So... I guess I am on an island here but ... when I first heard of this, I thought it was great! One of the best things I have heard out of STF. That stadium is awesome-- and just the right size for a regular Huskie game. I am sure if you attend the game, you will agree. I understood this to be a Saturday game, and that the parking lots would be open for tailgaiting. So, all things considered, this looked great to me!

Now I see I may be wrong!

:-(

But, look. The bottom line is STF apparently does not want to put much more effort into building up attendance in DeKalb. He wants a game played in Chicago. If that is a given, if that is a must, set in stone, then this stadium is a MUCH better fit than Soldier Field or Guaranteed Rate - at least for this opponent - or any opponent other than Iowa or Wisconsin. I assume, from a financial side, the athletic department has a much higher likelihood to actually make money on the game at this site than elsewhere. We shall see.

I would LOVE to see real effort made into raising attendance (fan experience) at Huskie Stadium. But, if the decision is cast in stone that we SHALL play a game in Chicago, then this is the best possible, IMHO.

(02-13-2020 09:30 AM)chihuskie Wrote:  So... I guess I am on an island here but ... when I first heard of this, I thought it was great! One of the best things I have heard out of STF. That stadium is awesome-- and just the right size for a regular Huskie game. I am sure if you attend the game, you will agree. I understood this to be a Saturday game, and that the parking lots would be open for tailgaiting. So, all things considered, this looked great to me!

Now I see I may be wrong!

:-(

But, look. The bottom line is STF apparently does not want to put much more effort into building up attendance in DeKalb. He wants a game played in Chicago. If that is a given, if that is a must, set in stone, then this stadium is a MUCH better fit than Soldier Field or Guaranteed Rate - at least for this opponent - or any opponent other than Iowa or Wisconsin. I assume, from a financial side, the athletic department has a much higher likelihood to actually make money on the game at this site than elsewhere. We shall see.

I would LOVE to see real effort made into raising attendance (fan experience) at Huskie Stadium. But, if the decision is cast in stone that we SHALL play a game in Chicago, then this is the best possible, IMHO.

Most of the decisions they've been making are likely to decrease attendance in DeKalb. And they're getting what they're asking for. It isn't an excuse to play elsewhere. Hopefully people will show up for the game but that is unlikely.

To entertain a nation-wide audience of hundreds of thousands on ESPN3, I may attend the game just to streak across the field with nothing on except for a plump Bobak's wiener stuck in my mouth (and maybe another one somewhere else). I want to show the nation that we take games like this seriously!

(02-12-2020 06:02 PM)DiehardHuskie Wrote:  Can't wait to see where we play the "home" game against Vanderbilt in 2022. Memorial Stadium in Joliet?

There's someone on FB asking to move a future game to Joliet.

(02-13-2020 09:45 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(02-12-2020 06:02 PM)DiehardHuskie Wrote:  Can't wait to see where we play the "home" game against Vanderbilt in 2022. Memorial Stadium in Joliet?

There's someone on FB asking to move a future game to Joliet.

Somebody named Shawntee?

I think we may feel let down because of the excitement in our heads of the "Big Announcement" but this is just market research for Huskie Nation! I hope we sell out and win this game because it is easier for the media outlets to travel over there for coverage. While we all love Huskie Stadium, Geekseat stadium may be closer for some prospective students/players/alumni to watch a game live this year.(Jordan Lynch can take a bus load of his players to watch this game lol) So let us just stay positive instead of the freak out that just happened.

I think the shady deal conspiracies is a bit much. The Chi town Showdown is just a promo they run. And they’ll run it again and some fans will be mad. I’m sure they figured out from the Toledo/Sox game that without opposing fans they can draw 15-20k. SeatGeek stadium fits their needs in every way except neighborhood. And maybe it was super cheap to rent. A game at Soldier Field without Wisconsin or Iowa is gonna look like a WNBA game in attendance.

If they felt they could draw 28k fans to dekalb they may have kept it there. But Utah only drew 16.7k. I get it’s a kick in the teeth to locals and season ticket holders, but is one home game vs BYU going to change anything? No. 0%. Is moving it to Bridgeview? Not likely. But >0%.

NIU is 128 out of 130 in attendance over the last 5 years. 126th in athletic budget. How long do you think they can run the program like this in today’s game?

I actually think they have a chance to get a bigger crowd in Bridgeview than DeKalb for this game. I'm totally sympathetic to season ticket holders (I am one) and DeKalb businesses but it's worth a try. I've seen quite a bit of enthusiasm for this game among my friends due to it being located closer than DeKalb.

SeatGeek could be super loud with roofs on both sides, might be a fun venue for a one-off game.

(02-13-2020 10:33 AM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  I think the shady deal conspiracies is a bit much. The Chi town Showdown is just a promo they run. And they’ll run it again and some fans will be mad. I’m sure they figured out from the Toledo/Sox game that without opposing fans they can draw 15-20k. SeatGeek stadium fits their needs in every way except neighborhood. And maybe it was super cheap to rent. A game at Soldier Field without Wisconsin or Iowa is gonna look like a WNBA game in attendance.

If they felt they could draw 28k fans to dekalb they may have kept it there. But Utah only drew 16.7k. I get it’s a kick in the teeth to locals and season ticket holders, but is one home game vs BYU going to change anything? No. 0%. Is moving it to Bridgeview? Not likely. But >0%.

NIU is 128 out of 130 in attendance over the last 5 years. 126th in athletic budget. How long do you think they can run the program like this in today’s game?

Is a couple of home games on weeknights every year going to change anything? Is moving the Toledo home game to Chicago going to change anything? Is moving the BYU game to Bridgeview going to change anything? Is making season ticket holders pay an extra $25 for a game that had been free going to change anything? None of these by themselves is disastrous but when you keep doing it, everyone is on edge wondering in what other way they will get screwed.

I think I don't need any more "big announcements".

(02-13-2020 10:39 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(02-13-2020 10:33 AM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  I think the shady deal conspiracies is a bit much. The Chi town Showdown is just a promo they run. And they’ll run it again and some fans will be mad. I’m sure they figured out from the Toledo/Sox game that without opposing fans they can draw 15-20k. SeatGeek stadium fits their needs in every way except neighborhood. And maybe it was super cheap to rent. A game at Soldier Field without Wisconsin or Iowa is gonna look like a WNBA game in attendance.

If they felt they could draw 28k fans to dekalb they may have kept it there. But Utah only drew 16.7k. I get it’s a kick in the teeth to locals and season ticket holders, but is one home game vs BYU going to change anything? No. 0%. Is moving it to Bridgeview? Not likely. But >0%.

NIU is 128 out of 130 in attendance over the last 5 years. 126th in athletic budget. How long do you think they can run the program like this in today’s game?

Is a couple of home games on weeknights every year going to change anything? Is moving the Toledo home game to Chicago going to change anything? Is moving the BYU game to Bridgeview going to change anything? Is making season ticket holders pay an extra $25 for a game that had been free going to change anything? None of these by themselves is disastrous but when you keep doing it, everyone is on edge wondering in what other way they will get screwed.

I think I don't need any more "big announcements".

All of it - maction, Chi town Showdown, P5 blood money games....it’s all done for advertising. To get the NIU brand out there in hopes of growing. It’s hard to quantify the value of advertising. It may hurt the fan base but what do you worry about first, Fans or player recruitment?

Really, if there was no Maction I don’t think people would care about these Chi town games. People may even be on board about Chicago exposure. But With Maction it’s like being taxed twice.

Lates say attendance is 19,000 for this game. Where did those fans come from? According to this board it sounds like a new “mass exodus” is growing about this game. Season ticket holders. So if the game draws 19k without the thousands of upset STH’s, is it successful? The thousands of new attendees to a NIU game?

(02-13-2020 11:04 AM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  

(02-13-2020 10:39 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(02-13-2020 10:33 AM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  I think the shady deal conspiracies is a bit much. The Chi town Showdown is just a promo they run. And they’ll run it again and some fans will be mad. I’m sure they figured out from the Toledo/Sox game that without opposing fans they can draw 15-20k. SeatGeek stadium fits their needs in every way except neighborhood. And maybe it was super cheap to rent. A game at Soldier Field without Wisconsin or Iowa is gonna look like a WNBA game in attendance.

If they felt they could draw 28k fans to dekalb they may have kept it there. But Utah only drew 16.7k. I get it’s a kick in the teeth to locals and season ticket holders, but is one home game vs BYU going to change anything? No. 0%. Is moving it to Bridgeview? Not likely. But >0%.

NIU is 128 out of 130 in attendance over the last 5 years. 126th in athletic budget. How long do you think they can run the program like this in today’s game?

Is a couple of home games on weeknights every year going to change anything? Is moving the Toledo home game to Chicago going to change anything? Is moving the BYU game to Bridgeview going to change anything? Is making season ticket holders pay an extra $25 for a game that had been free going to change anything? None of these by themselves is disastrous but when you keep doing it, everyone is on edge wondering in what other way they will get screwed.

I think I don't need any more "big announcements".

All of it - maction, Chi town Showdown, P5 blood money games....it’s all done for advertising. To get the NIU brand out there in hopes of growing. It’s hard to quantify the value of advertising. It may hurt the fan base but what do you worry about first, Fans or player recruitment?

Really, if there was no Maction I don’t think people would care about these Chi town games. People may even be on board about Chicago exposure. But With Maction it’s like being taxed twice.

Lates say attendance is 19,000 for this game. Where did those fans come from? According to this board it sounds like a new “mass exodus” is growing about this game. Season ticket holders. So if the game draws 19k without the thousands of upset STH’s, is it successful? The thousands of new attendees to a NIU game?

It depends. It's obvious that having games in Chicago doesn't increase attendance in DeKalb. A one time burst of fans from Chicago doesn't make up for a long-term drop in season-ticket holders in DeKalb because they're all annoyed about these changes by STF.

And I would bet that most people in Chicago won't even know that this game is going on.

I agree that this a much bigger deal because of MACtion already making season tickets of dubious value for many - moving this game is kind of salt in the wounds.

Let's see how many people this game draws. It's on a Saturday, which is a plus. But it will rain, and that's not a plus. I don't see this game being a draw in the Chicago area, but I hope I'm wrong. Athletics will need to do something it is not good at - and that is called marketing. And not just a 1/16 page ad in the Daily Chronicle. They need ads and articles in the major newspapers and commercials and interviews on radio and TV. They need to make this game sound important, exciting, and the place to be on October 24. Will they do it? I seriously doubt it.

(02-13-2020 11:12 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Let's see how many people this game draws. It's on a Saturday, which is a plus. But it will rain, and that's not a plus. I don't see this game being a draw in the Chicago area, but I hope I'm wrong. Athletics will need to do something it is not good at - and that is called marketing. And not just a 1/16 page ad in the Daily Chronicle. They need ads and articles in the major newspapers and commercials and interviews on radio and TV. They need to make this game sound important, exciting, and the place to be on October 24. Will they do it? I seriously doubt it.

They get so little attention from Chicago media already, they will have to pay for most of the attention they get. And we don't have money so where is that going to come from?

(02-13-2020 11:07 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(02-13-2020 11:04 AM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  

(02-13-2020 10:39 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(02-13-2020 10:33 AM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  I think the shady deal conspiracies is a bit much. The Chi town Showdown is just a promo they run. And they’ll run it again and some fans will be mad. I’m sure they figured out from the Toledo/Sox game that without opposing fans they can draw 15-20k. SeatGeek stadium fits their needs in every way except neighborhood. And maybe it was super cheap to rent. A game at Soldier Field without Wisconsin or Iowa is gonna look like a WNBA game in attendance.

If they felt they could draw 28k fans to dekalb they may have kept it there. But Utah only drew 16.7k. I get it’s a kick in the teeth to locals and season ticket holders, but is one home game vs BYU going to change anything? No. 0%. Is moving it to Bridgeview? Not likely. But >0%.

NIU is 128 out of 130 in attendance over the last 5 years. 126th in athletic budget. How long do you think they can run the program like this in today’s game?

Is a couple of home games on weeknights every year going to change anything? Is moving the Toledo home game to Chicago going to change anything? Is moving the BYU game to Bridgeview going to change anything? Is making season ticket holders pay an extra $25 for a game that had been free going to change anything? None of these by themselves is disastrous but when you keep doing it, everyone is on edge wondering in what other way they will get screwed.

I think I don't need any more "big announcements".

All of it - maction, Chi town Showdown, P5 blood money games....it’s all done for advertising. To get the NIU brand out there in hopes of growing. It’s hard to quantify the value of advertising. It may hurt the fan base but what do you worry about first, Fans or player recruitment?

Really, if there was no Maction I don’t think people would care about these Chi town games. People may even be on board about Chicago exposure. But With Maction it’s like being taxed twice.

Lates say attendance is 19,000 for this game. Where did those fans come from? According to this board it sounds like a new “mass exodus” is growing about this game. Season ticket holders. So if the game draws 19k without the thousands of upset STH’s, is it successful? The thousands of new attendees to a NIU game?

It depends. It's obvious that having games in Chicago doesn't increase attendance in DeKalb. A one time burst of fans from Chicago doesn't make up for a long-term drop in season-ticket holders in DeKalb because they're all annoyed about these changes by STF.

And I would bet that most people in Chicago won't even know that this game is going on.

I agree that this a much bigger deal because of MACtion already making season tickets of dubious value for many - moving this game is kind of salt in the wounds.

No, it won’t help home attendance. But maybe moves merchandise or donations or tv viewers. Maybe it gives them a reason to rent billboard space or do radio spots. Idk. Hopefully it’s a good win and great time. All we can do is wish it to be succesful.

(02-13-2020 11:12 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Let's see how many people this game draws. It's on a Saturday, which is a plus. But it will rain, and that's not a plus. I don't see this game being a draw in the Chicago area, but I hope I'm wrong. Athletics will need to do something it is not good at - and that is called marketing. And not just a 1/16 page ad in the Daily Chronicle. They need ads and articles in the major newspapers and commercials and interviews on radio and TV. They need to make this game sound important, exciting, and the place to be on October 24. Will they do it? I seriously doubt it.

Am I confused or did you really predict it’s gonna rain? Let me know how you’re feeling about this weeks lottery numbers while you’re at it.

I have to ask..how many peeps do you think will attend?

So at the end of the day, it doesn't sound like it was for money, or for a different TV deal/broadcast, so is this just for HS teams in chicago to come out and see a game?

I mean that is quite a move just for recruiting.

Or am I missing something obvious or implied?

(02-13-2020 11:16 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(02-13-2020 11:12 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Let's see how many people this game draws. It's on a Saturday, which is a plus. But it will rain, and that's not a plus. I don't see this game being a draw in the Chicago area, but I hope I'm wrong. Athletics will need to do something it is not good at - and that is called marketing. And not just a 1/16 page ad in the Daily Chronicle. They need ads and articles in the major newspapers and commercials and interviews on radio and TV. They need to make this game sound important, exciting, and the place to be on October 24. Will they do it? I seriously doubt it.

They get so little attention from Chicago media already, they will have to pay for most of the attention they get. And we don't have money so where is that going to come from?

Exactly. They need to pay the reporters (in some form) to get coverage. They don't get coverage because they just don't do it. They need to wine and dine the media to get them to come to DeKalb. They do need a budget for this, but it need not be astronomical. If they can't do it, they should simply get out of the business. If they don't have the money (which is a ringing observation on this board) to run a business, they should simply close shop or move down to FCS.

Am I correct no game Time announced?

It had best be in the 1-2:30 range that time of year.

I think I am starting to understand why Frazier moved this game. Perhaps there is an expectation for NIU to have a horrible year, which is probably likely to be honest. He is cashing in that game before the market completely crashes in mid season if this season is that bad by late october. That might make business sense but not sure he is figuring in the loss of season ticket sales

(02-13-2020 11:25 AM)$NIU$ Wrote:  

(02-13-2020 11:12 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Let's see how many people this game draws. It's on a Saturday, which is a plus. But it will rain, and that's not a plus. I don't see this game being a draw in the Chicago area, but I hope I'm wrong. Athletics will need to do something it is not good at - and that is called marketing. And not just a 1/16 page ad in the Daily Chronicle. They need ads and articles in the major newspapers and commercials and interviews on radio and TV. They need to make this game sound important, exciting, and the place to be on October 24. Will they do it? I seriously doubt it.

Am I confused or did you really predict it’s gonna rain? Let me know how you’re feeling about this weeks lottery numbers while you’re at it.

I have to ask..how many peeps do you think will attend?

Yes, it will rain that day. Get your money into Vegas now. It will rain heavily in Chicago and near-southwest suburbs that day. Ironically - and unusually - it will be sunny in DeKalb that day. It will, however, rain for all 3 Saturday games in DeKalb.

Attendance? Here's the official Dog Fan prediction: 4,472 (due to the rain).