Let's face facts. Attendance has been declining for the past decade in DeKalb. No amount of fan engagement surveys are going to change this activity unless something drastic happens (building a new stadium or changing conferences) both of which are unlikely.

Whatever the stadium in bridgeview is called these days should be where we play games going forward. It's not going to fix weather impacts but by every other metric it makes sense to look into.

1. Closer to population center. Most people aren't driving to DeKalb ok a weekend or weekday to go to a football game. Bring the football closer to them. We may even grow attendance by getting some people who would never consider driving out to dekalb because they have no affiliation with the University.
1a. Students don't attend games like they used to stop by using them as an excuse to keep games in DeKalb. Offer them a bus or whatever to get them to the games if they want to attend
2. A stadium with actual amenities and premium seating options. Huskie Stadium was fine for what it was 2/4 decades ago. People are demanding more options and NIU/Illinois doesn't have the money to spend on a giant facelift.
3. Advertising and alternative revenue streams more people equal more eyeballs and opportunities
4. Reducing our maintenance obligations by demolishing of HS.

(03-11-2020 03:50 PM)numbersdontlie Wrote:  Let's face facts. Attendance has been declining for the past decade in DeKalb. No amount of fan engagement surveys are going to change this activity unless something drastic happens (building a new stadium or changing conferences) both of which are unlikely.

Whatever the stadium in bridgeview is called these days should be where we play games going forward. It's not going to fix weather impacts but by every other metric it makes sense to look into.

1. Closer to population center. Most people aren't driving to DeKalb ok a weekend or weekday to go to a football game. Bring the football closer to them. We may even grow attendance by getting some people who would never consider driving out to dekalb because they have no affiliation with the University.
1a. Students don't attend games like they used to stop by using them as an excuse to keep games in DeKalb. Offer them a bus or whatever to get them to the games if they want to attend
2. A stadium with actual amenities and premium seating options. Huskie Stadium was fine for what it was 2/4 decades ago. People are demanding more options and NIU/Illinois doesn't have the money to spend on a giant facelift.
3. Advertising and alternative revenue streams more people equal more eyeballs and opportunities
4. Reducing our maintenance obligations by demolishing of HS.

You just will never have enough people to make things viable in Bridgeview, never

Nobody gets more fans by moving their games off-campus.

I agree with 1a simply -- only per impact -- because commuter student growth has aggravated the traditional "suitcase school" mentality. Since a lot of students go "home" for the weekends, student attendance might pick up closer to "home" as a weekend activity. Don't see it happening on weeknights, though.

As far as off-campus stadiums, Colorado State and UConn have/are going TO on-campus. So are others I can't think of right now.

Imo, on-campus a larger stadium is not needed with attendance the way it is and likely to be. Even potential attendance is not going to reach the heights it has. Fact: in more than 300 home games at HS since the west side opened in 1965, attendance has topped 27,000 six times. The last time was v. Southern Illinois in 2004.

A list of HS improvements and budget broken out for each item needs to be developed. None of these bulk $50 million rebuilds.

Also, a lot more attention needs to be paid to the game-day experience around the stadium.

As far as SeatGeek, let's see what happens with the game v. BYU, which is a Saturday game.

(03-11-2020 03:51 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(03-11-2020 03:50 PM)numbersdontlie Wrote:  Let's face facts. Attendance has been declining for the past decade in DeKalb. No amount of fan engagement surveys are going to change this activity unless something drastic happens (building a new stadium or changing conferences) both of which are unlikely.

Whatever the stadium in bridgeview is called these days should be where we play games going forward. It's not going to fix weather impacts but by every other metric it makes sense to look into.

1. Closer to population center. Most people aren't driving to DeKalb ok a weekend or weekday to go to a football game. Bring the football closer to them. We may even grow attendance by getting some people who would never consider driving out to dekalb because they have no affiliation with the University.
1a. Students don't attend games like they used to stop by using them as an excuse to keep games in DeKalb. Offer them a bus or whatever to get them to the games if they want to attend
2. A stadium with actual amenities and premium seating options. Huskie Stadium was fine for what it was 2/4 decades ago. People are demanding more options and NIU/Illinois doesn't have the money to spend on a giant facelift.
3. Advertising and alternative revenue streams more people equal more eyeballs and opportunities
4. Reducing our maintenance obligations by demolishing of HS.

You just will never have enough people to make things viable in Bridgeview, never

You just will never have enough people to make things viable in Dekalb, never.

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(03-11-2020 05:11 PM)pantone1935 Wrote:  

(03-11-2020 03:51 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(03-11-2020 03:50 PM)numbersdontlie Wrote:  Let's face facts. Attendance has been declining for the past decade in DeKalb. No amount of fan engagement surveys are going to change this activity unless something drastic happens (building a new stadium or changing conferences) both of which are unlikely.

Whatever the stadium in bridgeview is called these days should be where we play games going forward. It's not going to fix weather impacts but by every other metric it makes sense to look into.

1. Closer to population center. Most people aren't driving to DeKalb ok a weekend or weekday to go to a football game. Bring the football closer to them. We may even grow attendance by getting some people who would never consider driving out to dekalb because they have no affiliation with the University.
1a. Students don't attend games like they used to stop by using them as an excuse to keep games in DeKalb. Offer them a bus or whatever to get them to the games if they want to attend
2. A stadium with actual amenities and premium seating options. Huskie Stadium was fine for what it was 2/4 decades ago. People are demanding more options and NIU/Illinois doesn't have the money to spend on a giant facelift.
3. Advertising and alternative revenue streams more people equal more eyeballs and opportunities
4. Reducing our maintenance obligations by demolishing of HS.

You just will never have enough people to make things viable in Bridgeview, never

You just will never have enough people to make things viable in Dekalb, never.

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been done before in DeKalb. It has never been done in Bridgeview.

If you can't squeeze 3 or 4 visits in your schedule to head down 88, then maybe NIU Football isn't for you. Relocating the team for the lazy side of the fan base is ridiculous.

(03-12-2020 09:25 AM)niu50yrdline Wrote:  If you can't squeeze 3 or 4 visits in your schedule to head down 88, then maybe NIU Football isn't for you. Relocating the team for the lazy side of the fan base is ridiculous.

valid argument, but i'm going to guess the vast percentage of ppl who attend games aren't season ticket holders, but ppl who go to one game a season.

plus anything that makes it easier for more people to get to those weeknight games, i'm all onboard.

Why pay money to rent a stadium when you have your own? Do you think NIU will draw so many more fans to cover and exceed the costs involved?

Also, what about the local business (including restaurants) that will get burned by no games in DeKalb? Do you really want to crap on businesses like Fatty's, who provides plenty of support for the Huskies?

Also, what about the businesses that supply the food at Huskie Stadium? Will they be able to pack up and ship their food to Bridgeview, or will Athletics need to secure more local vendors?

(03-11-2020 04:28 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Nobody gets more fans by moving their games off-campus.

not true at all.

in fact, most teams see an increase. UMass had a significant increase (in the range of 20%-30%) when they moved to Gillette Stadium for a number of years until they moved back to Amherst.

and plenty of teams in the NCAA play off campus:
https://herosports.com/college-football/...ampus-aiai

I get it, we are all diehard fans, but at a certain point, if the attendance isn't there, you've got to try a few new things. we moan all the time about attendance, lets give this a shot before we throw the baby out with the bathwater.

(03-12-2020 09:47 AM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  

(03-11-2020 04:28 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Nobody gets more fans by moving their games off-campus.

not true at all.

in fact, most teams see an increase. UMass had a significant increase (in the range of 20%-30%) when they moved to Gillette Stadium for a number of years until they moved back to Amherst.

and plenty of teams in the NCAA play off campus:
https://herosports.com/college-football/...ampus-aiai

I get it, we are all diehard fans, but at a certain point, if the attendance isn't there, you've got to try a few new things. we moan all the time about attendance, lets give this a shot before we throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Temporary increase, sure. We got more fans when we played Wisconsin at Soldier Field, but that doesn't mean much. Most of them were the other team's fans.

I read the contract and the Shaw Media description of it, and it seems NIU will pay $75,000 and needs to sell 3,000 tickets to break even. Also gets a share of parking and concessions.

I said this before: in the future (depending on BYU game draw), move the weekday night games to SeatGeek, where there's a least a change at a % of those 160,000 Chicago alumni, leave the four Saturday games at HS an build them up (game-day experience) for local fans.

(03-12-2020 09:25 AM)niu50yrdline Wrote:  If you can't squeeze 3 or 4 visits in your schedule to head down 88, then maybe NIU Football isn't for you. Relocating the team for the lazy side of the fan base is ridiculous.

Taking this stance will only lead to lower attendance numbers.

Has anyone calculated the revenues from concession sales to X number of free attendees vs. the revenues from concession and ticket sales to the current smaller number of paying fans?

Would you make more money selling hot dogs, beers and jerseys to 25,000 people who got in for free (or $1) than you would selling $15 tickets to 10,000 people who also bought hot dogs, beers and jerseys?

It would be interesting to see the number of free fans you would need to generate more overall revenue than you would with the current number of paying fans.

You would also want to factor in any local hotel/restaurant spending from fans, asking the city to kick in some dollars in exchange for making the games free.

This might only work for the weeknight games, but I'd be curious to know if enough local families (even non-fans looking for a family night out) would come to a free football game to make the math work.

(03-12-2020 09:40 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Why pay money to rent a stadium when you have your own? Do you think NIU will draw so many more fans to cover and exceed the costs involved?

Also, what about the local business (including restaurants) that will get burned by no games in DeKalb? Do you really want to crap on businesses like Fatty's, who provides plenty of support for the Huskies?

Also, what about the businesses that supply the food at Huskie Stadium? Will they be able to pack up and ship their food to Bridgeview, or will Athletics need to secure more local vendors?

You assume the stadium is some free asset that we get to reap. It has maintenance costs which are real. What you're failing to acknowledge are the lost opportunity costs of additional revenue or different amenities. HS has extremely limited premium seating options (revenue) or modern conveniences (wifi). How many times are you gonna make fun of urinal troughs or the poor concessions? Your emotions (or memories) are getting in the way of making the right choice for the university.

Bridgeview is a stadium that needs tenants. We're in need of an upgrade. Its a good match.

I will acknowledge that local business will be impacted but you get to replace some of those revenues with new businesses in Bridgeview. The economics of Huskie football or NIU cannot be evaluated based on the impacts of a few GREAT supporters (Fatty's included). We need to make the best decision for the University not for a private business.

I'm sure Aramark or whatever vendor is currently servicing Huskie stadium will survive. The food quality is not great (not that i consider any stadium food quality that good).

(03-13-2020 09:44 AM)numbersdontlie Wrote:  

(03-12-2020 09:40 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Why pay money to rent a stadium when you have your own? Do you think NIU will draw so many more fans to cover and exceed the costs involved?

Also, what about the local business (including restaurants) that will get burned by no games in DeKalb? Do you really want to crap on businesses like Fatty's, who provides plenty of support for the Huskies?

Also, what about the businesses that supply the food at Huskie Stadium? Will they be able to pack up and ship their food to Bridgeview, or will Athletics need to secure more local vendors?

You assume the stadium is some free asset that we get to reap. It has maintenance costs which are real. What you're failing to acknowledge are the lost opportunity costs of additional revenue or different amenities. HS has extremely limited premium seating options (revenue) or modern conveniences (wifi). How many times are you gonna make fun of urinal troughs or the poor concessions? Your emotions (or memories) are getting in the way of making the right choice for the university.

Bridgeview is a stadium that needs tenants. We're in need of an upgrade. Its a good match.

I will acknowledge that local business will be impacted but you get to replace some of those revenues with new businesses in Bridgeview. The economics of Huskie football or NIU cannot be evaluated based on the impacts of a few GREAT supporters (Fatty's included). We need to make the best decision for the University not for a private business.

I'm sure Aramark or whatever vendor is currently servicing Huskie stadium will survive. The food quality is not great (not that i consider any stadium food quality that good).

Unless you tear down Huskie Stadium, those stadium costs will remain.

Although games at SeatGeek would be better for me because it's closer to my house, I do not see any increases in attendance from having the games there. Plus, NIU would be abandoning the local fans they have in DeKalb/Sycamore, Rockford, and far western suburbs. Not the way to keep and maybe expand your fanbase. And, I do not see a Chicago/suburban fanbase building from a permanent move to SeatGeek.

It's all moot anyway because I do not see this happening. However, with STF at the helm, nothing outlandish is impossible.