As an alum of THE University of Illinois, Northern, I feel it is my duty to attend this game. What's the over/under on attendance here. I'm gonna say 4,000.

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I will be in attendance with some college buddies and some other random HOs.

Iowa will probably bring 15,000 by itself. I'll be there with 3 other former Hawkeyes.

I'll guess at least half capacity (probably closer to 2/3). A Saturday, in Chicago, on Labor Day weekend. That's a dangerous recipe for all those college students.

I'd expect even more considering about half the Iowa students are from Chicago and the suburbs.

It's a sellout:

Iowa’s season-opening football game against Northern Illinois is sold out, officials announced this afternoon.

A crowd of 61,500 will attend the Sept. 1 game at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

The game will be televised by ESPNU, with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m.

This will be the 65th straight Hawkeye football game to be televised

Why televise it? Most of the Iowans that own TVs will be at Soldier Field.

it sold out?

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@audioidkid

Yes, between the 25K allocated for each school and the last 10K available via ticketmaster - it's sold out.

So, in excess of 25,000 Iowa fans at Soldier Field on 9/1?

They're going to need extra outhouses.

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That's great. I would have never expected that sort of turnout from Nothern, although I suspect many are going just to see Soldier Field.

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Arguing with a fool proves there are two.

I actually have read many reports of Iowa fans buying tickets from Northern's ticket office

I was actually considering attending this game, but I probably won't be in town for that weekend. It sounds like it would be fun and hopefully other Big Ten teams will do something similar in the future.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think the problem would be most Big Ten schools wouldn't give up a home game and those that would, no one would go see (like Indiana, Michigan State). I could see Illinois and Iowa as really the only schools likely to do it again, but within the parameters like this (sign a home and home with a school that close and then have the other team agree to move their game to chicago for the revenue)

I think that Purdue could pull it off also. They have a decent fan base in Chicago, a larger fanbase in northern Indiana, and West Lafayette is pretty close to Chicago(closer than Iowa or Champaign). If they can go to Hawaii and have a relatively good showing in the stands, I think they would do well 2 hours away. That could however come back to be a negative as Purdue is close enough that many alumni just drive down to watch the game there.

It would be partially dependent on if they continue to have the success they've had for a while and to come out of the dip in results that has been the last two years. I do think that you are right that Purdue would probably rather have the home game as NIU is coming to Purdue with no return trip scheduled.

I think it would be fun. Maybe we can convince Northwestern to play there.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

As for the Hawaii trip, those are usually well attended by the alumni since they are once in a while type trips. Wisconsin went there a few years back and packed the house, but then their travelling fans tapped out their bank accounts for it and didn't travel to the bowl game.

Could Purdue fill Soldier Field? I don't think they could unless they were playing someone with a big fan base here. And then it goes by the old, who wants to give up the home revenue?

As for Northwestern, they do sell out Ryan Field most of the time with 43,000 fans.
As for Northwestern, their attendance base is small

I don't think Purdue is a big enough draw to sell out Soldier Field on it's own but I think they would bring at least 40,000(similar to what they'll sell for our worst game this year). Depending on how much NIU sold(10,000+ I would guess) and how many other casual fans wanted to go(like I still may) and it could get pretty full.

Purdue has a pretty good record of attendance at bowl games and I think we would go to Chicago. I can't think of any Purdue fan I know that wouldn't be there. We aren't as big as Ohio State's fan base, but we aren't small either. I don't think our attendance would be that much worse than Iowa or Wisconsin or Illinois as it hasn't been at any of the similar bowls we have gone to.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

The only disagreement I have is the fact that Iowa and Wisconsin are typically two of the bigger contingents to travel anywhere the team is. That's why they tend to get a better bowl bid than other schools because they know that they will fill the house. Take last year's Alamo Bowl. Iowa brought almost 30K to San Antonio to watch a mediocre 6-6 Hawkeye team play Texas. The game also had one of the highest ratings ever for a non BCS bowl game.

I actually might head into West Lafayette this year for the Iowa/Purdue game as I have never been there. My brother in law graduated from there in 91 and is coming up for it.

I'm not saying that Purdue would bring 100,000, but the program has gotten to a point where they can bring a good amount of people. When you factor in that besides Northwestern, it is as close as any Big Ten school and I think they would do well. I'm not saying we would bring more than Iowa, but I also don't think we would do bad.

As for Iowa taking bowl bids, we normally hear that Iowa is about to jump over us for a bowl bid, but it never happens. You guys do jump over Minnesota just like we would have jumped over Indiana last year even if they had beaten us. The fan base at Purdue has grown drastically over the past 10 years.

As for the Purdue game this year, Iowa/Purdue games are always fun(except last year). Both schools seem to match up well to make it a good game. You'll also get to see one of the most high powered offenses in the country, but that's a topic for my college football predictions post. I just hope that the players remember what it felt like in last year's Iowa game.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Iowa's offense should be good but high powered is a stretch

Well, if it's anything like the Purdue/Iowa game last year, it will be high powered. Hopefully not for my sake.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Certainly more than the Illini typically bring!