Q of the Week: So how did Illinois State fare this weekend?

[EdgyTim]

Since I was in a TV studio in Chicago all day Friday and Saturday I'm looking for thoughts and comments from fans who actually attended in person either Friday and/or Saturday at ISU....how was the overall feel vibre at Illinois State? How was parking, concessions, seating area and such. Bring the good, the not so good and if needed the ugly.

 

[mchsalumni]

Anything is better than Champaign or DeKalb, so it was a winner in my book. Parking was ok, good selection of bars and food close. Overall positive!

 

[rocketnation]

Parking-Got lucky and found a free public lot right next to the stadium. Always had to pay for parking at U of I and NIU. Unlike at NIU, didn't have to walk for 10 minutes after parking to get to the stadium.

Tickets and Stadium Access-Lucked out again and ended up by accident about 100 yards from a ticket area and the correct entrance for where Rochester was supposed to sit. Bought tickets quickly after having a long delay in 2019 at NIU where there was only one person selling at my entrance.

Concessions- Average, enough workers and they were friendly but not much product choice. The one area where I thought NIU was better than ISU. Ran out of coffee and hot chocolate before halftime of the last Friday game.

Seating and Atmosphere- Probably the best of the title games I've been to. Big and loud crowd on both sides. Had a really good view of the game. U of I was just too big of a stadium IMO for a high school contest.

 

[doctor_d]

Atmosphere was great. Stadium is perfect size, although there was a little bit of a log jam between games as fans swapped out. Not a big deal.

Parking situation was good. I parked a block over on Locust. Easy walk to/from the stadium. Plenty of spaces all over the place.

I only bought coffee at the concession stand. Had lunch and a beer at Destihl Brew Hall on the way down.

Restrooms were adequate.

I liked that the bleachers had seat backs.

Overall the best venue by a good amount.

 

[CIMRY90]

I was able to park just across Main Street in same lot I did for opening day game between ESL/MC.

I stopped and got a gondola at Avantis. It is a shell of its former self from my college days. U ordered at the counter and fill ur own drink. Food is bought to ur table.

It was nice on the visitors side to have the concession area and restroom areas be inside and therefore heated.

 

[Irish LB]

Best fan experience and worst player experience. NIU is the happy medium imo.

 

[mchsalumni]

Best fan experience and worst player experience. NIU is the happy medium imo.

Why worst player experience?

 

[godfthr53]

Why worst player experience?

Heard Teams were put up in gyms no locker rooms. Were pretty far from the field. Heard teams say the worst accommodations they had all year. Crammed rusty bathrooms that had ceiling drywall falling down.

 

[mchsalumni]

Heard Teams were put up in gyms no locker rooms. Were pretty far from the field. Heard teams say the worst accommodations they had all year. Crammed rusty bathrooms that had ceiling drywall falling down.

Why wouldn’t they let them use locker rooms? 🤦‍♂️

 

[godfthr53]

Why wouldn’t they let them use locker rooms? 🤦‍♂️

Teams coaches didn't even get to use the boxes on the new side. They were in the old press boxes.

 

[Spankwagon]

Horrible tailgating experience. No space and very unwelcoming.
Not sure why they celebrate after the games on the field. Tons of room in the end zones. The 8A game was 1hr late this year. Last year 2 hours late.

 

[deeg6]

Heard Teams were put up in gyms no locker rooms. Were pretty far from the field. Heard teams say the worst accommodations they had all year. Crammed rusty bathrooms that had ceiling drywall falling down.

I know various Instagram posts from Mt. Carmel show them put up in the ISU home team locker rooms. I guess this wasn't the case for all.
Example below:

 

[epicbret]

Parking was amazing. Stadium feel is better than NIU

 

[William Foster]

Heard Teams were put up in gyms no locker rooms. Were pretty far from the field. Heard teams say the worst accommodations they had all year. Crammed rusty bathrooms that had ceiling drywall falling down.

Get your hearing checked!

 

[godfthr53]

Get your hearing checked

I can 100% guarantee you teams were in gyms with dividers down the middle.

 

[McCaravan]

A lot better then the ISU I remember from the 80’s/90’s experience 😀! I like NIU for the selfish reason of it being a 45 min shorter ride, but I thought ISU was very accommodating. U of I needs to never return, it’s a fine stadium but a 70,000 stadium hosting 5,000/7,000 fans makes the place look empty. And I know it’s been stopped for a couple years and probably because of the delay it causes but I really miss the starting lineups being announced before the games, it’s a big thrill for the players to have their names announced and hear the fans roar.

 

[Lion4Life01]

ISU was fantastic. Easy free parking across the street in the garage, stadium looked full and was loud (U of I looks empty), concessions were adequate but local food options were solid (Pub II had quality food and was a ~15 minute walk from the stadium).

 

[DJrodey24]

A lot better then the ISU I remember from the 80’s/90’s experience 😀! I like NIU for the selfish reason of it being a 45 min shorter ride, but I thought ISU was very accommodating. U of I needs to never return, it’s a fine stadium but a 70,000 stadium hosting 5,000/7,000 fans makes the place look empty. And I know it’s been stopped for a couple years and probably because of the delay it causes but I really miss the starting lineups being announced before the games, it’s a big thrill for the players to have their names announced and hear the fans roar.

I'm going to bring up the lineups. I miss those too.

I have an idea to modernize it and actually going to talk with them tomorrow about it. Have you seen the video board montage we do now for the basketball state title games? I'm thinking we can find a way to do that for football. But we've got to figure out how. Might not be easy. Stay tuned.

Also, coaches were indeed in the old press box, really think they should be on the other side because it's easier to get up and down. TV chose to be on the old side because that's where the cameras were. Dave and I both agreed it would be hard to call games having to flip our eyes from the other side of the field. So back in August we elected to use the west side box.

Neither of us need a fancy press box!

 

[kwamizee]

I know various Instagram posts from Mt. Carmel show them put up in the ISU home team locker rooms. I guess this wasn't the case for all.
Example below:

View embedded media

That lookerroom was pretty cramped. MC went into the dome for halftime since there was not enough room in the track looker room they were placed in.

 

[kwamizee]

A lot better then the ISU I remember from the 80’s/90’s experience 😀! I like NIU for the selfish reason of it being a 45 min shorter ride, but I thought ISU was very accommodating. U of I needs to never return, it’s a fine stadium but a 70,000 stadium hosting 5,000/7,000 fans makes the place look empty. And I know it’s been stopped for a couple years and probably because of the delay it causes but I really miss the starting lineups being announced before the games, it’s a big thrill for the players to have their names announced and hear the fans roar.

Ask the players and coaches how they felt about ISU