Harkless on Purdue. Committed to Illini at some point I believe. Didn’t go to Auburn.
Illini Football 2024
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I saw a post earlier related to our attendance, and I just wanted to make the point once again that while it takes time to build up a consistent ticket base (people go to Iowa games even when they're bad out of habit because of many wins in previous years ... same for us in basketball), the growth in fan enthusiasm is very apparent since Bret got here. I've looked at this a number of ways, but this one was interesting to me. Below are Saturday Big Ten home games from Lovie's last year with fans (2019) to this season. For these purposes, a "bad crowd" is any below 40k, and a "good crowd" is anything above 50k.
2019
High: 44,512 (vs. NEB)
Average: 38,139
Low: 35,895 (vs. NU)
# Good: 0 times
# Bad: 4 times
--- Insert COVID-19 pandemic, a 2-win 2020 season, Lovie being fired and Bret being hired ---
2021
High: 40,168 (vs. WISC)
Average: 36,450
Low: 27,624 (vs. NU)
# Good: 0 times
# Bad: 2 times
--- Illini miss a bowl but show promising flashes in a 5-7 campaign, including two top 25 wins on the road ---
2022
High: 56,092 (vs. MSU)
Average: 48,065
Low: 44,910 (vs. IOWA)
# Good: 1 time
# Bad: 0 times
--- Illini have a surprising, break-out season that leads to a 7-1 start, first top 25 ranking in over a decade and a New Year's Day bowl ---
2023
High: 54,205 (vs. WISC)
Average: 49,693
Low: 42,310 (vs. NU ... like always!)
# Good: 2 times
# Bad: 0 times
--- I always say ticket sales lag success (and failure, for that matter), and this is a great example ... we pretty much are seeing the fruits of 2022 (and not totally falling off in 2023/2024) this year ---
2024
High: 60,670 (vs. MICH)
Average: 58,243
Low: 55,815 (vs. PUR)
# Good: 2 times
# Bad: 0 times
Small sample size? Sure. Arbitrary cutoffs not considering non-conference games and only looking at Saturdays? Maybe. The point is, though, that when Bret Bielema got here, we were very lucky to get over 40k people in the stadium on our best day, and a crowd in the 35k range was depressingly normal. In a few years, he has moved our FLOOR for a Big Ten home game up into the 55k range, and we have sold out (at least) two games halfway through the season.
TL;DR
Since he was hired, Bret Bielema has effectively CREATED 20k new Illini fans that purchase tickets ... while we all hope for this trend to continue and to get back to a place where any given game might sell out, that is nothing short of an incredible improvement.
2019
High: 44,512 (vs. NEB)
Average: 38,139
Low: 35,895 (vs. NU)
# Good: 0 times
# Bad: 4 times
--- Insert COVID-19 pandemic, a 2-win 2020 season, Lovie being fired and Bret being hired ---
2021
High: 40,168 (vs. WISC)
Average: 36,450
Low: 27,624 (vs. NU)
# Good: 0 times
# Bad: 2 times
--- Illini miss a bowl but show promising flashes in a 5-7 campaign, including two top 25 wins on the road ---
2022
High: 56,092 (vs. MSU)
Average: 48,065
Low: 44,910 (vs. IOWA)
# Good: 1 time
# Bad: 0 times
--- Illini have a surprising, break-out season that leads to a 7-1 start, first top 25 ranking in over a decade and a New Year's Day bowl ---
2023
High: 54,205 (vs. WISC)
Average: 49,693
Low: 42,310 (vs. NU ... like always!)
# Good: 2 times
# Bad: 0 times
--- I always say ticket sales lag success (and failure, for that matter), and this is a great example ... we pretty much are seeing the fruits of 2022 (and not totally falling off in 2023/2024) this year ---
2024
High: 60,670 (vs. MICH)
Average: 58,243
Low: 55,815 (vs. PUR)
# Good: 2 times
# Bad: 0 times
Small sample size? Sure. Arbitrary cutoffs not considering non-conference games and only looking at Saturdays? Maybe. The point is, though, that when Bret Bielema got here, we were very lucky to get over 40k people in the stadium on our best day, and a crowd in the 35k range was depressingly normal. In a few years, he has moved our FLOOR for a Big Ten home game up into the 55k range, and we have sold out (at least) two games halfway through the season.
TL;DR
Since he was hired, Bret Bielema has effectively CREATED 20k new Illini fans that purchase tickets ... while we all hope for this trend to continue and to get back to a place where any given game might sell out, that is nothing short of an incredible improvement.
If this continues, it will only increase the hype surrounding the program. I can’t wait to experience the atmosphere on Saturday.
