Attendance at college sports events in Chicagoland is pretty poor considering the population. Looking recently at Loyola versus UIC and they drew a little over 2,000.
Northwestern cannot draw over 30,000 in football even with Big Ten oppontents bringingin a lot of their own fans.
DePaul draws less than 9,000 for Rutgers and I think that this was one of their best home game attendance so far this season.
This is a pro sports town and I cannot figure out why college sports does not draw.
NIUbro Wrote:Attendance at college sports events in Chicagoland is pretty poor considering the population. Looking recently at Loyola versus UIC and they drew a little over 2,000.
Northwestern cannot draw over 30,000 in football even with Big Ten oppontents bringingin a lot of their own fans.
DePaul draws less than 9,000 for Rutgers and I think that this was one of their best home game attendance so far this season.
This is a pro sports town and I cannot figure out why college sports does not draw.
When you see 6 pages of Bears coverage two days after they lost, it should be no wonder why, The media in Chicago all push pro sports. Fans react accordingly. Even when they do cover college sports, an inordinate amount of coverage is given to big, out-of-area teams (like Ohio State).
Chicago has always been a pro sports town. Having said that, there still has been ample room for things like Notre Dame football and Illinois basketball. If Ron Zook is successful turning around the Illini football program, you can guarantee there will be room for that in the hearts of Chicago sports fans too.
I'm not prepared to say college basketball, outside of the Illini, can't be a huge smash in Chicago. Take a look at what DePaul did in the late 70's through the mid-80's. They were a huge hit in Chicago.
NOWGOAWAY Wrote:Chicago has always been a pro sports town. Having said that, there still has been ample room for things like Notre Dame football and Illinois basketball. If Ron Zook is successful turning around the Illini football program, you can guarantee there will be room for that in the hearts of Chicago sports fans too.
I'm not prepared to say college basketball, outside of the Illini, can't be a huge smash in Chicago. Take a look at what DePaul did in the late 70's through the mid-80's. They were a huge hit in Chicago.
I disagree a little. Even during the immensely lucky year the Illness football team had in getting to a BCS game a few years back, their coverage was pretty low. Even if Zook turns them around a little, ND will be and will always be a bigger Chicago football story than the Illness.
NIUbro Wrote:Attendance at college sports events in Chicagoland is pretty poor considering the population. Looking recently at Loyola versus UIC and they drew a little over 2,000.
Northwestern cannot draw over 30,000 in football even with Big Ten oppontents bringingin a lot of their own fans.
DePaul draws less than 9,000 for Rutgers and I think that this was one of their best home game attendance so far this season.
This is a pro sports town and I cannot figure out why college sports does not draw.
If you listen to sports talk or read a typical sports page, you'll find the sports pecking order in this town is as follows:
1) Bears
2) Bears
3) Bears
4) Cubs
5) Cubs
6) ND Football
7) WHite Sox
8) Bulls
9) IL Hoops
10)Michigan FOotball
11) Wisconsin Football
12)Blackhawks
13) Chicago Wolves
THe only time NU got much of any publicity is when they won back to back Big10 Conference titles in 95 & 96, and they were still playing 2nd fiddle to ND football! NU did have a sellout this year with MI, and drew about 35K each for the NIU, Iowa & WI games (I was there). THe other thing that hurts them is that students are not back on campus till the last weekend in Sept which means their Sept home game attendance won't be very high.
There were some extenuating circumstances to Sunday's attendance numbers and in large part that is attributed to the Bears playing a home game and other NFL games on TV. Most sports fans woudl rather watch an NFL game on TV than attend most other sporting events live.
Frankly I'm surprised that DePaul and Loyola drew what they did (8,100 and 2,350). The Blackhawks played at 6PM SUnday and announced a crowd of 11,200 but I'll bet anything that only about half that many actually showed up.
