Bears lost 60% of season ticket sales in Champaign
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Hmmmmmm. Are the tickets any cheaper in Champaign, or just as high?
I think perhaps the first game or two the chances of it selling out might be good because of the novelty of some southerners being able to attend the game easier - but after that it will probably depend on the kind of season the Bears have. It will be interesting to see.
I think perhaps the first game or two the chances of it selling out might be good because of the novelty of some southerners being able to attend the game easier - but after that it will probably depend on the kind of season the Bears have. It will be interesting to see.
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Why did the bears move out of Soldier Field?
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What's even more ridiculous is how the NFL isn't waiving the blackout rule.
I used to live in Champaign...and Chicago. And this ruling is a joke. The NFL rule says that the stadium must be 90 miles or more from its home city to avoid a blackout. Champaign is (roughly) 140+ miles from Chicago city limits.
Remember when the Oilers/Titans played in Memphis? Nashville was NOT blacked out of the games, and that stadium was barely half-full. And Memphis is quite a good distance from Nashville.
There's a comment in the Chicago Tribune today about how if the Bears had been playing in Carbondale, IL (even farther south of Champaign) then this wouldn't be an issue. That's B.S. Champaign already qualifies as being outside the "90-mile zone" of potential blackouts for undersold games.
I suspect any threat of a blackout is simply a ploy by the NFL to sell more tickets. Because in the case of the Bears, the NFL is contradicting their own ruling!
This won't stand. With all the millions of dollars at stake for WFLD-TV FOX Ch. 32 and WBBM-TV CBS Ch. 2, it will either be worked out/rules relaxed, or the games will sell out.
The potential for underselling Bears' games in Champaign is real. While Champaign is the home of the Fighting Illini (Univ. of IL), there is a real bias in Champaign/Urbana & the surrounding areas AGAINST virtually ANYTHING that's from Chicago. There seems to be, for some stupid reason, a large contingency of "St. Louis is everything" fan base around there, which makes Z-E-R-O sense. St. Louis is twice as far away from Champaign as Chicago is. This really p*ssed me off, being a Chicago fan. All the local news in Champaign/Urbana on both TV & radio led off with St. Louis scores & highlights for football, hockey, and baseball. To quote Mike Tyson, "It's ludicrous." :lol:
Nonetheless, I suspect that there won't be any blackouts for the Bears this year, unless they suck it late in the season. There's a renewed fervor for the team ever since the beginning of last year (Brian Urlacher's #54 was the top seller in NFL team jersey merchandise last year), and either the affiliates will buy out the remaining tix, or people will just go...barring a losing season (which is always a possibility...they have a BRUTAL schedule this year).
--BearsFan
I used to live in Champaign...and Chicago. And this ruling is a joke. The NFL rule says that the stadium must be 90 miles or more from its home city to avoid a blackout. Champaign is (roughly) 140+ miles from Chicago city limits.
Remember when the Oilers/Titans played in Memphis? Nashville was NOT blacked out of the games, and that stadium was barely half-full. And Memphis is quite a good distance from Nashville.
There's a comment in the Chicago Tribune today about how if the Bears had been playing in Carbondale, IL (even farther south of Champaign) then this wouldn't be an issue. That's B.S. Champaign already qualifies as being outside the "90-mile zone" of potential blackouts for undersold games.
I suspect any threat of a blackout is simply a ploy by the NFL to sell more tickets. Because in the case of the Bears, the NFL is contradicting their own ruling!
This won't stand. With all the millions of dollars at stake for WFLD-TV FOX Ch. 32 and WBBM-TV CBS Ch. 2, it will either be worked out/rules relaxed, or the games will sell out.
The potential for underselling Bears' games in Champaign is real. While Champaign is the home of the Fighting Illini (Univ. of IL), there is a real bias in Champaign/Urbana & the surrounding areas AGAINST virtually ANYTHING that's from Chicago. There seems to be, for some stupid reason, a large contingency of "St. Louis is everything" fan base around there, which makes Z-E-R-O sense. St. Louis is twice as far away from Champaign as Chicago is. This really p*ssed me off, being a Chicago fan. All the local news in Champaign/Urbana on both TV & radio led off with St. Louis scores & highlights for football, hockey, and baseball. To quote Mike Tyson, "It's ludicrous." :lol:
Nonetheless, I suspect that there won't be any blackouts for the Bears this year, unless they suck it late in the season. There's a renewed fervor for the team ever since the beginning of last year (Brian Urlacher's #54 was the top seller in NFL team jersey merchandise last year), and either the affiliates will buy out the remaining tix, or people will just go...barring a losing season (which is always a possibility...they have a BRUTAL schedule this year).
--BearsFan
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Here's the Bears ticket pricing at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Thank you for your interest in Bears tickets for our 2002 season at Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. We are currently discussing introducing a mini-plan package to give fans more options to support the Bears this year - preliminary plans call for a 6-game package and a 4-game package. If you would like to receiving information if and when it becomes available, please respond with your Name, Address, City, State, Zip, Day Phone, Evening Phone, Fax and e-mail address.
Individual game tickets will go on-sale in late-July through Ticketmaster (a list of outlets and phone numbers will be posted on the Bears website in mid-July). Ticket prices are $40, $45, $55 and $65 per seat, depending on location.
Our 2002 home schedule is as follows (dates and times subject to change):
August 10 - Denver Broncos @ 7:05 p.m. (preseason)
August 23 - Jacksonville Jaguars @ 7:05 p.m. (preseason)
September 8 - Minnesota Vikings @ noon
September 22 - New Orleans Saints @ noon
October 7 - Green Bay Packers @ 8 p.m. (Monday Night Football)
November 3 - Philadelphia Eagles @ noon
November 10 - New England Patriots @ 3:15 p.m.
November 24 - Detroit Lions @ noon
December 15 - New York Jets @ noon
December 29 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ 7:30 p.m. (Sunday Night Football)
You can see a complete 2002 schedule and a Memorial Stadium seating chart on our website at chicagobears.com.
For fans interested in cheering the team for all 10 home games, we are currently selling 10-game ticket packages for the 2002 season. Great seat locations are still available, but going fast!
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need any additional information. Again, thank you for your interest and support of the Bears!
Bears 2002 Ticket Information
http://www.chicagobears.com/news/in...rsnews_module.cfm&include=&show_headline=true
Bears 2002 Schedule
http://www.chicagobears.com/games/schedule.cfm?nav_key=nws&subnav_key=sc
Thank you for your interest in Bears tickets for our 2002 season at Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. We are currently discussing introducing a mini-plan package to give fans more options to support the Bears this year - preliminary plans call for a 6-game package and a 4-game package. If you would like to receiving information if and when it becomes available, please respond with your Name, Address, City, State, Zip, Day Phone, Evening Phone, Fax and e-mail address.
Individual game tickets will go on-sale in late-July through Ticketmaster (a list of outlets and phone numbers will be posted on the Bears website in mid-July). Ticket prices are $40, $45, $55 and $65 per seat, depending on location.
Our 2002 home schedule is as follows (dates and times subject to change):
August 10 - Denver Broncos @ 7:05 p.m. (preseason)
August 23 - Jacksonville Jaguars @ 7:05 p.m. (preseason)
September 8 - Minnesota Vikings @ noon
September 22 - New Orleans Saints @ noon
October 7 - Green Bay Packers @ 8 p.m. (Monday Night Football)
November 3 - Philadelphia Eagles @ noon
November 10 - New England Patriots @ 3:15 p.m.
November 24 - Detroit Lions @ noon
December 15 - New York Jets @ noon
December 29 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ 7:30 p.m. (Sunday Night Football)
You can see a complete 2002 schedule and a Memorial Stadium seating chart on our website at chicagobears.com.
For fans interested in cheering the team for all 10 home games, we are currently selling 10-game ticket packages for the 2002 season. Great seat locations are still available, but going fast!
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need any additional information. Again, thank you for your interest and support of the Bears!
Bears 2002 Ticket Information
http://www.chicagobears.com/news/in...rsnews_module.cfm&include=&show_headline=true
Bears 2002 Schedule
http://www.chicagobears.com/games/schedule.cfm?nav_key=nws&subnav_key=sc
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Dang...those prices are cheap compared to what Broncos tickets cost!
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Ahh! Professional sports! Always willing to bite the hand that feeds them!
If they go through with this a burn their own fans, do you think they will line up to buy tickets when the Bears move back to Chicago? Football ticket's are so overpriced now, common people are being priced out of attending!
Is the Bears going to play one or two years there? I believe it suppose to be two years which will suck IMO.
Also the Bears aren't going to make the playoffs this year. They had a remarkable record last year with an unremarkable offense. With the tougher schedule and teams being more prepared I think it's going to be a long season for Bears fans.
Also the Bears aren't going to make the playoffs this year. They had a remarkable record last year with an unremarkable offense. With the tougher schedule and teams being more prepared I think it's going to be a long season for Bears fans.
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326 Posts
The Bears will play just one season at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, IL.
According to the team, the "new" Soldier Field will be ready for the 2003 season...of course, the first few games of the season will be away games for the Bears as the finishing touches are applied.
Playoffs in 2002? Yeah...good luck. I see (at BEST) a 9-7 season this year. The Bears have a B-R-U-T-A-L stretch where, in 4 weeks time, they have to play the Eagles, Rams, and Patriots. :eek2:
Ouch!
But, if anyone remembers the back-to-back games where sheer determination won out (OT victories over both the 49'ers, and a seemingly-at-the-time playoff-bound Browns), anything could happen.
I'm standing pretty solid at 9-7 & missing the playoffs...for now.
--BearsFan
According to the team, the "new" Soldier Field will be ready for the 2003 season...of course, the first few games of the season will be away games for the Bears as the finishing touches are applied.
Playoffs in 2002? Yeah...good luck. I see (at BEST) a 9-7 season this year. The Bears have a B-R-U-T-A-L stretch where, in 4 weeks time, they have to play the Eagles, Rams, and Patriots. :eek2:
Ouch!
But, if anyone remembers the back-to-back games where sheer determination won out (OT victories over both the 49'ers, and a seemingly-at-the-time playoff-bound Browns), anything could happen.
I'm standing pretty solid at 9-7 & missing the playoffs...for now.
--BearsFan
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326 Posts
The coaches' choice = Miller
The fans' choice = Chandler
Add them both together, and they're a walking triage unit. Miller sat out mini-camp with a pulled muslce (he had surgery on his shoulder in the offseason, separated vs. the Eagles in the playoffs)...so Chandler took all the snaps w/ the first team.
Miller is the "leader." His stats don't show that, but believe me...his teammates believe in him, and he in them...that's why the coaches have chosen him as their starter...and he is something like 14-5 as their starter.
Chandler is new to the offense, but is by far the better QB. Die-hard fans of the Bears like me are predicting that Chandler will start the bulk of the games this year anyway, given the injury-prone-ness of Miller.
It's gonna be a L-O-N-G year for us Bears' fans. 9-7 is optimistic...but anything could happen. The foundation is there, on both offense & defense.
--BearsFan
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