Pregame: Illinois vs Penn State, Saturday, September 16th, 11:00am CT, FOX
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Captain 14
- The Last Best Place
They use it to make sure there's a butt in every seat and every bed because once the plane leaves or the clock strikes midnight that inventory/ revenue is lost forever. Kinda like an empty stadium seat.
danielb927
Orange Krush Class of 2013
- Rochester, MN
Yes, the revenue is lost forever... but revenue is measured in dollars, not rooms or seats. Pricing to sell out may not maximize revenue.
Example: a hotel has 10 rooms left and is deciding whether to price them at $200 or $150 a piece. If they can sell 8/10 rooms at $200, that's a better outcome (from a revenue standpoint) than selling out at $150 each (yes, I'm neglecting costs for the purpose of example).
Original poster was talking about hotels prices I believe. I was responding to that as opposed to stadium ticket prices.
Captain 14
- The Last Best Place
That's why yield management software exists...to dial that stuff in
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
Go look at StubHub or SeatGeek. There's going to be a big discrepancy between "tickets sold" and fannys in seats tomorrow. I think the product on the field at the KU game took the wind out of a lot of people's sails.
SuperMetroid
- Evanston
Hopefully we'll see some positive changes along both lines, but I've not seen anything that makes me think we can win this. Seen a lot to make me think we could get boat-raced though.
Ped St. 38 - 13 Illini
Ped St. 38 - 13 Illini
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Agreed, but again … that’s our problem. Yes, historic winning has something to do with it, but Iowa/Wisconsin/Nebraska fans don’t decide on a weekly basis if they want to go tailgate and enjoy a game. It’s something they wouldn’t miss for reasons beyond just the football being played.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we HAVE to rewire our fans and potential fans to view tailgating outside and attending a game in Memorial Stadium as can’t-miss fun even if the game might be a disappointment. And that’s why when people say “just win,” it’s not enough. Illini games need to be all-day events that center around football but isn’t ONLY about football. Otherwise we’ll continue to have a fickle fan base that sometimes embarrasses us die-hards.
What I bolded is all that matters. If those teams had the history we had over the last two decades, their stadiums would look like ours. Even Nebraska had great success under Pelini. That state is just all centered around that program, and Illinois is not.Agreed, but again … that’s our problem. Yes, historic winning has something to do with it, but Iowa/Wisconsin/Nebraska fans don’t decide on a weekly basis if they want to go tailgate and enjoy a game. It’s something they wouldn’t miss for reasons beyond just the football being played.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we HAVE to rewire our fans and potential fans to view tailgating outside and attending a game in Memorial Stadium as can’t-miss fun even if the game might be a disappointment. And that’s why when people say “just win,” it’s not enough. Illini games need to be all-day events that center around football but isn’t ONLY about football. Otherwise we’ll continue to have a fickle fan base that sometimes embarrasses us die-hards.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s game; I want to see what kind of Illini team this really is. The Toledo narrow victory — not sure what to take away from that. Would it have been an Illini blowout if not for stupid penalties? Or was Toledo better, and thankfully the Illini got a pick-six and a miracle 4th down pass/catch to steal a win from a better opponent? I’m willing to set aside the KU road night game, but i very much want to see how the Illini perform at home against a really good team. Not looking for “moral victory” - but I think this matchup will be a good measuring stick.
Yessir - silver truck with orange flag
My parking spot is in research but I plan to spend most of my time in grange grove. You can spot me with the 2 children who will say things like soda, Willis Tower and IllinoiS just to make mad lol.
The final Sellout Watch for Penn State. The tracker is showing an estimated 47,420 tickets sold. Considering the conservativeness of some of the assumptions and allowing for some walkup sales tomorrow (there will be way less than whatever walkup sales were last week given 1) the tickets were CHEAP and 2) people had all day to buy them ahead of kickoff), I'll tack on an extra +1,500 for an official guess of 48,920...essentially identical to last week's 48,898.
I can’t get over how much of an amateur hour this whole ticketing situation is after last year’s disaster. If anyone is wondering why Toledo is projecting to have higher attendance than the Penn State game - well our DIA decided to punish fans by more than doubling ticket prices for this game. I would love to know who's calling these shots.
Sure the game atmosphere will be more exciting than Toledo, but you think fans are going to pay a premium to watch the Illini likely get smoked? That’s insane. We haven’t had a sellout in years and we need to get people off the couch and in the stands. The focus needs to be on engaging those fans, not trying to milk the fans that are already all-in for some extra money.
We all want the Illini to win, but we‘re 2 TD dogs - people on the couch are not going to spend an extra $50 premium per ticket to watch us lose by 14.5 points to Penn State as their get-up game.
This DIA is clueless.
Sure the game atmosphere will be more exciting than Toledo, but you think fans are going to pay a premium to watch the Illini likely get smoked? That’s insane. We haven’t had a sellout in years and we need to get people off the couch and in the stands. The focus needs to be on engaging those fans, not trying to milk the fans that are already all-in for some extra money.
We all want the Illini to win, but we‘re 2 TD dogs - people on the couch are not going to spend an extra $50 premium per ticket to watch us lose by 14.5 points to Penn State as their get-up game.
This DIA is clueless.
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Just to compare:Agreed, but again … that’s our problem. Yes, historic winning has something to do with it, but Iowa/Wisconsin/Nebraska fans don’t decide on a weekly basis if they want to go tailgate and enjoy a game. It’s something they wouldn’t miss for reasons beyond just the football being played.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we HAVE to rewire our fans and potential fans to view tailgating outside and attending a game in Memorial Stadium as can’t-miss fun even if the game might be a disappointment. And that’s why when people say “just win,” it’s not enough. Illini games need to be all-day events that center around football but isn’t ONLY about football. Otherwise we’ll continue to have a fickle fan base that sometimes embarrasses us die-hards.
Iowa: 20 winning seasons since 2001, including 7 10 win seasons, 2 B10 titles, 2 division titles
Wisconsin: 26 winning seasons since 1996 including 12 10 win seasons, 5 B10 titles, 4 division titles
Nebraska: No losing seasons from 1962-2003 including 5 national championships, and even since 1999 post national championships, 14 10 win seasons, 1 conference title, 7 division titles
Illinois: 6 winning seasons since 1999, 1 10 win season, 1 B10 title, 0 division titles.
So basically, in the last 20- 30years, 1 full human generation, our fans have had so extraordinarily little to cheer about compared to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska, it's no wonder why it's so much easier for them to draw such support compared to us. If we were to similarly have a 10 win season at worst once every 3 years and have a winning season 90% of the time like them, my guess is we'd sell out constantly as well even during down times like Nebraska is going through now.
I mean, look at Iowa. They had a MASSIVE basketball following in the 80s and into the 90s. Then a gradual descent into well over a decade of lackluster play and even in good years, they're in a more tentative, wait and see malaise.
Point is, winning matters a ton, and more importantly, consistently winning changes everything. Comparing us to Iowa, Wisconsin, or Nebraska at this point is like comparing your child's macaroni art to a renowned Renaissance painter. Sure you love your child's art and think it's extraordinary, but it's going to be difficult to get others to pay to see it.
Simply put, "If you build it, they will come". We've just spent years hiring some terrible contractors, while also learning that setting your house on fire and punching holes in the roof is bad.
I completely agree with you that winning matters more than anything else, but this program is in a rebuild and because we don’t have that trained enthusiasm in our fan base the DIA needs to manufacture it, and they are failing. It’s like they treat empty seats as retained value somehow.
Rosh Hashanah
Comparing ourselves to Iowa and Wisconsin is necessary because that’s where we aspire our program to go. But for attendance, just compare ourselves to Purdue and Minnesota — two programs that have been more consistent winners than Illinois, but overall have had plenty of down years and given their fans reasons to jump off the wagon. Yet both programs have their stadiums full or nearly full on the regular. It just seems like neither of their fanbases are waiting to buy tickets a week before the game and are as reactionary to the momentum of the team as Illini fans are.
I just don’t really know what to expect. Get a W at home.
On my way. Going through west central Indiana. Go Illini. Looking for an Illini victory.
If we had a stadium the size of Minnesota’s, we would have almost had a sellout against Toledo. In addition, their last decade has been tremendously successful under the 3 head coaches they’ve had. They’ve made 8 bowl games in the last decade and won several of them; we’ve made 3 bowl games in the last decade and lost each one.
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