In Teddy Greenstein's Chicago Trib article about the top 5 things we learned from the Big Ten games played on Saturday, he made the following comment: "Illinois fans apparently did not know that Saturday’s game would be played at Soldier Field — the crowd looked like it could fit in a Michigan Avenue bus shelter — so consider this a friendly reminder: the Penn State game is Friday at 8 p.m. CT (Champaign time)."
In his week 3 power rankings of the Big Ten teams he made this comment: "Look on the bright side. Only family and friends showed up to Soldier Field to watch that hideous fourth quarter."
Bob Asmussen had an article in the C-U News Gazette about Soldier Field not really being a home away from home. He mentioned that we still have a contract to play one more game up there. He also mentioned that although no date or opponent has been selected yet, signs point to moving our home game with Virginia in 2022 up there. We would still have to play them at their stadium and not a neutral site of their choosing. In looking at the 2022 schedule, we open at Wisconsin and then have 5 consecutive home games in a row starting with Virginia so I could see that game being moved up there.
Asmussen is in favor of getting out of the contract and to never play up there again. Especially not giving up true home games during rebuilding times.
Yesterday's paid attendance 21,725 in a stadium that holds 61,500. We had seats in the first row of 336 which is about the 50 yard line on the west side. When we entered the 200 level section, we were told that the were not having anyone sit up in the 300 level section and they gave us new tickets to sit in the 200 level section.
Attendance has never been great for Solider Field games. The Wash State game in 1994 was only 39,472 (back then the stadium held 66,950). I think this was mostly due to the fact the game was on a Thursday night before Labor Day. The Washington game in 2013 did better at 47,312 but a lot of Huskie fans were there. Then most of us know in 2015 against NW, it as only 33,514 even with NW ranked and the game played closer to their fan base.
Whitman has mentioned before he would like to see games played there about every four years. Should we continue to try to promote Illini football in Chicago to maintain a presence there? Would we have had a bigger crowd say if the USF game was in Champaign? Is it worth it financially to give up true home game and true home field advantage?
One thought I have on this is, C-U loses out on having extra revenue generated for football weekends when home games are moved up there. I doubt Chicago gains a whole lot revenue wise with us being up there.
We have had discussions on the basketball board about whether to continue to have games at the United Center for basketball . What our your thoughts on football?
In his week 3 power rankings of the Big Ten teams he made this comment: "Look on the bright side. Only family and friends showed up to Soldier Field to watch that hideous fourth quarter."
Bob Asmussen had an article in the C-U News Gazette about Soldier Field not really being a home away from home. He mentioned that we still have a contract to play one more game up there. He also mentioned that although no date or opponent has been selected yet, signs point to moving our home game with Virginia in 2022 up there. We would still have to play them at their stadium and not a neutral site of their choosing. In looking at the 2022 schedule, we open at Wisconsin and then have 5 consecutive home games in a row starting with Virginia so I could see that game being moved up there.
Asmussen is in favor of getting out of the contract and to never play up there again. Especially not giving up true home games during rebuilding times.
Yesterday's paid attendance 21,725 in a stadium that holds 61,500. We had seats in the first row of 336 which is about the 50 yard line on the west side. When we entered the 200 level section, we were told that the were not having anyone sit up in the 300 level section and they gave us new tickets to sit in the 200 level section.
Attendance has never been great for Solider Field games. The Wash State game in 1994 was only 39,472 (back then the stadium held 66,950). I think this was mostly due to the fact the game was on a Thursday night before Labor Day. The Washington game in 2013 did better at 47,312 but a lot of Huskie fans were there. Then most of us know in 2015 against NW, it as only 33,514 even with NW ranked and the game played closer to their fan base.
Whitman has mentioned before he would like to see games played there about every four years. Should we continue to try to promote Illini football in Chicago to maintain a presence there? Would we have had a bigger crowd say if the USF game was in Champaign? Is it worth it financially to give up true home game and true home field advantage?
One thought I have on this is, C-U loses out on having extra revenue generated for football weekends when home games are moved up there. I doubt Chicago gains a whole lot revenue wise with us being up there.
We have had discussions on the basketball board about whether to continue to have games at the United Center for basketball . What our your thoughts on football?
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