I don't understand why so many of you are shocked and complaining about attendance.
Let's do a quick recap:
*The only thing we have been consistent at over the past 30 years is losing
*If you are attending an 11AM game and live in the big metros in Illinois, you will likely need to LEAVE around 8 or 9AM which means getting up around 7AM on a Saturday
*There is an entire thread on here bemoaning the in-stadium experience: issues with wifi, concessions, and even trying to get into the stadium itself
*Given the product over the last 10 years, you have multiple classes of students where football has been a complete afterthought, basically creating an entire generation of students that are apathetic when it comes to Illinois football
*Because of how poor the team has played over time, we have likely failed to attract a good share of non-affiliated fans, i.e fans that have no direct ties to the school
I love this school and I ride and die with these teams as many of you on here do. But some of you need to realize that until this team can win and win CONSISTENTLY it's going to be a struggle to get the fans to show up
While this is all fair and whatnot, I think there ARE a few counterpoints to be made:
1) We are 5-1, ranked, coming off truly historic wins for this program, sitting in the driver's seat for our division and about to have our Homecoming game. While it's probably a bit much to expect fans in the Chicago suburbs or even Peoria or Springfield to start impromptu planning their fall Saturdays around Illini football at 11:00 am, I (and many others) am indeed disappointed that we can't draw over 50k from diehards, students and locals alone. I DO think we have "won consistently" enough to rightfully expect THOSE fans to hop back on the bandwagon, if not the more casual fans. Which brings me to my second point..
2) I think we talk about our geography as less populated than it is. I know they have both been better than us lately (especially Iowa), but just compare to Iowa and Purdue:
Iowa
City: 74,828 (97,146 with Coralville)
MSA: 177,239
Adj. Counties: 494,593
Relevant MSAs Within 1.5 Hrs.:
- Quad Cities, IA-IL: 381,568
- Waterloo: 167,796
Total "Close" Population: 1.04 million
Undergrads: 21,973 (30,015 total)
Relevant Att.: 69,250 sellout for every game, while fans are quite upset ... plays to the argument of season ticketholder importance, I suppose!
Purdue
City: 44,595 (115,378 with Lafayette)
MSA: 224,709
Adj. Counties: 336,915
Relevant MSAs Within 1.5 Hrs.:
- Indianapolis, IN: 2.13 million
Total "Close" Population: 2.46 million
Undergrads: 37,101 (46,639 total)
Relevant Att.: 57,307 vs. Penn State on a Thursday; 55,137 vs. Florida Atlantic
Now, us:
ILLINOIS
City: 88,302 (126,638 with Urbana)
MSA: 222,696
Adj. Counties: 499,913
Relevant MSAs Within 1.5 Hrs.:
- Peoria: 398,224
- Springfield: 206,898
- Kankakee: 106,601
- Decatur: 102,432
Total "Close" Population: 1.31 million
Undergrads: 34,559 (56,257 total)
Relevant Att.: 44,910 vs. Iowa
In summary, a losing history can only explain so much; it might explain why we can't get a sellout, but I reject that it's a suitable explanation for consistently pulling under 40k and struggling to ever get above 45k. I think there is a deeper "structural" problem - that our leadership is doing a decent job at trying to fix, IMO - that we are failing to engage non-alumni fans in Central Illinois in ways our rivals are not. There is more than enough local population and undergraduate students to fill a 70k-seat stadium in theory, and there is WAY more than enough to get at least 50k in there for Homecoming to watch a 5-1, nationally ranked team.
It is what it is, and we just have to keep giving the fans a reason to (eventually) show up, but I think Bret and the team have every right to be a little annoyed. Thankfully, I doubt that is near the top of their minds today, and I think they are preparing to beat Minnesota!!
The REAL test of Illini fandom, and if it still exists in any meaningful numbers at all, would be how many fans we can bring to an extremely close Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis should we be fortunate enough to make it ... a bad showing in that hypothetical situation, even against OSU, should make us all feel shameful.