Will This Go Well? Despite Attendance Issues, Illinois Wants To 'Stripe The Stadium' Against Middle Tennessee State
(CBS) Illinois football fans are going to have to show up in droves on Saturday against Middle Tennessee State or the scene will end up as fodder on social media.
Because we've seen this trouble before.
In a marketing stunt, the Illini are encouraging fans to "stripe the stadium" in Saturday afternoon's game, with sections alternating between orange and blue. It's a cool idea in theory, but practically speaking, the problem may lie in the program's attendance issues. Illinois drew 36,693 in its season opener against Kent State -- a Saturday afternoon game that created logistical challenges as it was postponed from the night before -- then had 37,733 in attendance for its Week 2 win against Western Illinois at Memorial Stadium.
Those, of course, are the school's stated figures -- attendance is often far, far below that, as a News-Gazette story in November 2014 indicated at one game that there were fewer than 10,000 in attendance despite a listing of around 35,000.
So how will it go? This is what the season opener "orange out" looked like.
[tweet https://twitter.com/MartinMott/status/646011486406615040]
It's worth noting that Illinois is 2-1 and coming off a blowout loss at North Carolina.
It's also worth noting the student section hasn't done its job in years past either.
