Daniels | Bielema family makes right call with ticket move

Jul. 21—CHAMPAIGN — Of all the items Bret Bielema had to do once he became the Illinois football coach, one stood out.

Getting his young daughters, Briella and Brexli, to perfect the 'I-L-L, I-N-I' chant that Illinois fans young and old know by heart.

Well, nearly three years later, the Bielema family has got it down pat. Briella and Brexli showed off their cheering skills and ability to master the chant well-known by Illini fans at the end of a 60-second video the Illinois football team released on Thursday morning on its social media accounts.

Because Briella and Brexli's parents are doing something big. That should affect countless families in the Champaign-Urbana community and beyond this fall.

The Bielemas announced they have purchased and are donating 133 season tickets to all seven home Illini football games this fall, with the intent to distribute them to philanthropic organizations and community members in C-U and around the state of Illinois.

Groups chosen by the Bielema family to receive tickets include, but are not limited to, the Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club in Champaign, Carle Mills Breast Cancer Institute, Central Illinois Susan G. Komen Foundation, CU Church and schools throughout the C-U community.

"Jen and I are so excited to be a part of this community," Bret said in the video posted to social media on Thursday, with his wife, Jen, and their two daughters nearby. "The support we have received over the last two years has been incredible. This year, we'd love to give back. So what we are going to do is donate 133 season tickets to various groups and organizations that are near and dear to Jen and I's heart.

"What we want to do is honor 133 teams of the past and also get excited about the future of the 2023 season and pack in Memorial Stadium."

Filling the 60,670-seat venue that turns 100 years old this year and is easy to spot at the corner of First and Kirby is a priority of Bielema. Has been since he took the Illinois job in December 2020.

"Champaign has been so welcoming to our family, and we are appreciative of this community," Jen said in the video. "We will also be creating an online nomination form for an Illini family to submit family, friends and community members that they feel are deserving of an Illini season ticket.

"A big thank you to Champaign and the University of Illinois."

The online form is available at fightingillini.com, the school's athletic website, and has eight basic questions that shouldn't take more than a few minutes to fill out. Individuals who are awarded the tickets will be notified on a week-to-week basis throughout the season.

This move — and Bielema can certainly afford the season tickets given his $6 million salary this year — is a smart one by the family.

Attendance has lagged at Memorial Stadium for years, since it peaked in the 1980s, when Illinois averaged more than 70,000 fans for five straight seasons from 1982 to 1986. The Illini haven't averaged more than 50,000 fans since the 2010 season and did not top 40,000 in average attendance during the 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021 seasons.

The numbers, at least the announced attendance figures, started to increase last fall. The average attendance was 43,048, the program's best since 2016, but still lagging behind Big Ten programs with similar-sized stadiums, like Purdue (57,129), Rutgers (50,756), Indiana (46,906) and Minnesota (45,019).

Not a good look for an Illinois team who could contend for a Big Ten West title this season in the last year divisions are in play in the Big Ten.

With four new coaches in the West — former Illini defensive coordinator takes over at Purdue, Matt Rhule does the same at Nebraska, Luke Fickell arrives at Wisconsin from Cincinnati and David Braun tries to make a semblance of the mess at Northwestern — it's realistic to think Illinois could vie for a spot in the Big Ten championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Dec. 2. Seriously.

Meaning Illinois needs to go all in this season.

Who's to say when Illinois will have a better chance to reach the Big Ten title game than this year. When Southern California and UCLA join the Big Ten in 2024 and the conference goes to a 16-team league with no divisions (good luck figuring out those tie-breaking scenarios in advance to whoever in the Big Ten office is tasked with that responsibility), taking the two best teams to the title game, Illinois will have an uphill climb.

But getting fans in the stands again at Memorial Stadium will go a long way to helping the program get back on respectable footing in the Big Ten.

The season-ticket move announced by the Bielema family on Thursday is one, tangible way of doing just that.

Matt Daniels is the sports editor at The News-Gazette. He can be reached at 217-373-7422 or at mdaniels@news-gazette.com.