(02-18-2020 05:00 PM)Prince Crossing Wrote:  I’ve said it before. I live in Winfield. Although I am a 35 year fan, it’s gonna take a lot to get me to come out on a work night in November to watch the Huskies play a crappy MAC team. And I will guaran-flipping-tee you that I’m not gonna get any takers when I ask friends or family to come with me to watch the Akron/Ohio/EMU football game. Go to Bridgeview, forget it.

The University, if they are serious, needs to clean sheet the program and decide where they want to be. Look at Butler and the success they’ve achieved in basketball for a college their size. Similarly, North Dakota State in football. They do not have the resources that NIU has but have developed outstanding loyalty in their community. I’m sure the fans on this board can relate when I say I’m tired of the Chicago sports media treating Notre Dame as a “local” school with rarely a mention of NIU’s results during the sports.

I can totally relate - it's ridiculous to me.

(02-18-2020 03:47 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 03:33 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 02:43 PM)7 Wrote:  They won 12 games in 2013 and were coming off 4 straight 10+ win seasons (and beat a big ten team early in the year)......and averaged 13,000 fans in a year they won the conference.

I mean that kind of speaks for itself

The only home game they had in OOC in 2014 was Presbyterian. In the rain. Presbyterian. Can't blame the fans for that one. They had 20K at homecoming.

It is this type of scheduling that left a permanent bad taste in the mouths of many Huskie fans.

This seems more like making excuses than anything that’s based in facts. The sustained level of success should have been more than enough. This isn’t just one thing. Did scheduling hurt? Sure, but it goes well beyond that.

(02-18-2020 05:19 PM)7 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 03:47 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 03:33 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 02:43 PM)7 Wrote:  They won 12 games in 2013 and were coming off 4 straight 10+ win seasons (and beat a big ten team early in the year)......and averaged 13,000 fans in a year they won the conference.

I mean that kind of speaks for itself

The only home game they had in OOC in 2014 was Presbyterian. In the rain. Presbyterian. Can't blame the fans for that one. They had 20K at homecoming.

It is this type of scheduling that left a permanent bad taste in the mouths of many Huskie fans.

This seems more like making excuses than anything that’s based in facts. The sustained level of success should have been more than enough. This isn’t just one thing. Did scheduling hurt? Sure, but it goes well beyond that.

Certainly the drop in students, the E$PN deal, the scheduling, increase in ticket prices a while back, and the general decrease in football attendance.

(02-18-2020 02:03 PM)Illini60940 Wrote:  The problem for NIU is the town of Dekalb, which needs to grow and show signs of life. Kids don't care about how a schools basketball team is doing, they want to be able to walk to Starbucks, Chipolte, BWW, microbrews and whatever else the current trend is.

When talking to the people at EIU, they tell me the same thing, but its difficult to get these companies to locate to these smaller town.

For Rabid Squirrel's benefit, title: A RESPONSE
Just to set the record straight, Starbucks and Chipotle have locations that literally are connected to campus, both BWW and microbrews exist in DeKalb and what Illini60940 doesn't seem to know or understand is that NIU's enrollment was once around 21,000 and attendance was far better. A number of poor decisions, the diminishing effect of MACtion, and to some degree, success, has spoiled our game atmosphere and fan base. The current trend nationally is a decrease in football attendance. All in all, it's about rebuilding and regaining what we had, not being patient.
Forward: Lack of logic
Moving a home game with the single best name recognition foe and a former national champion -- BYU is far greater than Utah, San Diego State, or Boston College -- off campus, especially when its a Saturday with potentially good weather is simply a stupid move.
Every game moved off campus has seen decreases in attendance and there's no transparency as to what the true financial cost has been. Once again, the whole premise of Schedulepalooza was to enhance home game opponents but that has been proven to be an STF lie.
So what if the game at Bridgeview breaks even or produces a small profit, is the goal to have a commuter football program?
Hate the ILL-ini but the novelty of moving select games to Soldier Field didn't work out, neither did the occasional basketball game at the United Center. DePaul had a record run in Rosemont but came to realize they needed to be closer to campus hence Wintrust Arena. Perhaps Northwestern may play another game as a novelty, but Phillips and Co. know its more important to build attendance at Ryan Field. The Wildcats finally made the NCAA in hoops and being forced into a temporary home for one season clearly had an adverse affect on that program.
Everybody on here wanting a football game at Soldier Field, Guarnateed Rate, or Bridgeview talks about reaching the supposed 160,000 alums in Chicago. For what purpose? So they attend one game a year IF it's played closer to them? How does that sustain FBS status? Show any proof or evidence that those other games moved to Chicago produced any kind of increase in donations.
That's as irrelevant as Rabid Squirrel bringing up SunBelt teams with smaller enrollments; the enrollment number has nothing to do with FBS status. It's money, and yes some SunBelt schools may have smaller budgets but they don't exist in the shadow of the Big Ten and especially a pro market.....it's apples and oranges.
Bottom line, the ultimate goal has to be getting fans, students, and the nearby communities to once again show their support in Huskie Stadium. And Maddawgz and others are correct in emphasizing the cumulative affect of administrations taking too much for granted when it comes to loyalty, parking, ticket prices, etc.
Appendix
Once again, a theoretical once-a-season bump from a game played off campus is no more going to sustain the program than not making every effort to build attendance at Huskie Stadium. Continue ignoring or turning you back on the few loyal fans showing up in DeKalb and you'll see more decline in financial support.

While for us die-hards, BYU has bigger name recognition, I don't think that's the case for the casual fan. Not any more. But I agree with the logic that Saturday games are needed in DeKalb, and would prefer (would not mind, maybe even like?) if the Chicago/Seat Geek or whatever was tried for MACtion weekday game every year.

(02-18-2020 05:44 PM)uiniu57 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 02:03 PM)Illini60940 Wrote:  The problem for NIU is the town of Dekalb, which needs to grow and show signs of life. Kids don't care about how a schools basketball team is doing, they want to be able to walk to Starbucks, Chipolte, BWW, microbrews and whatever else the current trend is.

When talking to the people at EIU, they tell me the same thing, but its difficult to get these companies to locate to these smaller town.

For Rabid Squirrel's benefit, title: A RESPONSE
Just to set the record straight, Starbucks and Chipotle have locations that literally are connected to campus, both BWW and microbrews exist in DeKalb and what Illini60940 doesn't seem to know or understand is that NIU's enrollment was once around 21,000 and attendance was far better. A number of poor decisions, the diminishing effect of MACtion, and to some degree, success, has spoiled our game atmosphere and fan base. The current trend nationally is a decrease in football attendance. All in all, it's about rebuilding and regaining what we had, not being patient.
Forward: Lack of logic
Moving a home game with the single best name recognition foe and a former national champion -- BYU is far greater than Utah, San Diego State, or Boston College -- off campus, especially when its a Saturday with potentially good weather is simply a stupid move.
Every game moved off campus has seen decreases in attendance and there's no transparency as to what the true financial cost has been. Once again, the whole premise of Schedulepalooza was to enhance home game opponents but that has been proven to be an STF lie.
So what if the game at Bridgeview breaks even or produces a small profit, is the goal to have a commuter football program?
Hate the ILL-ini but the novelty of moving select games to Soldier Field didn't work out, neither did the occasional basketball game at the United Center. DePaul had a record run in Rosemont but came to realize they needed to be closer to campus hence Wintrust Arena. Perhaps Northwestern may play another game as a novelty, but Phillips and Co. know its more important to build attendance at Ryan Field. The Wildcats finally made the NCAA in hoops and being forced into a temporary home for one season clearly had an adverse affect on that program.
Everybody on here wanting a football game at Soldier Field, Guarnateed Rate, or Bridgeview talks about reaching the supposed 160,000 alums in Chicago. For what purpose? So they attend one game a year IF it's played closer to them? How does that sustain FBS status? Show any proof or evidence that those other games moved to Chicago produced any kind of increase in donations.
That's as irrelevant as Rabid Squirrel bringing up SunBelt teams with smaller enrollments; the enrollment number has nothing to do with FBS status. It's money, and yes some SunBelt schools may have smaller budgets but they don't exist in the shadow of the Big Ten and especially a pro market.....it's apples and oranges.
Bottom line, the ultimate goal has to be getting fans, students, and the nearby communities to once again show their support in Huskie Stadium. And Maddawgz and others are correct in emphasizing the cumulative affect of administrations taking too much for granted when it comes to loyalty, parking, ticket prices, etc.
Appendix
Once again, a theoretical once-a-season bump from a game played off campus is no more going to sustain the program than not making every effort to build attendance at Huskie Stadium. Continue ignoring or turning you back on the few loyal fans showing up in DeKalb and you'll see more decline in financial support.

I was not aware there is a Starbuck and Chipolte, was just referencing some layouts I saw awhile ago.

Point being is that NIU, EIU and WIU lack a campus feel that we have seen in Champaign and Normal, downtown areas next to campus with hotels, dining, bars, shopping and entertainment. That is what we feel the 2020 college student wants.

The question is, how do we as a state get to the point that our current high school seniors want to attend our directional schools? What can they do to emulate UICU and ISU? Or can they? What does Dekalb as a city need to do? To me, that is the point that's important, get the enrollment up and the athletic budget will be in a far better spot.

(02-18-2020 05:44 PM)uiniu57 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 02:03 PM)Illini60940 Wrote:  The problem for NIU is the town of Dekalb, which needs to grow and show signs of life. Kids don't care about how a schools basketball team is doing, they want to be able to walk to Starbucks, Chipolte, BWW, microbrews and whatever else the current trend is.

When talking to the people at EIU, they tell me the same thing, but its difficult to get these companies to locate to these smaller town.

For Rabid Squirrel's benefit, title: A RESPONSE
Just to set the record straight, Starbucks and Chipotle have locations that literally are connected to campus, both BWW and microbrews exist in DeKalb and what Illini60940 doesn't seem to know or understand is that NIU's enrollment was once around 21,000 and attendance was far better. A number of poor decisions, the diminishing effect of MACtion, and to some degree, success, has spoiled our game atmosphere and fan base. The current trend nationally is a decrease in football attendance. All in all, it's about rebuilding and regaining what we had, not being patient.
Forward: Lack of logic
Moving a home game with the single best name recognition foe and a former national champion -- BYU is far greater than Utah, San Diego State, or Boston College -- off campus, especially when its a Saturday with potentially good weather is simply a stupid move.
Every game moved off campus has seen decreases in attendance and there's no transparency as to what the true financial cost has been. Once again, the whole premise of Schedulepalooza was to enhance home game opponents but that has been proven to be an STF lie.
So what if the game at Bridgeview breaks even or produces a small profit, is the goal to have a commuter football program?
Hate the ILL-ini but the novelty of moving select games to Soldier Field didn't work out, neither did the occasional basketball game at the United Center. DePaul had a record run in Rosemont but came to realize they needed to be closer to campus hence Wintrust Arena. Perhaps Northwestern may play another game as a novelty, but Phillips and Co. know its more important to build attendance at Ryan Field. The Wildcats finally made the NCAA in hoops and being forced into a temporary home for one season clearly had an adverse affect on that program.
Everybody on here wanting a football game at Soldier Field, Guarnateed Rate, or Bridgeview talks about reaching the supposed 160,000 alums in Chicago. For what purpose? So they attend one game a year IF it's played closer to them? How does that sustain FBS status? Show any proof or evidence that those other games moved to Chicago produced any kind of increase in donations.
That's as irrelevant as Rabid Squirrel bringing up SunBelt teams with smaller enrollments; the enrollment number has nothing to do with FBS status. It's money, and yes some SunBelt schools may have smaller budgets but they don't exist in the shadow of the Big Ten and especially a pro market.....it's apples and oranges.
Bottom line, the ultimate goal has to be getting fans, students, and the nearby communities to once again show their support in Huskie Stadium. And Maddawgz and others are correct in emphasizing the cumulative affect of administrations taking too much for granted when it comes to loyalty, parking, ticket prices, etc.
Appendix
Once again, a theoretical once-a-season bump from a game played off campus is no more going to sustain the program than not making every effort to build attendance at Huskie Stadium. Continue ignoring or turning you back on the few loyal fans showing up in DeKalb and you'll see more decline in financial support.

You ask us to provide proof but what proof have you provided to defend your position?

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

(02-18-2020 05:44 PM)uiniu57 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 02:03 PM)Illini60940 Wrote:  The problem for NIU is the town of Dekalb, which needs to grow and show signs of life. Kids don't care about how a schools basketball team is doing, they want to be able to walk to Starbucks, Chipolte, BWW, microbrews and whatever else the current trend is.

When talking to the people at EIU, they tell me the same thing, but its difficult to get these companies to locate to these smaller town.

For Rabid Squirrel's benefit, title: A RESPONSE
Just to set the record straight, Starbucks and Chipotle have locations that literally are connected to campus, both BWW and microbrews exist in DeKalb and what Illini60940 doesn't seem to know or understand is that NIU's enrollment was once around 21,000 and attendance was far better. A number of poor decisions, the diminishing effect of MACtion, and to some degree, success, has spoiled our game atmosphere and fan base. The current trend nationally is a decrease in football attendance. All in all, it's about rebuilding and regaining what we had, not being patient.
Forward: Lack of logic
Moving a home game with the single best name recognition foe and a former national champion -- BYU is far greater than Utah, San Diego State, or Boston College -- off campus, especially when its a Saturday with potentially good weather is simply a stupid move.
Every game moved off campus has seen decreases in attendance and there's no transparency as to what the true financial cost has been. Once again, the whole premise of Schedulepalooza was to enhance home game opponents but that has been proven to be an STF lie.
So what if the game at Bridgeview breaks even or produces a small profit, is the goal to have a commuter football program?
Hate the ILL-ini but the novelty of moving select games to Soldier Field didn't work out, neither did the occasional basketball game at the United Center. DePaul had a record run in Rosemont but came to realize they needed to be closer to campus hence Wintrust Arena. Perhaps Northwestern may play another game as a novelty, but Phillips and Co. know its more important to build attendance at Ryan Field. The Wildcats finally made the NCAA in hoops and being forced into a temporary home for one season clearly had an adverse affect on that program.
Everybody on here wanting a football game at Soldier Field, Guarnateed Rate, or Bridgeview talks about reaching the supposed 160,000 alums in Chicago. For what purpose? So they attend one game a year IF it's played closer to them? How does that sustain FBS status? Show any proof or evidence that those other games moved to Chicago produced any kind of increase in donations.
That's as irrelevant as Rabid Squirrel bringing up SunBelt teams with smaller enrollments; the enrollment number has nothing to do with FBS status. It's money, and yes some SunBelt schools may have smaller budgets but they don't exist in the shadow of the Big Ten and especially a pro market.....it's apples and oranges.
Bottom line, the ultimate goal has to be getting fans, students, and the nearby communities to once again show their support in Huskie Stadium. And Maddawgz and others are correct in emphasizing the cumulative affect of administrations taking too much for granted when it comes to loyalty, parking, ticket prices, etc.
Appendix
Once again, a theoretical once-a-season bump from a game played off campus is no more going to sustain the program than not making every effort to build attendance at Huskie Stadium. Continue ignoring or turning you back on the few loyal fans showing up in DeKalb and you'll see more decline in financial support.

Will there be a book signing at the next home game? Or you gonna hold off til Bridgeview for maximum exposure?

Sometimes it’s just simply location. The average city population of the top and bottom Mac teams in home attendance:

Top 4 Mac teams: 202,000
Bottom 4 teams : 41,000

It’s just another hardship NIU has to overcome. 40k Dekalbians..

We can go 'round and 'round on this forever, but ...

STF has tried this Chicago thing before, and the fans came out ... mostly for Wisconsin and Iowa. NIU-Toledo was a disaster (10,180). So why is STF doing this again? What is substantially different this time?

There has to be something involved in this that is not being said. Is NIU handing out tickets to high schools per Hammock's statement that it will be great for city recruiting? Is there some deal for a primetime kickoff on a Saturday? Are there potential sponsors out there with some $$? Is this a test for in-city attendance for possible future games at Bridgeview?

Sometimes I think STF plays close to the vest because there are factors at work that need to be kept close. He has GOT to know that local fans are p'o'd. He may not overtly express care and kindness, but he has to know.

And with such a major change, why haven't we heard from Lisa freeman or Dennis Barsema? Is STF the lightning rod for this?

Anyone who hears of anything, please post. Something about this whole thing has to make more sense.

(02-18-2020 06:15 PM)Illini60940 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 05:44 PM)uiniu57 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 02:03 PM)Illini60940 Wrote:  The problem for NIU is the town of Dekalb, which needs to grow and show signs of life. Kids don't care about how a schools basketball team is doing, they want to be able to walk to Starbucks, Chipolte, BWW, microbrews and whatever else the current trend is.

When talking to the people at EIU, they tell me the same thing, but its difficult to get these companies to locate to these smaller town.

For Rabid Squirrel's benefit, title: A RESPONSE
Just to set the record straight, Starbucks and Chipotle have locations that literally are connected to campus, both BWW and microbrews exist in DeKalb and what Illini60940 doesn't seem to know or understand is that NIU's enrollment was once around 21,000 and attendance was far better. A number of poor decisions, the diminishing effect of MACtion, and to some degree, success, has spoiled our game atmosphere and fan base. The current trend nationally is a decrease in football attendance. All in all, it's about rebuilding and regaining what we had, not being patient.
Forward: Lack of logic
Moving a home game with the single best name recognition foe and a former national champion -- BYU is far greater than Utah, San Diego State, or Boston College -- off campus, especially when its a Saturday with potentially good weather is simply a stupid move.
Every game moved off campus has seen decreases in attendance and there's no transparency as to what the true financial cost has been. Once again, the whole premise of Schedulepalooza was to enhance home game opponents but that has been proven to be an STF lie.
So what if the game at Bridgeview breaks even or produces a small profit, is the goal to have a commuter football program?
Hate the ILL-ini but the novelty of moving select games to Soldier Field didn't work out, neither did the occasional basketball game at the United Center. DePaul had a record run in Rosemont but came to realize they needed to be closer to campus hence Wintrust Arena. Perhaps Northwestern may play another game as a novelty, but Phillips and Co. know its more important to build attendance at Ryan Field. The Wildcats finally made the NCAA in hoops and being forced into a temporary home for one season clearly had an adverse affect on that program.
Everybody on here wanting a football game at Soldier Field, Guarnateed Rate, or Bridgeview talks about reaching the supposed 160,000 alums in Chicago. For what purpose? So they attend one game a year IF it's played closer to them? How does that sustain FBS status? Show any proof or evidence that those other games moved to Chicago produced any kind of increase in donations.
That's as irrelevant as Rabid Squirrel bringing up SunBelt teams with smaller enrollments; the enrollment number has nothing to do with FBS status. It's money, and yes some SunBelt schools may have smaller budgets but they don't exist in the shadow of the Big Ten and especially a pro market.....it's apples and oranges.
Bottom line, the ultimate goal has to be getting fans, students, and the nearby communities to once again show their support in Huskie Stadium. And Maddawgz and others are correct in emphasizing the cumulative affect of administrations taking too much for granted when it comes to loyalty, parking, ticket prices, etc.
Appendix
Once again, a theoretical once-a-season bump from a game played off campus is no more going to sustain the program than not making every effort to build attendance at Huskie Stadium. Continue ignoring or turning you back on the few loyal fans showing up in DeKalb and you'll see more decline in financial support.

I was not aware there is a Starbuck and Chipolte, was just referencing some layouts I saw awhile ago.

Point being is that NIU, EIU and WIU lack a campus feel that we have seen in Champaign and Normal, downtown areas next to campus with hotels, dining, bars, shopping and entertainment. That is what we feel the 2020 college student wants.

The question is, how do we as a state get to the point that our current high school seniors want to attend our directional schools? What can they do to emulate UICU and ISU? Or can they? What does Dekalb as a city need to do? To me, that is the point that's important, get the enrollment up and the athletic budget will be in a far better spot.

You know, you talk an awful lot like someone we've banned around here quite a lot...

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

(02-18-2020 02:03 PM)Illini60940 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 01:52 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  FYI. Average attendance, home games, post-BCS Orange Bowl:

2013: 20,669
2014: 13,563
2015: 13,942
2016: 10,879
2017; 11,291
2018: 10,404
2019: 8,518

Regardless of the teams' records, head coaches, weather, location, opponents, facilities, etc., the actual living breathing fans are not showing up at Huskie Stadium. It doesn't matter what STF does or doesn't do. There are too many factors beyond his or NIU's control. But STF is still obligated to try, and the BYU/SeatGeek game is another.

I don't like the idea of moving the one big game to Bridgeview, but I hope it works anyway. Those 160,000 Chicago alumni are not coming to DeKalb, and DeKalb/Sycamore does not have the population base to generate more attendance. It will not, I agree, increase attendance in DeKalb, but maybe the "engagement" is about getting some to contribute $.

This is a pipe dream, but fun to play with: if 160,000 alumni each contributed $100, that's $16 million. Too much? OK, at $10 apiece, that's $1.6 million.

It is actually $16M

The problem for NIU is the town of Dekalb, which needs to grow and show signs of life. Kids don't care about how a schools basketball team is doing, they want to be able to walk to Starbucks, Chipolte, BWW, microbrews and whatever else the current trend is.

When talking to the people at EIU, they tell me the same thing, but its difficult to get these companies to locate to these smaller town.

Yep. NIU and even moreso EIU/WIU are all in fatally flawed locations (SIU in Carbondale is fine because it has a regional identity in Little Egypt). Coles County (EIU) hasn’t been relevant since the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

These schools needed to be located in Naperville (NIU), Quad Cities (WIU), and Danville/Effingham/Kankakee (EIU).

(02-18-2020 10:42 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 02:03 PM)Illini60940 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 01:52 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  FYI. Average attendance, home games, post-BCS Orange Bowl:

2013: 20,669
2014: 13,563
2015: 13,942
2016: 10,879
2017; 11,291
2018: 10,404
2019: 8,518

Regardless of the teams' records, head coaches, weather, location, opponents, facilities, etc., the actual living breathing fans are not showing up at Huskie Stadium. It doesn't matter what STF does or doesn't do. There are too many factors beyond his or NIU's control. But STF is still obligated to try, and the BYU/SeatGeek game is another.

I don't like the idea of moving the one big game to Bridgeview, but I hope it works anyway. Those 160,000 Chicago alumni are not coming to DeKalb, and DeKalb/Sycamore does not have the population base to generate more attendance. It will not, I agree, increase attendance in DeKalb, but maybe the "engagement" is about getting some to contribute $.

This is a pipe dream, but fun to play with: if 160,000 alumni each contributed $100, that's $16 million. Too much? OK, at $10 apiece, that's $1.6 million.

It is actually $16M

The problem for NIU is the town of Dekalb, which needs to grow and show signs of life. Kids don't care about how a schools basketball team is doing, they want to be able to walk to Starbucks, Chipolte, BWW, microbrews and whatever else the current trend is.

When talking to the people at EIU, they tell me the same thing, but its difficult to get these companies to locate to these smaller town.

Yep. NIU and even moreso EIU/WIU are all in fatally flawed locations (SIU in Carbondale is fine because it has a regional identity in Little Egypt). Coles County (EIU) hasn’t been relevant since the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

These schools needed to be located in Naperville (NIU), Quad Cities (WIU), and Danville/Effingham/Kankakee (EIU).

Not sure if that would have an impact, kids when they go to school want to GO AWAY, not be at a school that's 30 minutes from mom and dad. Plus that's not realistic as its way too cost prohibitive.

Focus needs to be building up the area, make it safer and more things to do.

Does anybody find it strange that enrollment took a tumble after they closed the Paperback Grotto? I know that if I were a student at NIU when that happened, I would have transferred.

(02-19-2020 09:32 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Does anybody find it strange that enrollment took a tumble after they closed the Paperback Grotto? I know that if I were a student at NIU when that happened, I would have transferred.

No.

(02-17-2020 10:14 AM)Huskies2006 Wrote:  

(02-15-2020 06:42 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  Frazier called having a 6th home game an "extra" game. So sounds like he is fine with only five home games and this neutral site thing will be common whenever we have six home games scheduled in DeKalb. So any other P5 teams scheduled to play in DeKalb we can probably expect to get moved to another location.

I think.. it's pretty easy to justify moving the games to like Soldier Field or Wrigley.. or even the Cell. But ******* Bridgeview? Terrible.

How did he not see how badly the Fire wanted to get out of there, why would we intentionally go there? It's absurd.

Stadium wise, its a better fit for a football game than the baseball stadiums, capacity wise its a better fit than the baseball stadiums or SF. I don't mind the move. I don't like the loss of a home game, and the marque one at that.

Looks like CMU is doing the same thing as NIU. Moving their big home game(WMU) to Ford Field. The reason? Declining enrollment and the CMU alumni populace in Detroit.

If it makes our move look any better it’s only 63 miles stadium to stadium for NIU fans. 155 miles for CMU’s.

Apparently they contacted WMU for a 4-year Ford Field agreement and WMU wanted no part of it.

CMU fans absolutely hate it
https://247sports.com/college/central-mi...144246681/

(02-18-2020 10:42 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 02:03 PM)Illini60940 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 01:52 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  FYI. Average attendance, home games, post-BCS Orange Bowl:

2013: 20,669
2014: 13,563
2015: 13,942
2016: 10,879
2017; 11,291
2018: 10,404
2019: 8,518

Regardless of the teams' records, head coaches, weather, location, opponents, facilities, etc., the actual living breathing fans are not showing up at Huskie Stadium. It doesn't matter what STF does or doesn't do. There are too many factors beyond his or NIU's control. But STF is still obligated to try, and the BYU/SeatGeek game is another.

I don't like the idea of moving the one big game to Bridgeview, but I hope it works anyway. Those 160,000 Chicago alumni are not coming to DeKalb, and DeKalb/Sycamore does not have the population base to generate more attendance. It will not, I agree, increase attendance in DeKalb, but maybe the "engagement" is about getting some to contribute $.

This is a pipe dream, but fun to play with: if 160,000 alumni each contributed $100, that's $16 million. Too much? OK, at $10 apiece, that's $1.6 million.

It is actually $16M

The problem for NIU is the town of Dekalb, which needs to grow and show signs of life. Kids don't care about how a schools basketball team is doing, they want to be able to walk to Starbucks, Chipolte, BWW, microbrews and whatever else the current trend is.

When talking to the people at EIU, they tell me the same thing, but its difficult to get these companies to locate to these smaller town.

Yep. NIU and even moreso EIU/WIU are all in fatally flawed locations (SIU in Carbondale is fine because it has a regional identity in Little Egypt). Coles County (EIU) hasn’t been relevant since the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

These schools needed to be located in Naperville (NIU), Quad Cities (WIU), and Danville/Effingham/Kankakee (EIU).

The Western suburbs will continue to expand, even if slowly, so NIU not situated too badly, although yes, being in St.Charles or the like would be strategically better right now. Agree that EIU/WIU in worse/odd locations. Seems like EIU is almost unnecessary given the proximity of the other major state schools like ISU and Illness.

I wonder if the state has a chopping block concept in place for the future and what schools might go first in the current version of that schematic? EIU and a few smaller colleges if Illinois went lean and mean?

(02-27-2020 01:15 PM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 10:42 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 02:03 PM)Illini60940 Wrote:  

(02-18-2020 01:52 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  FYI. Average attendance, home games, post-BCS Orange Bowl:

2013: 20,669
2014: 13,563
2015: 13,942
2016: 10,879
2017; 11,291
2018: 10,404
2019: 8,518

Regardless of the teams' records, head coaches, weather, location, opponents, facilities, etc., the actual living breathing fans are not showing up at Huskie Stadium. It doesn't matter what STF does or doesn't do. There are too many factors beyond his or NIU's control. But STF is still obligated to try, and the BYU/SeatGeek game is another.

I don't like the idea of moving the one big game to Bridgeview, but I hope it works anyway. Those 160,000 Chicago alumni are not coming to DeKalb, and DeKalb/Sycamore does not have the population base to generate more attendance. It will not, I agree, increase attendance in DeKalb, but maybe the "engagement" is about getting some to contribute $.

This is a pipe dream, but fun to play with: if 160,000 alumni each contributed $100, that's $16 million. Too much? OK, at $10 apiece, that's $1.6 million.

It is actually $16M

The problem for NIU is the town of Dekalb, which needs to grow and show signs of life. Kids don't care about how a schools basketball team is doing, they want to be able to walk to Starbucks, Chipolte, BWW, microbrews and whatever else the current trend is.

When talking to the people at EIU, they tell me the same thing, but its difficult to get these companies to locate to these smaller town.

Yep. NIU and even moreso EIU/WIU are all in fatally flawed locations (SIU in Carbondale is fine because it has a regional identity in Little Egypt). Coles County (EIU) hasn’t been relevant since the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

These schools needed to be located in Naperville (NIU), Quad Cities (WIU), and Danville/Effingham/Kankakee (EIU).

The Western suburbs will continue to expand, even if slowly, so NIU not situated too badly, although yes, being in St.Charles or the like would be strategically better right now. Agree that EIU/WIU in worse/odd locations. Seems like EIU is almost unnecessary given the proximity of the other major state schools like ISU and Illness.

I wonder if the state has a chopping block concept in place for the future and what schools might go first in the current version of that schematic? EIU and a few smaller colleges if Illinois went lean and mean?

I think a school like Chicago State should have been shut down already. I'm sorry, but small state funded schools like that should be gone and distribute the cash to the other schools even though it won't be a large amount.