The Univ. of Illinois basketball program "will generate a guaranteed" $1.62M during a five-game stretch in Springfield, according to Julie Wurth of the Champaign NEWS-GAZETTE. The team is moving to Springfield for one exhibition game and four regular-season games in November "because of the ongoing State Farm Center renovation project." UI will receive $325,000 per game from the Prairie Capital Convention Center, "plus a $100,000 bonus if all five games sell out." The Convention Center in turn "will keep all revenue from ticket sales for the games, as well as income from concessions, parking and merchandise sales." The venue also will "impose its standard $2 surcharge on every ticket as a facility fee." Ticket prices "haven't been finalized, though the two parties reached a 'mutually agreeable' tentative pricing structure." UI Exec Senior Associate AD Jason Lener said that the university "considered 'three or four' venues within a certain radius of Champaign." Springfield is about 90 miles from UI's campus in Champaign. While Lener did not specify what other facilities the school considered, officials with the Peoria Civic Center and the U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington both said that they "submitted proposals to host the games." The Peoria Civic Center "had suggested a rental arrangement rather than a guaranteed payout" (Champaign NEWS-GAZETTE, 3/22).
