Illinois Renaissance | the Renovation of Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The Memorial Stadium Reseating Project came to an end today (April 16) as the final phone call was made at 10 am. Through the duration of the project, nearly 4,000 personal phone calls were made over a span of 33 days.

This process gave us a great opportunity to reconnect with our season ticket holders, and the level of passion and enthusiasm that our fans have is amazing. Choosing new seat locations can often be an emotional experience. We would like to thank all of our season ticket holders for their continued support and for the incredible patience that they displayed throughout the process.

What's next?

We are now beginning the process of calling all of our new customers who ordered tickets for the first time in 2008. Calls to allocate new customers will be made throughout the end of April and into the early part of May.

Many people have expressed interest in purchasing Horseshoe season tickets, what is now called the "Red Zone". At this point in time, ticket holders from last season still have the first right of refusal on these seats until April 25. In the event that any tickets should open up, we will hold a special on-sale sometime in late May. Once the on-sale date is finalized it will be published on fightingillini.com. Thanks again to all our season ticket holders who went through the reseating process with us. Go Illini!

The UI Athletics Ticket Office is now 13 days into helping Illini football fans choose seat locations and we have finished allocating all Tribal Council members. Calls to Chief Club members began this morning.

In fact, almost 1,100 calls have now been made since starting the process on March 3, and we still have 4 weeks left.

We have received numerous inquiries regarding the availability of horseshoe season tickets. Renewal forms were actually mailed out today to those customers who had them last year. Since we were sold out in this area last year and it is such a good bargain, we do not anticipate having very many customers drop out. However, if we do have any tickets remaining at the end of the renewal period, we will announce an on-sale date during which the leftover tickets will be made available.

While the West Main stands are still popular, many customers are now starting to see the value of choosing seats on the east side. Great seats are still available in sections 104 and 106, which are located between the 30 and 40-yard lines. Many customers are asking, "where am I eligible to choose my seats from?". The answer is actually a pretty simple one...just check out MemorialStadiumRenovation.com and you will be able to choose from anything that is available!

Here's a couple stories we thought would demonstrate just how much passion Illini fans have:

• One caller left a message on their voicemail that stated: "We can't come to the phone right now, but if this is the Illinois Ticket Office calling to select our seats, you can reach us on our cell phone at..."
• Another caller was picking seats out in the East Main stands. When he was offered a specific seat location, he asked about the availability of other seats in the same vicinity. It turns out he was actually sitting on the bleachers on the east side of the stadium with a laptop and checking out the view in different seats while on the phone!

We hope that everyone who has gone through the seat-selection process so far has found it a positive experience. Just one week before spring practice starts. Go Illini!

With over 600 phone calls made in 6 days, the Memorial Stadium reseating project has gone relatively smoothly. We just finished up calling all members of the Block I Council. Calls to Tribal Council members began this afternoon.

Here's some patterns that we're seeing so far:

• The west side is very popular. Availability is extremely low in sections 126-128 and many fans are now choosing seats in Sections 125 & 129.
• Lots of good seats remain on the east side. Section 105 is now relatively full, but there are many good seats remaining in 104 & 106. For those fans who are not dead set on choosing the west side of the field, you can definitely get seats closer to the 50 by moving to the east side.

Many people are surprised to learn that there are only roughly 41 rows in the West Mainstands. The new Collonades Club will be located right behind row 41, so this will be a big change for those fans sitting on that side of the stadium.

I had the opportunity to check out sightlines from the west balcony the other day. These seats are great! There are only 13 rows of seats up there along with brand new restrooms and concession stands. The people that choose their seats up there are going to be extremely happy.

That's all for now...I'll be back again to update you with pertinent trends and happenings as they occur.