TWEET: .@LovieSmith hiring sprouts up new #Illini fans

While Illini football fans were enjoying
the hiring of the new coach Lovie Smith, Illinois’ athletic department was seeing an exponential increase in web traffic
from all over the state of Illinois.

“You kind of strap in and hope you’re able to hit balls on
the fly,” Brad Wurthman, associate director of marketing and fan development,
said.

In a 24-hour span after Smith’s hiring on Monday,
fightingillini.com saw numbers that didn’t even register on the same scale with
the average daily traffic. Wurthman did not know the exact number, but he said
“it blew everything away.”

“Our success is, at times, a product of our circumstance,”
he said. “But we also have to create the opportunity to take advantage of that
when it happens.”

This increase in traffic was a learning lesson for Illinois
athletics. Before the hiring, it was focusing its marketing efforts on Chicago.
But Wurthman and his team realized they need to spend more time focusing on Springfield, Decatur, Peoria,
Danville and Rantoul.

Wurthman said there aren’t people to go to every part of Illinois, but he
said it may be possible digitally.

“I think where we have been spending time and energy is winning
our market, winning Chicago, and what we’ve realized is that we have to win
everything.”

The increased web traffic also brought in 2,000 new season
ticketholders for football. Illinois set a new pricing plan for football, and launched an iFund family four pack. It included four season tickets, a
parking pass and an iFund membership for $249. The promotion has since sold
out, filling three different sections of Memorial Stadium.

Wurthman said he does not yet know how Smith’s
hiring will affect 2016’s single-game prices. But he does know Illinois wants
to provide a family-friendly form of entertainment for football and basketball
games.

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@32Ryno