Amazing contributions by all in this thread, especially
@ChiefGritty! Regarding your comment that the UNC game crowd was a near-unbelievable 13,000 seats short of a sellout, it got me thinking about something I have complained about before. (I believe) these pics are all from the 2016 UNC "fake sellout" ... do any of these crowds look 13k below capacity??
I do not doubt that we actually only scanned about 48,000 tickets, so I think this reinforces my belief that our setup of seats is absolutely terrible, and there should not be one single seat under the upper deck overhang - which is where I bet 80% of those empty seats actually are. I feel like the goal for our stadium, as we currently stand as a program, should be to make the SMALLEST number of seats look the BIGGEST as a structure ... right now, we are pretty much doing the opposite, as in many ways our stadium looks/feels even smaller than 60k. We need 55k to look like 65k. Look at these stadiums, which range from barely bigger than ours to significantly smaller:
Jack Trice Stadium (Iowa State) - 61,500
T. Boone Pickens Stadium (Oklahoma State) - 55,509
Autzen Stadium (Oregon) - 54,000
Huntington Bank Stadium (Minnesota) - 50,805
McLane Stadium (Baylor) 45,140
Every one of these stadiums uses its space so much better than we do. I get a lot of them are new stadiums, but we
are talking about renovations in this thread, no? Jack Trice was old and dinky just a few years ago. All bring their seats down close to the field. The ones with upper decks put absolutely no seats underneath an overhang. All prioritize symmetry (this is one of the aspects of the first Memorial Stadium renovation that has REALLY started to age poorly, if you ask me ... our stadium looks completely disjointed the more time passes, IMO). And, most importantly, all are SO much more imposing than Memorial Stadium. They feel enclosed and tall and intimidating.
It bothers me that the aesthetic of Memorial Stadium seems to be about the DIA's lowest priority, and it is an incredibly underrated aspect in getting fans to simply want to be there for the
social event - even if the football team is subpar. And I think it speaks to a very basic blind spot so many have in the U of I leadership, which I have always been bothered by but often struggled to articulate:
it is a HUGE institutional/structural issue that the University of Illinois has such a transactional relationship with its fans and alumni. Want a world class degree? Come to the U of I, pay us a ton of money and we will set you up for a great career! The DIA wants more fans in the stands? Just win football games, and hope alumni and Champaign County residents JUST cannot fathom staying away from the stadium!!
Sports are emotional, and our rival fan bases in the Big Ten seem to have a much more sentimental attachment to their sports programs - usually ones that have been grown since childhood. Iowa fans are furious and depressed, but there will be 65k+ at Kinnick Stadium this coming Saturday for no other reason than it's FUN, and it is where their other friends will be anyway! Memorial Stadium needs to be a social event in and of itself where you go regardless of the product on the field. For students, that needs to mean rowdy tailgating and an in-game setup where it's a giant coed rager. For young families, that needs to mean an excellent facility where you can kick back and introduce the kids to Illini football - something that should be a tradition they're LEARNING each Saturday! For longtime season ticketholders and donors, that needs to mean excellent amenities and great seats with great views. For EVERYONE, it needs to mean a fun, exciting atmosphere. I do not have all of the perfect fixes, but I can tell you they are way more subtle than people think.
I like going to Memorial Stadium for no other reason than I LOVE the Illini. I like going to Kinnick Stadium and Camp Randall because I know, that no matter how the game goes, it will simply be a great time. The "business-like" atmosphere in Memorial Stadium is palpable, and it's a huge problem. 90% of fans there view it as going to an okay stadium to watch a football team - it should be something that the residents of Champaign County and the surrounding communities would be afraid to miss for completely non-sports-related reasons, regardless of the outcome of the game, and that simply starts with making it fun.