That has to be the worst home schedule in the nation. At least we have a decent out of conference game and a new conference member on our schedule
Worst home schedule? You dont have to look outside Ann Arbor to find the worst home schedule in the nation, or at the very least the B1G. Penn State is the top game on both schedules, but at least they have another team (Iowa) who figures to be alright next year. The competitors for second best game on the Michigan home schedule is a raging dumpster fire of teams.
I would happily keep playing Indiana and Maryland at home over Purdue and Iowa. And while our non-conference home schedule is weak, it is nowhere near as bad as Illinois. Western Kentucky and Texas State!!! Come on
Either way they are both atrocious. But Miami (OH) and Appalachian State? That is just as bad, if not worse than WKU and Texas State. App State has fallen off a cliff. Ditto Miami (OH). At least WKU has a track record of recent success the last couple of years.
If I were an Illini fan there really are only two games to go see and both are in the late Novemeber wind and cold. Ouch!
Man, if I was the Illinois athletic director, I'd either be suicidal, or hiring one hell of a marketing team. That's a fluff sandwich with an air biscuit.
Nope, still not buying.
No one is going to pay $99. Not when tickets for some games last year were .50 cents on Stubhub.
A couple local M fans in that area bought them just because...
I believe that StubHub charges a 15% fee for selling tickets.
So then StubHub would put a 50 cent stamp to send a check to the seller in the amount of $0.42? That's not a good business model.
lose the battle, win the war
Not sure how up-to-date it is, but just for the first few Illinois games (their OOC games), Stubhub shows ticket prices as low as about $7 or so per ticket for those as well. If that held for all seven games for some reason, you could still take yourself and one other person and almost match the price of the package before any applicable taxes or fees.
Then again, $99 still seems high for a slate that includes Western Kentucky, Texas State and Purdue.
Actually, I think Illinois-Purdue is one of those games you take your family to because you never want to talk to them again.
Man, I wish I was an Illino- hahahahahhahahaaah couldn't even finish the sentence.
I'll never forget the scene outside the game in Champaign in 2004. There were scalpers walking around with wads of tickets two inches thick, and they were still asking like 40-50 bucks apiece. The whole thing was hilarious.
Williams isn't walking through that door.
It is reflected in the ticket prices.
Whenever I get real frustrated with Hoke I try and remind myself things could be worse. Yes...things could a LOT worse.
True.
When they hired him away from Toledo I think Toledo upgraded.
What was Saint Nick's record at Toledo?
I think he went 9-2 but was only there for a year. Pinkel did pretty good there.
Sure, they try to lure you with a $14/ticket plan. But read the fine print. I'm sure the PSL fee is somewhere in the $50 per year range. Nothing but price gougers down there in Urbana-Champaign.
Illinois sold season tickets for $99 last year, too. They advertised it on billboards all over town. They draw 40-45,000. Stadium capacity is about 60,000.
Hmmm. I'll still wait for the Groupon.
Does it make sense to play non-conference games anymore? Especially when everyone schedules FCS teams from their backyard.
The Big 10 teams should play 12 conference games every year and keep more of the revenue within the conference.
The advantages are that for a lot of schools it means more home games, and probably more victories, than playing nothing but conference games.
DB read this and vomited all over his keyboard.
at half the price
to see Michigan. Once was enough
Tailgating was very easy, large fields that are close enough to walk. Stadium sucks ... they believe they're a BB school - so the football fans are rather apathetic. Still $99 is extremely cheap.
Go Blue!
Had that talk with a friend of mine in Champaign a couple years ago. He provided a lengthy explanation of why Illinois is just as much a BB school as Michigan (I always ask, "How many NCs do you have?). When he finished I said, "But we don't consider ourselves a BB school."
Who would pay $99 to watch 7 High School football games?
There are probably a lot of high schools around the country where season tickets are more than what Illinois charges.
I remember it from Even Stevens. You know when Donnie was trying to get a football scholarship?
Memorial Stadium is going to be a ghost town next Fall.
Since the B1G's decision to add crappy teams like the Scarlett Nots and the Fighting Turtles, I think all Eastern conf teams will be facing similar issues with terrible home schedules. I think it would be helpful for the the conf to add a scheduling rule like the $EC to force teams to schedule decent non-conf teams.
If we are, I'll go. It's actually a great stadium to watch a game. Sit in the upper deck at the 50 yd line. A hell of a lot more comfortable than the end zone of the Big House.
Is that how much they'll pay fans to sit in the seats?
Has anyone seen that stupid Illinois season ticket commericial yet on BTN? It gives me the douche chills.