I'm still stunned we got it cosidering how political the IHSA is. I think in the end, our facilities, our location and, most of all, the letter signed by 114 ADs were too much for the IHSA to ignore.

How many fans do they usually get at the championship games?

I would guess around 15,000. I would bet that that figure will be much larger if the game is held in DeKalb.

According to this article it brings about 33,000 visitors for the weekend. I'd imagine that number will be much higher when people can get to the game in an hour or less.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/living/...ureau.html

(06-11-2012 04:34 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  How many fans do they usually get at the championship games?

Average attendance over the 2 days is 33,000 according to an article I found online from the Champaign newspaper talking about the impact on the local economy. It said the economic value of the finals is about $5.8 million to the local economy. Not sure how that translates to DeKalb from a dollars perspective given the locale, local population, etc.

(06-11-2012 04:43 PM)armour248 Wrote:  According to this article it brings about 33,000 visitors for the weekend. I'd imagine that number will be much higher when people can get to the game in an hour or less.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/living/...ureau.html

Beat me to it.

(06-11-2012 04:45 PM)UIHuskie Wrote:  Beat me to it.

You can have half the credit

From the IHSA announcement:

Hickman pointed out a unique portion of Northern Illinois University’s football bid that caught the attention of the IHSA staff and Board.

“Athletic Directors from over 100 IHSA member schools signed the bid, pledging their support for playing the games in DeKalb,” said Hickman. “Schools from as far away as Galva, Peoria Richwoods and Zion-Benton, places you don’t necessarily associate with DeKalb. It went a long way to showing us how much it meant to the entire region to have the state championships played there. Ultimately, all three football bids were extremely strong and almost interchangeable.”

Link

Does this mean our annual game with EMU at Thanksgiving will no longer take place?
A Tuesday night game instead??

I can gladly admit that I was wrong here also. Good day for the Huskies and DeKalb.

Nice! It makes perfect sense to have it at NIU one year, and downstate the next. Its only fair to rotate regions, and to not ignore the most populous one. Hopefully this stretches out past the initial contract!

Bet the guys building the new Hampton Inn and Suites on Annie Glidden are cracking the champagne right now as well.

(06-11-2012 05:05 PM)huskie1stdown Wrote:  Does this mean our annual game with EMU at Thanksgiving will no longer take place?
A Tuesday night game instead??

We could still play the EMU game the Friday after Thanksgiving. We have them at home in odd-numbered years. So, that would have to change.

I am very pleased and a tad surprised by the decision.

No telling what impact the decision will have for NIU and DeKalb. Perhaps the playoffs in Huskie Stadium will reflect commuter more than weekend guests for many attendees residing in no. il.....

At best I expected perhaps the bigger schools upstate would be in DeKalb and the smaller classes playing downstate like when NU hosted the finals.

{The emu-niu THNX GIVING holiday weekend game is only a very recent arrangement....}

The splitting of classes and sites however presents hassle for IHSA logistics.

BTW: Letters of recommendation from 114 HS ADs in no il was a brilliant and perhaps deciding edge for NIU.

Redbird and Saluki fans can't be too happy about this. I ventured over to their message boards after hearing the news. The comments before the announcement made me laugh, and the damn near silence afterwards made me laugh harder.

(06-11-2012 05:19 PM)Big_Man Wrote:  The comments before the announcement made me laugh, and the damn near silence afterwards made me laugh harder.

Awesome.

(06-11-2012 05:19 PM)Big_Man Wrote:  Redbird and Saluki fans can't be too happy about this. I ventured over to their message boards after hearing the news. The comments before the announcement made me laugh, and the damn near silence afterwards made me laugh harder.

Links? I'd love to read them.

(06-11-2012 05:49 PM)niusfactuary Wrote:  

(06-11-2012 05:19 PM)Big_Man Wrote:  Redbird and Saluki fans can't be too happy about this. I ventured over to their message boards after hearing the news. The comments before the announcement made me laugh, and the damn near silence afterwards made me laugh harder.

Links? I'd love to read them.

+1

For those in search of laughs, here's the SIU thread:
http://salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37870

And here's the ISU take:
http://www.redbirdfan.net/forum/viewtopi...f=8&t=3126

(06-11-2012 04:43 PM)armour248 Wrote:  According to this article it brings about 33,000 visitors for the weekend. I'd imagine that number will be much higher when people can get to the game in an hour or less.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/living/...ureau.html

That is over two different days. And, I think they only allow fans in for a certain game, then clear the stadium for the fans of the next game. So, take 33,000 divided by 8 games for an average number of fans per game. Maybe I'm wrong, but when I went several years ago I seem to remember waiting in the concourse until the previous game was over and then we got to go into the stadium.

(06-11-2012 06:08 PM)UIHuskie Wrote:  For those in search of laughs, here's the SIU thread:
http://salukitalk.net/st/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=37870

And here's the ISU take:
http://www.redbirdfan.net/forum/viewtopi...f=8&t=3126

Thanks for the links (and the laughs)!