University of Illinois football teams havesuffered through eight losing seasons in the last 10 years, including a winlessBig Ten Conference slate in 2005. The state of the program, however, hasn’tdeterred alumni from quickly buying the suites and club seats that will largelyfinance Memorial Stadium’s$116 million renovation in Champaign.
The university expects tosell every premium seat planned for the 82-year-old facility just two monthsafter school officials initiated the “Illinois Renaissance” marketing campaign,said Warren Hood,associate athletic director.
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The University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium
will get 49 new suites, plus club seats. |
“Everything’s going fast;we expect to be sold out within the next 30 to 40 days,” Hood said inmid-November. “We did a survey last fall … and knew the demand would outweighthe supply.”
HNTB and local architect Isaksen Glerum are jointlyplanning the renovation and have designed 49 suites, 1,200 outdoor club seats,216 indoor clubs and a new press box on the west side. Illinois is selling 42suites and reserving seven units for use at the school’s discretion.
The suites sell for $45,000to $59,000 a season, based on location, and the contracts are 10-yearagreements.
Outdoor club seats are$1,500 to $2,500 a seat per season, and indoor clubs are $3,300 to $3,900. Aroof overhang protects outdoor club seat holders from the elements, Hood said.The suites and clubs should open for the 2008 season.
Selling every premium seatand instituting $5 surcharges for up to 50,000 tickets sold, excluding studenttickets, would generate $6.2 million annually for Illinois, he said. Illinoishad the Big Ten’s least expensive tickets in 2005, priced at $37 for the mainstands and $20 in the south end zone, Hood said. The athletic department hasn’tdetermined ticket prices for 2006.
The school is also offeringnaming-rights opportunities for up to $15 million for the suite and club spacesand other areas targeted for upgrades during the five-phase project.
For now, the outdoor clubseat section is called the Colonnades Club, recognizing the 200 columns insideand outside the stadium that contain the names of former Illinois students whodied in World War I.
The indoor club space isknown as the 77 Club, recognizing the uniform number worn by legendary IllinoisAll-American halfback Red Grange.The field, named in honor of Grange’s coach, BobZuppke, is not for sale, Hood said. Memorial Stadium opened in 1923for Grange’s sophomore season.
SAY WHAT? The CharlotteBobcats are touting their new NBA arena to be one of the first major leaguesports facilities to provide clear signals for wireless communicationsthroughout the building. Team officials acknowledged, however, that they’rehaving trouble making cell phone calls from the event level and in the team store,downstairs from the main concourse.
The Bobcats spent anundisclosed amount of money to install the InnerWirelessnetwork to enhance communications for cell phones, laptop computers, PDAs,two-way radios and other wireless devices in CharlotteBobcats Arena.
The system isn’t at fault,said Barry Silberman,the arena’s chief operating officer. Cell phone carriers think their customersdon’t have problems inside the arena and are not interested in paying theBobcats a monthly fee to connect to the wireless program, he said.
“If they tied in, theywould not only have adequate coverage, they would have complete coverage,”Silberman said. “There are some dead cell phone spots on the event levelbecause it is difficult for their signals to penetrate.”
The Bobcats andInnerWireless officials are working on a program that will allow PDA users toplay games, view player statistics and video, and possibly order merchandise ontheir handheld units. The system should be operating by the final two months ofthe season, Silberman said.
One change the team hasalready made is designating the outdoor terrace on the upper concourse as ano-smoking area, after smokers “commandeered” the space during the RollingStones show that opened the arena in October, Silberman said. “I’ve never seenso many smokers in my life,” he said.
The team did not install“No Smoking” signs in that area until after the concert. Officials havedirected smokers to two smaller outdoor spaces. There are also two outdoorsmoking areas on the arena’s two premium seat levels.
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The Chicago Fire’s stadium will have suites
convertible for backstage concert use. |
BRING THE MUSIC: The ChicagoFire is building its $85 million soccer-specific stadium in Bridgeview, Ill.,to be concert friendly.
The stadium will featurethree suites on both sides of the stage end that can be converted into “greenrooms” for performing artists to prepare for their concerts, said Rossetti architect Jan Szupinski, project managerfor the facility.
Rossetti designed thestadium and its 48 suites, and five of the six units on the building’s southend are designated for game-day rentals during Fire games.
The team has rented onestage-end suite on a seasonlong basis, said JohnGuppy, the team’s president and CEO.
For concerts, the suitescan connect to create one large space providing private changing areas and restrooms for touring groups and direct access to the stage, Szupinski said.
Anschutz Entertainment Group will operate thebuilding, expected to open in June, and book a minimum of four concerts eachsummer. “We’ll hit that number or better,” said Mark Hornung, a spokesman for Bridgeview Mayor Steve Landek. The southChicago suburb owns the stadium.
Rossetti also is designingthe MetroStars’ stadium in Harrison, N.J. That facility will have a stageproduction setup similar to Chicago’s, Szupinski said.
Don Muret can be reached at dmuret@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
