Pregame: Illinois vs Eastern Illinois, Thursday, August 29th, 8:00pm CT, BTN

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#201      
Scoregasm
lstewart53x3 said:
Prompt for ChatGPT 4:

Hi ChatGPT, I’m on the committee of a college football game day experience team. The team is the university of Illinois fighting Illini in Champaign Illinois.

For the most part, we’ve been a losing team over the past 30-40 years and because of it, the game day experience suffers.

So I’d like to come up with some fresh ideas to revitalize the game day experience and breathe new life into it so that our fans can’t wait to attend the games each week, win or lose.

Do research on the top game day experiences from the best programs in college football (especially teams that don’t win a lot of games but still draw huge crowds!) and give me ideas for:

1: exciting promotions leading up to game day to sell more tickets

2: The game day experience before the game begins

3: The game itself to get our fans on their feet and cheering on the team

Try to keep costs low. Anything that does have a cost, please share the budget that idea would need to implement.

Response:

To revitalize the game day experience for the University of Illinois Fighting Illini, here are some creative ideas inspired by top programs, especially those that have found ways to keep fans engaged even when their teams aren't consistently winning:

### 1. Exciting Promotions Leading Up to Game Day

- **Theme Days and Giveaways**: Promote each game with a different theme (e.g., "Throwback Night," "Superhero Day," "Orange Out").

Offer small giveaways that tie into these themes, such as rally towels, foam fingers, or themed t-shirts. These can be low-cost but highly effective in creating excitement.

- **Ticket Bundles and Family Packs**: Offer family ticket packages that include food and beverage vouchers or discounts on merchandise. This encourages families to attend and makes the experience more affordable.

- **Player and Coach Engagement**: Host weekly Q&A sessions or live chats on social media with players or coaches leading up to game day. Fans can ask questions, engage with the team, and feel more connected to the game. This creates buzz and anticipation.

### 2. The Game Day Experience Before the Game

- **Interactive Tailgating Zones**:

Create fan zones with interactive activities such as inflatable games, face painting, and photo booths with the team mascot. Incorporate local food vendors to give it a community feel. Low-cost interactive activities can enhance the pre-game atmosphere without a large budget.

- **Fan of the Game**: Introduce a "Fan of the Game" program where one lucky fan is chosen before the game to experience special perks, such as sideline passes, announcing a play, or receiving a signed jersey. This builds anticipation and increases fan participation.

- **Traditions and Marches**: Consider creating or revitalizing a pre-game tradition like a "March to the Stadium" where the band, cheerleaders, and fans walk together, building energy and unity. This can become a staple event that fans look forward to each week.

### 3. The Game Itself to Get Fans On Their Feet

- **Interactive Halftime Shows**: Engage the crowd with halftime contests, such as field goal challenges or a mascot dance-off. Another idea is to invite fans to participate in a "Fan vs. Alumni" game where selected fans compete against former Illini players in fun challenges.

- **Enhanced Audio and Visual Experience

**: Use music and video effectively to pump up the crowd. For example, play a specific song like "Sandstorm" by Darude, as South Carolina does, that everyone associates with high energy. Also, consider showcasing fan videos on the big screen or having fan cams where fans can show off their school spirit.

- **Community Recognition**: Similar to the "Golden Scarf Ceremony" used by the Seattle Sounders, consider recognizing a local hero or alumni during the game. This ties the team to the community and gives fans something to cheer for beyond the game itself.

### Budget Considerations

- **Giveaways**: Small items like rally towels or foam fingers can be sourced for as low as $1 per item when bought in bulk.

- **Interactive Zones**: Renting inflatables and setting up interactive zones might cost around $500 to $1,500 per game, depending on the number of activities.

- **Fan Engagement Tech**: Implementing fan cams or interactive voting during the game could be incorporated into existing stadium tech, minimizing extra costs.

These ideas can help energize your fan base and create a memorable game day experience that draws crowds, regardless of the team's performance. By focusing on community, tradition, and interactive engagement, you can build a strong connection between the fans and the Illini that keeps them coming back.
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The mascot idea made me giggle. Maybe we can someone in a block 'I' with eye holes run around and we can call it 'Illie the block I'.

Ask the AI for mascot ideas...can't be any worse that what we've seen.
 
#202      
Second place is 1st loser
illini0440 said:
Illinois a lot…..EIU less than a lot.

And side not and what really irks me about the win and I’ll show up….is the amount of work the coaches and players put in 365 days a year to go out there for 12 games in front of the fans. The staff puts in 14 hour days minimum to put a plan together to try and win games for them, the players and us the fans. The players….6am workouts, 8 am class, lunch/meetings, afternoon classes, film/more meetings, dinner, study tables, film and opponent scout on their own.(not necessarily all in that order) but they do all of that 6 days a week just to go out and play for them and everyone who supports the university.
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I'm not sure what you're expecting from the fans?

It's a Thursday night(school and work night).

They're playing EIU

Expectations are low

Ticket prices remain high

Many people, especially those in school, are struggling financially to use their disposable income on the above.

For those who would travel from Chicago/Suburbs to see the game, getting back home at 2AM isn't an option.....see school/work requirement.

I can understand the frustration and if this were a game versus Michigan, on a Saturday afternoon, at 2:30 and we were to be good....I'd feel the same way.

Regarding the players, they do deserve everyone's full respect for their efforts. No doubt.g

However, they know what they're signing up for to play college athletics. Free education, some players making more money than the people buying the tickets, the school providing a vehicle to get some guys to the NFL to make millions....you're not going to get people to feel badly. What you're explaining is their job. Plain and simple. People have job expectations and theirs is to prepare and quite frankly....win.

For the students paying $100K+ in student loans... sympathy isn't going to be high.

Given the circumstances, if we get 45,000 out there... that'll be an acceptable result. If the athletics department wants more butts in the seats...work on fixing the above.
 
#204      
Champaignheat
illini0440 said:
Illinois a lot…..EIU less than a lot.

And side not and what really irks me about the win and I’ll show up….is the amount of work the coaches and players put in 365 days a year to go out there for 12 games in front of the fans. The staff puts in 14 hour days minimum to put a plan together to try and win games for them, the players and us the fans. The players….6am workouts, 8 am class, lunch/meetings, afternoon classes, film/more meetings, dinner, study tables, film and opponent scout on their own.(not necessarily all in that order) but they do all of that 6 days a week just to go out and play for them and everyone who supports the university.
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I know you are the man illini0440, and I agree that the coaches and players put in a lot of time. The coaches are highly compensated for their time, most making more that many of us will ever top out at. As for the players, is it different for many of them than an engineering or accounting student trying to get to the next level of professionalism (while most are being paid higher than your typical student)?

I was in the Block I during the 1983 season, have been a fan since I was born, but it was not satisfying to go to games, (particularly the Turner, Beckman, Cubit and Smith years) spending several hundred dollars to see my team not be very competitive. I was lucky to be there when Mike White was the coach, followed by some above average seasons with Malkovich and even though we started to struggle with Tepper, we still had Butkus Award winners and a competitive, (but horrible offense when Tom beck came in) team.

I hope we show well but as you can see with what happened in Gainesville with the Gators or more closely with the Cardinals in St. Louis, winning matters to fans.

I wish I was wrong but the line from Fields of Dreams rings true, "If you build it, he will come."

Lastly I appreciate all the information you provide and insight you give to us (me) lowly non-insiders!
 
#205      
BalloonsTheElephant
A lot of people are going to go no matter what. No one wants to spend hundreds in tickets, food, and travel to leave the comforts of their home and big screens to watch their team lose, knowing in most cases that it's a foregone conclusion.

We have to win first before we can do much else. The marketing team has been more engaged and had a lot of great promotions, but if you're trying to sell an inferior product, it's hard to sell.

Once you start winning, you connect that happiness with the experience. It has to start with kids. Kids going with their parents now will be the one deciding to take their kids in the future. If they connect a positive winning team experience now, it will be something they hand down to their children.

The absolute pinnacle of Illinois football since 1930 is from 1981-1995. For a 15 year span we had 12 winning or non-losing seasons. In the 30 years since then, we've had 5 winning seasons. We are talking generations of fans lost.

Give Bret and Whitman some time. Unless we can get an absolute rock star coach that's a sure fire winner, I am happy where we are.
 
#206      
Dkayak
Champaignheat said:
I know you are the man illini0440, and I agree that the coaches and players put in a lot of time. The coaches are highly compensated for their time, most making more that many of us will ever top out at. As for the players, is it different for many of them than an engineering or accounting student trying to get to the next level of professionalism (while most are being paid higher than your typical student)?
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Such an excellent reminder! Every last person involved, whether coaches, athletes, engineering/accounting students, is there entirely of his own free will. Each invests a lot of time and work. Each weighs the pros and cons and can hang it up for something else at any time. Nobody was deceived into accepting a raw deal, so no crocodile tears for anyone.
 
#207      
illiniE
Second place is 1st loser said:
I'm not sure what you're expecting from the fans?

It's a Thursday night(school and work night).

They're playing EIU

Expectations are low

Ticket prices remain high

Many people, especially those in school, are struggling financially to use their disposable income on the above.

For those who would travel from Chicago/Suburbs to see the game, getting back home at 2AM isn't an option.....see school/work requirement.

I can understand the frustration and if this were a game versus Michigan, on a Saturday afternoon, at 2:30 and we were to be good....I'd feel the same way.

Regarding the players, they do deserve everyone's full respect for their efforts. No doubt.g

However, they know what they're signing up for to play college athletics. Free education, some players making more money than the people buying the tickets, the school providing a vehicle to get some guys to the NFL to make millions....you're not going to get people to feel badly. What you're explaining is their job. Plain and simple. People have job expectations and theirs is to prepare and quite frankly....win.

For the students paying $100K+ in student loans... sympathy isn't going to be high.

Given the circumstances, if we get 45,000 out there... that'll be an acceptable result. If the athletics department wants more butts in the seats...work on fixing the above.
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There are $1 seats available on Seat Geek, so high ticket prices is not a valid reason not to go. You can get 50 yard line seats for $17. I could not find anyone willing to go, so I ended up selling my tickets. I did get more for my Lot 31 parking pass than the ticket.

I almost went by myself to the game to see my new family brick, but I got an email yesterday that they were behind and they are not installed yet.
 
#208      
illinoistradition
I would be shocked if there were any truly full stadiums tonight, even for top 15 teams. Thursday night is tough, especially if it is a game against a patsy. Minnesota might be full because of a high-profile opponent and being located in a huge metro area, but they still may have empty seats. The #1 reason it seems like we are playing on Thursday is for those two extra days to prepare for KU, especially since they also play tonight. You have to weigh that with the bad crowd that will inevitably be featured tonight.
 
#209      
illiram
My heart says 10-2 and a playoff berth at #12 ranking, but my brain says 4-8. I hope my heart is better than my brain. I have felt like each season we had an idea what we have, but this season feels like a complete unknown. The transfer portal is starting to make the impossible possible.

LFG Illini! Then next week stay away from any visting Kansas women in bars.....
 
#213      
Fighter of the Nightman
Thaillini22 said:
The winning vs. attendance thing... for me it leaves out something fundamental, which is why winning is actually important.

I believe it's that winning allows us to say "see, my university, winners" and "my team, yay, my university yay, I'm proud."

For Illinois, the problem is we haven't had much else surrounding the FB program for so long that allows us to say "my team, yay, my university yay, I'm proud." It has basically all come down to the winning/losing, zero sum. And there has been consistent losing, thus the opposite of "my team makes me feel proud inside."

I believe that if we still had the same poor W/L record over the last (choose your duration), but we had Enter Sandman, Jump Around, the coolest/funnest tailgating ever, nationally famous halftime events, truly bleeding edge marching band, rowdy crowds and not "down in front" crowds, innovative stadium features, a swimming pool in the NEZ, only 2:30pm and night games, a Greek system that was fully immersed in the Saturday FB experience, and 10 other creative, fun, schtick-y things that Illinois has just always done and always been known for, we'd have had some things other than W/L to make us say, "yeah, Illinois FB fan here! have you been?" and thus much better attendance over the years, regardless of the losing.

Our FB games have never felt like "events."

So, I guess I'm kinda siding with PNW. I think we've had a marketing problem. We've ONLY had the W or L to make us proud en masse.
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100% agree. For lack of better words, it shocks me how many Illini fans I have run into in my life who almost seem defensive about the fact that they're Illini fans and implicitly clearly do not think there's anything inherently "cool" about that fact, haha. You just simply are never going to get an Indiana or Purdue fan who isn't a delusional homer about that part of their identity. And I think a lot of that comes down to pride in Illini athletics (especially post-Chief) being tied to nothing but how good we are at a given sport.

I get the Cubs are an exception with Wrigley, but I compare that to my Cubs fandom, and the difference is wild. The Cubs could win 60 games, and I would still be puffing my chest out about how there is no venue like Wrigley, how Cubs fans are the epitome of loyalty and how Cubs/Cardinals is actually the best rivalry in baseball. While I myself am also that way about the Illini, the stark contrast is sad with many other fans ... when we are good like 2022, they almost engage in self-deprecation to protect themselves against the other shoe eventually dropping, and when we are bad they almost refuse to tie up any of their self image in the Illini so as to not go down with the sinking ship. While SOME of that is inevitable (cheering for a good program is fun, cheering for a bad program is not ... period), it REALLY helps you get through the tough times when there are traditions and atmosphere to fall back on. Memorial Stadium is severely lacking in that compared to other venues, and that is frankly shocking given its incredible history we have to work with.

Let's start with Illini Oktoberfest every year, and go from there. :cool: 🍻
 
#217      
pruman91
What a great day to be a sports fanatic............Hoping for a doubleheader sweep by the Cardinals this afternoon and then the beloved Illini win their season opener with a resounding performance....................I will be medded up and ready for a fun filled day of my fav's great highlights and NL # 3 performing her cheerleader skills for both games......it's great to be alive and a proud patriotic American.......................It really really is ..........On a Thursday , even............................

Cardinals 7
SD Padres 4

Illini 35
EIU 10

psyc117.gif


I hope and want to be dancing at the end of the day...................I really really do.....................

dance walk.gif
 
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#220      
illinibuck11
What is the best area to tailgate in if you bring a tent, grill, etc...? And this is for any Saturday game.
 
#221      
Battle89
illiniE said:
There are $1 seats available on Seat Geek, so high ticket prices is not a valid reason not to go. You can get 50 yard line seats for $17. I could not find anyone willing to go, so I ended up selling my tickets. I did get more for my Lot 31 parking pass than the ticket.

I almost went by myself to the game to see my new family brick, but I got an email yesterday that they were behind and they are not installed yet.
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Thanks for the info, was not going this week but also want to get to at least one game as my wife and kids bought me a brick for Father's Day this year. I did not get an email but perhaps my wife did and did not mention it.

Feels like another missed opportunity, either by the Marketing or the Facilities team. Buy a brick, show your pride, come down to a game and see...oh wait, never mind, we're behind.

It's also telling that the parking was worth more than the game...
 
#222      
band camp
Please take my tough comments light heartedly. I love this board and all that dwell here.
But. We need to toughen up about the late start time, the Thursday start time, could be 8:30 kind of talk.
Our guys are playing tonight. They could play at 1am and Id be tuned in. First game we get to see that beautiful orange and blue. Our first glimpse of how the depth chart is going to work. Im jacked. LFG, It's OK to be tired in your cubicles and offices.
 
#223      
IllinInTheLou
I am an Illini lifer and alum who has been attending games at Memorial Stadium since I was a youngster. I LOVE our stadium and as always, am excited to make the trip to CU to be in attendance at Memorial for tonight's season opener!

That said, my son is a student athlete at the University of North Carolina so I have been into their football stadium (Kenan Stadium) a handful of times. Sad as it is to say, I have always marveled at how cool the inside of their stadium looks with all Carolina Blue stadium seating throughout. Each time I pop into Kenan I envision how awesome MS would look with similar Orange & Blue stadium seating (it looks AWESOME across the street in the SFC). Heck, I would even settle for O & B bleachers throughout! Surely this has been discussed by Josh and those involved with financing these projects/renovations???

Anyway, don't mean to be a downer on game day but this has been eating at me for a while now and had it get it off my chest, haha!

GO ILLINI
 
#224      
skyIdub
BashCtIllini said:
wow, you really put me in my place.

The problem that was being discussed was the thousands of empty seats in the stadium game after game. Dumb@$$ comments like yours are the reason. Saying you should just love it or get out of here is how stadiums remain empty.
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I do get what you are saying...and I also get why he "put you in your place". Take a few seconds and read 0440's post and reconsider your stance.

It's not about you...or us...the fans. It's about those kids. It's about this University and it's students and what it does and has done for millions of us for so long.

It's also on DIA...as you are alluding...to make Game Day an experience that screams "The Place To Be". Not just based on W's and L's...but the entire gameday experience and access to it.

I believe they are making good progress with that, but they can do better.

I was able to make last years home opener with my brother and it was fantastic. Unbeknownst to me, randomly one of my best friends was there with his wife and kids and we hilariously found out via text in Lot 31.
The resulting pics and drinks are lifetime memories.

We also got bowling alley pizza at Old Orchard pre game.

We didn't spend "hundreds" of dollars.

The more people show up....the better it gets...just by the nature of FOMO. Just looking at those pics of previous "sell out" games from years past gives me chills.

Also somebody mentioned more trees. I like trees.
 
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