Victories put fans in stands

CHAMPAIGN – Each week, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany takes a look at the crowds for conference football teams.

When he gets to the number next to Illinois, Delany doesn't let out a shriek.

Illinois' home opener against Middle Tennessee State drew 35,745. That's about half the 70,904 seats at Memorial Stadium.

"They had lost 18 games in a row," Delany said. "I don't expect Illinois fans to turn out unless there's some level of success. I think there's hope.

"I think 35,000 is a little disappointing. If you look at the fact that the opponent is not an opponent people are familiar with, if you look at the fact that success has not been there over the last two, three years, it's probably not that surprising."

Illinois' attendance, Delany said, is easy to figure out. Just check the team's record.

"Where you go a couple years without much success, you're down in the 30s," Delany said. "If you have modest success, you're in the 50s. And when you have solid success, you're in the 70s."

Delany's conference has led the nation in attendance all but five of the last 19 years. The '97 season set a record with 4,660,971. The league had 32 sellouts. Illinois didn't add any to the list.

While Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State bring in more fans than their stadiums hold, Illinois struggles.

"Each institution has among its followers a level of expectation," Delany said. "If you meet it or exceed it, you tend to fill the place up. When you fall significantly below it, you struggle at the gate."

Five Big Ten teams – Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern and Purdue – drew less than 65 percent of capacity in their home openers. Compare that with the SEC, where only Mississippi State fell below 89 percent capacity. Six of 10 SEC schools had sellouts in their openers. Tennessee, which opens Saturday at home, will make it seven.

"I'm not interested in percentage of capacity," Delany said. "I think the schools are interested in tickets sold. We have very large stadiums, very old stadiums and very full stadiums. Our capacity is larger than the SEC's. Their percentage is higher."

But a half-filled stadium is hard to hide. It could have been worse. Illinois sold 1,500 tickets Thursday, 2,000 Friday and another 4,000 the day of the game. Without the walkup sale, the crowd would have been in the upper 20s.

The Illinois players were happy with the enthusiasm of Saturday's crowd. They watched as fans raced onto the field and tried, without success, to tear down the south goal post.

"I couldn't really tell it was half full," cornerback Asim Pleas said. "It doesn't really matter how many fans we have just as long as the one that are there are cheering us on."

Illinois coach Ron Turner understands why the stadium wasn't full.

"We've got to win some games, and we've got to prove to the students and to the people that we have a good football team, that we're an exciting team, that we're going to play fun football and that we're going to win our share of games," Turner said. "It's like anything else: You win games, and people will come."

Saturday's 48-20 win against Middle Tennessee was a start. UI ticket manager Mike Hatfield said business picked up Monday.

The school is hoping for a crowd of about 40,000 for Saturday's game against Louisville. The Sept. 26 game against Iowa, with a large surge of Hawkeye fans, should do even better.

Maybe the school should turn over its ticket sales to defensive end Jeff Weisse. He's got a pitch.

"Bring your brother, bring your mother, bring your cousins, bring your dog," Weisse said. "Bring as many as you can."

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