Soldier Field games vs Northwestern discontinued

#1      

Dan

Dan
Admin
Dan
Instead of playing NW at Soldier Field in '17 & 19, #Illini will host non-conf. game there every 4 years, starting w/ South Florida in 2018.
https://twitter.com/IlliniFootball/status/796095295872466944


Illinois will discontinue the biannual game at Soldier Field against Northwestern

The next scheduled Soldier Field appearance for the Fighting Illini will be Sept. 15, 2018, when Illinois hosts South Florida.

http://www.fightingillini.com/news/...otball-schedules-announced.aspx?path=football
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#3      

mossimo142

M
mossimo142
Being from downstate, this makes me happy. I'll concede 1 non conference game every 4 years in exchange for this game to be back in Champaign.
 
#4      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
Gonna flip flop and support this. At least for now, I think we'd have a better crowd at Soldier Field for a warm weather tailgating party that can serve as a yearly reunion for Chicago area alums than a likely meaningless game in the cold vs. the Mildcats.
 
#5      

Cubby Blue

C
Cubby Blue
had a feeling this was happening. JW didn't exactly sound like a proponent of us hosting NW up there and basically letting them stay in their own beds so to speak. Can't say as I blame him. I would have rather played Minny up there every time we host though. That stadium will look pretty sparse against weak non conference foes. Chicago alumni will need to represent big time and bring 642 of their closest friends.
 
#7      

DrewD007

DrewD007
Woodridge, IL
DrewD007
CwxPGmRVQAAOq93.jpg:large


This is what happens when you host games after Thanksgiving... Big mistake IMO.
 
#9      

Dan

Dan
Admin
Dan
^^ that was the only time in history that Illinois Football hosted a game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (2013 vs Northwestern).

The result were the following national headlines-
The Illinois Student Section Is The Saddest-Est
Illinois Student Section Reaches New Low Point as It Is Nearly Empty

Students already on Thanksgiving break probably aren't going to rush back to campus for an 11:00am game.

Need to figure out another way to somewhat fill in our beloved 4,800-seat island to the north.


Nov 2013, the very first Illinois home game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving-

il-student-section-2013.jpg
 
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#10      

DrewD007

DrewD007
Woodridge, IL
DrewD007
Dan said:
^^ that was the only time in history that Illinois Football hosted a game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (2013 vs Northwestern).

The result were the following national headlines-
The Illinois Student Section Is The Saddest-Est
Illinois Student Section Reaches New Low Point as It Is Nearly Empty

Students already on Thanksgiving break probably aren't going to rush back to campus for an 11:00am game.

Probably need to figure out a way to somewhat fill in our beloved 4,800-seat island to the north.
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Students that live in the dorms can't even move back in until Sunday. Perhaps if that changed it'd be some help.
 
#11      

dgcrow

dgcrow
Kelso, WA
dgcrow
Whitman: "Our intent is to play a major non-conference opponent at Soldier Field once very four years." So perhaps, for 2022, they will at some point schedule Virginia there, rather than Wyoming or Central Michigan.
 
#12      

doho19

D
doho19
This is a good move...

People aren't coming no matter what...

2013 in CU vs NU 37,058 (Illini finish 4-8)
2014 in CU vs PSU (weekend before Tgiving) 35,172 (Illini finish 6-7)
2015 SF vs NU 33,514 (Illini finish 5-7)

It's wins and perception of the program and its direction that will drive attendance anywhere. So if all things are equal why were we giving NU essentially another home game?

I was at all these games, its all miserable... WIN... and people come.

And then a great idea like Drew mentioned... you now have a year, work with your peers in Housing, get the dorms open on Saturday.

Also like Dan said, start working on ideas to fill the NEZ.

Even if you can't get those things done, the numbers still tell you that odds are you are going to get 30-35,000 so it should be our home game and only our home game.
 
#13      

DrewD007

DrewD007
Woodridge, IL
DrewD007
doho19 said:
This is a good move...

People aren't coming no matter what...

2013 in CU vs NU 37,058 (Illini finish 4-8)
2014 in CU vs PSU (weekend before Tgiving) 35,172 (Illini finish 6-7)
2015 SF vs NU 33,514 (Illini finish 5-7)

It's wins and perception of the program and its direction that will drive attendance anywhere. So if all things are equal why were we giving NU essentially another home game?

I was at all these games, its all miserable... WIN... and people come.

And then a great idea like Drew mentioned... you now have a year, work with your peers in Housing, get the dorms open on Saturday.

Also like Dan said, start working on ideas to fill the NEZ.

Even if you can't get those things done, the numbers still tell you that odds are you are going to get 30-35,000 so it should be our home game and only our home game.
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That 37,058 from 2013 is tickets sold. Actual attendance was probably 10,000.
 
#14      

doho19

D
doho19
DrewD007 said:
That 37,058 from 2013 is tickets sold. Actual attendance was probably 10,000.
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Well sure. Like I said I was there. So I guess the question is what is the soldier Field figure? Because I was at that game two in there definitely was not 33,000 a bad game.

So I guess ultimately we're talking up probably a swing of 10 to 15,000 is that still worth it when we're talking about numbers this low anyway?

I guess that is more my point
 
#16      

FT35

FT35
Naperville
FT35
DrewD007 said:
That 37,058 from 2013 is tickets sold. Actual attendance was probably 10,000.
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I was at that game and it seemed like there were way more than 10,000 there. my memory could be playing tricks on me, though.

The 2009 game against Fresno State didn't have very many people there at all. Honestly, we've probably had more people at Spring games than at that game. My buddy and I were the ONLY ones in our entire Section. It was a great idea to have a nonconference game in December :thumb: