryland and Rutgers, for example), but Champaign seems like one of their more difficult road trips. Hell, even flying to Minneapolis or Omaha/Lincoln would be easier for them, I would imagine. Then again, they do seem extra hyped for this season, so maybe that will add to things.

illinoistradition · Sep 5, 2023

Fighter of the Nightman said:
Hopefully the DIA "swallows its pride" if ticket sales are not where we want them a week from today. I would argue the long term benefit related to the perception of our program that we would get from Big Noon Kickoff stage being surrounded by a rowdy crowd in Grange Grove and Fox showing aerial footage of a packed/orange Memorial Stadium far outweighs whatever short term financial losses are associated with having to run some last second deals next week!

What worries me is that they have promised single tickets will not be any lower than they were back in July/early August. My best guess? They have to offer 4-packs to justify cutting prices. Maybe 4 for $99 in the horseshoe?

Interested to see the next sellout tracker. The upperdeck seems to be more sold than it was against Toledo, but the horseshoe is lagging behind big time.

Mr. Tibbs · Sep 5, 2023

Fighter of the Nightman said:
I'm genuinely asking here, but does PSU really bring that many fans to Champaign usually? I know their fans travel really well overall (they quite often take over Maryland and Rutgers, for example), but Champaign seems like one of their more difficult road trips. Hell, even flying to Minneapolis or Omaha/Lincoln would be easier for them, I would imagine. Then again, they do seem extra hyped for this season, so maybe that will add to things.

there are a lot of PSU people - alums and fans - in Chicago and other midwest cities within 3 hours of Champaign - those people are the ones who will come out

Fighter of the Nightman · Sep 5, 2023

illinoistradition said:
What worries me is that they have promised single tickets will not be any lower than they were back in July/early August. My best guess? They have to offer 4-packs to justify cutting prices. Maybe 4 for $99 in the horseshoe?

Interested to see the next sellout tracker. The upperdeck seems to be more sold than it was against Toledo, but the horseshoe is lagging behind big time.

I am MOSTLY just providing conjecture here, as I have no idea how the ticket sales/making tickets available goes behind the scenes ... but it seems the Horseshoe is literally always (at least almost) full way before anywhere in the upper deck. I don't know if day-of sales are disproportionately channeled to the top couple rows of the Horseshoe, but that never seems to be where our problems lie in getting the seats sold. It's always the East Balcony.

As I posted before (also total conjecture!), I think there are two magic numbers to hit to make a nice impression on TV:

1. 53,000 likely means that everywhere in the (visible) stadium is packed, and the upper deck is at least full enough that it doesn't look embarrassing.
2. Over 55,000 makes it "look like a sellout" since we have so many seats underneath the East Balcony overhang. Last year, we didn't even hit 57,000 for the MSU game, but on TV it looked like a completely full stadium.

OrangeAndBlueBlooded · Sep 7, 2023

illinoistradition said:
What worries me is that they have promised single tickets will not be any lower than they were back in July/early August. My best guess? They have to offer 4-packs to justify cutting prices. Maybe 4 for $99 in the horseshoe?

Interested to see the next sellout tracker. The upperdeck seems to be more sold than it was against Toledo, but the horseshoe is lagging behind big time.

There are still "Orange Mini Plan" tickets available for $125 which consists of the Penn State, FAU, and Wisconsin games. It appears Sections 102, 107, and 108 are all that's left for that plan

WWWWRocU · Sep 7, 2023

Mr. Tibbs said:
yup

lower the field by 15ft - 20ft
put the old tractor in the east concourse or new hall of fame under SEZ
put in a mega pump for a new sump pit
put in natural grass

that’s a great start

Would love to see mock-ups of the field being lowered. 15ft to 20ft seems extreme, but then, what do I know.
Would it result in adding a few more seats?

Mr. Tibbs · Sep 7, 2023

WWWWRocU said:
Would love to see mock-ups of the field being lowered. 15ft to 20ft seems extreme, but then, what do I know.
Would it result in adding a few more seats?

maybe 15 ft to 20 is too much . Im not sure what the accurate number is. maybe its just 10-12
but no reason to do it if you cant get a bunch more seats that are close up. It would be a 8-10 ft wall much like Oklahoma St has and that makes it so that even the first row has great sight angles.

When all is said and done , Im guessing we would end up with at least 5000 more , but they would be GREAT seats

illiniwil · Sep 8, 2023

Mr. Tibbs said:
maybe 15 ft to 20 is too much . Im not sure what the accurate number is. maybe its just 10-12
but no reason to do it if you cant get a bunch more seats that are close up. It would be a 8-10 ft wall much like Oklahoma St has and that makes it so that even the first row has great sight angles.

When all is said and done , Im guessing we would end up with at least 5000 more , but they would be GREAT seats

handicapped accessible ramps will make this almost impossible. a ramp has to be 1:12 slope with a landing every 30'.
That's 120' of ramp with 3- 5' landings. Or maybe an elevator to get wheelchairs for ADA to the field. Not impossible, but
a real obstacle. You'd have to blow up the student section and under pin the existing old footings and foundations all
around. cool idea, but maybe not feasible? how about 6' down? Maybe you could berm the sides and ends? i like the
increased seating capacity!

Point-Illinois · Sep 8, 2023

illiniwil said:
handicapped accessible ramps will make this almost impossible. a ramp has to be 1:12 slope with a landing every 30'.
That's 120' of ramp with 3- 5' landings. Or maybe an elevator to get wheelchairs for ADA to the field. Not impossible, but
a real obstacle. You'd have to blow up the student section and under pin the existing old footings and foundations all
around. cool idea, but maybe not feasible? how about 6' down? Maybe you could berm the sides and ends? i like the
increased seating capacity!

Sold!

Illinois 30, Toledo 28 Postgame

Herndon, VA