Reggie Redbird said:U of I will have every other Thanksgiving weekend off. It likely doesn’t matter to them if they don’t make money on the deal if it is more a recruiting expense for them.
I say we go to hold it but let’s not lose our shirts on it like the deal NIU gave them before. I believe the NIU admins who made that call were quickly out of it.
Schools south of us have to be supportive of this. I think that was part of the problem before is they were not overwhelmingly supportive of it.
A lot of ISU connections with the IHSA; we need to hit those up. The same with the BNCVB getting involved in getting a successful bid put together.
One last point: when is the last time we hosted an opening round game? Wasn’t it during the Berry tenure and then never again? We always seem to either get a bye or go on the road (UCA).
fourthandshort said:Considering all the above points, I would trade chance to host a 1st round playoff game ... what, once every 5 or 6 years ... for the chance to have all those IL HS football player, coaches, families, and fans flow thru Hancock and Normal and people's TVs every fall n a nano second .. assuming the economics work at all. Even if the net cost is a short term loss. The long term benefit would be way more for the football program, even all other sports, and especially the school and town .. this is win, win, win, win proposition ... even if it loses money in short term.
StLRedbird said:In addition to the upgrade to Hancock, substantial progress has been made on uptown Normal since we last hosted. We have a lot to show off.
Of course, the first time we lose a road game in the first round there will be much wailing and rending of garments around here.Jon99 said:We currently have girls volleyball and basketball, would be awesome to add the football to get more people on campus.. this weekend the Illinois State Marching Band Championships are being held at Hancock.. those are the people we want on campus, a good target of demographics. Let them see the campus, downtown Normal, Veterans and the renovated Main St area by The Edge etc...
And not trying to be a douche here, but why would any kid come here and then chose EIU, WIU, SIU or NIU over ISU??? The competition for students is going to get tougher, this is a great chance to increase exposure. With the talk of adding an engineering school now is the time to pounce.
StLRedbird said:Of course, the first time we lose a road game in the first round there will be much wailing and rending of garments around here.Jon99 said:We currently have girls volleyball and basketball, would be awesome to add the football to get more people on campus.. this weekend the Illinois State Marching Band Championships are being held at Hancock.. those are the people we want on campus, a good target of demographics. Let them see the campus, downtown Normal, Veterans and the renovated Main St area by The Edge etc...
And not trying to be a douche here, but why would any kid come here and then chose EIU, WIU, SIU or NIU over ISU??? The competition for students is going to get tougher, this is a great chance to increase exposure. With the talk of adding an engineering school now is the time to pounce.
StLRedbird said:Of course, the first time we lose a road game in the first round there will be much wailing and rending of garments around here.Jon99 said:We currently have girls volleyball and basketball, would be awesome to add the football to get more people on campus.. this weekend the Illinois State Marching Band Championships are being held at Hancock.. those are the people we want on campus, a good target of demographics. Let them see the campus, downtown Normal, Veterans and the renovated Main St area by The Edge etc...
And not trying to be a douche here, but why would any kid come here and then chose EIU, WIU, SIU or NIU over ISU??? The competition for students is going to get tougher, this is a great chance to increase exposure. With the talk of adding an engineering school now is the time to pounce.