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| Chris Hanna, director of marketing and promotions for Illinois Athlietics, will be in the chat room Thursday, Oct. 15, starting at Noon CT. |
Here's your opportunity to pose questions for Illinois' Director of Marketing and Promotions, Chris Hanna. Chris will be in the chat room Thursday, Oct. 15, starting at Noon CT. Send in your questions today.
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| Moderator: Hello everyone and thanks for joining us. Chris Hanna is here and ready to take your questions so let's get started... |
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| Rieall (Deal, IL): Mr Hanna, I am so excited to come to Spike the Record tomorrow! What should I know about this awesome event? |
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Chris Hanna: Illini Madness is the most elaborate promotion for us to orchestrate each year. This year's Spike The Record at Illini Madness event takes that to another level. We will flow from a Top 10 volleyball match featuring No. 6 Minnesota and our No. 10 Fighting Illini to Jolette Law's No. 3 recruiting class in the nation to our first chance to see Bruce Weber's exciting freshman class. The biggest parts of the story at this point for me are 1) the buzz around the event and how it impacts people's arrival time and 2) how much buzz there will be after the event about how awesome the volleyball was. We are planning to have 16,618 -- the Assembly Hall capacity -- seated before volleyball tips off. We distributed 125,000 free tickets and the buzz our staff receives by word of mouth, the work our coaches have done promoting it, and the calls I hear to sports radio all point to a full house prior to volleyball. The untold story is how awesome volleyball will be, with two Top 10 teams competing in front of a NCAA record 16,618 people all echoing Andy Isbell's "Point, Illinois!" after each Fighting Illini score. It's a historic moment in college volleyball. That building will be rocking and people will get chills during the match. People are coming in thinking they're going to a basketball event. They will leave talking about the volleyball -- it will be fun to watch that take place. |
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| Elizabeth (Champaign): As a former volleyball player, I'm excited to see Assembly Hall full for a volleyball game. But I'm curious do I really need to be there when the doors open to get a seat? |
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Chris Hanna: Yes. We really believe it will be full before volleyball begins. |
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| Abby (Normal): I am excited about the upcoming men's basketball season. How do crowds look for men's basketball this year? |
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Chris Hanna: We are well over 90 percent on season ticket renewals once again this season. Bruce Weber's program is definitely among the elite in the nation. We will sell out most of our games again this year. We're getting closer to a point where we're going to need a wait list once again. The annual Missouri game and the United Center game with Gonzaga will be electric. Stay tuned for College Gameday driven by State Farm Insurance coming on Feb. 6, 2010 when we host Michigan State. Our goal is to double the record crowd for the ESPN show that morning. The current record is 4,500 -- which includes a No. 1 vs. No. 2 Memphis-Tennessee game and a UNC-Duke game. Our fans are going to torch that record. We fully anticipate we will have 9,000 easy. |
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| Jason (Taylor): Do you anticipate large crowds at the remaining football games? |
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Chris Hanna: Jason, we most definitely do. We are very close to reaching the first five rows of obstructed seats for both Northwestern and Michigan. We will have an announcement about one of those games very soon. If you want tickets for either of those games, then now is definitely the time to act. Tickets are on sale at FightingIllini.com |
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| Kelly (Chicago): I want to go to basketball games, but I don't have time for Orange Krush. How can I still get tickets? |
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Chris Hanna: Illinois students still have an opportunity to buy a regular season ticket that does not require the fundraising efforts that the Orange Krush engages in each year. Those efforts give Krush members a free season ticket and access to the seats near the floor. However, you can pay $134 and get a student season ticket that still allows you to see all non-break games. |
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| Rick (Springfield): How does someone get into a job like yours? |
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Chris Hanna: To get involved in intercollegiate athletics marketing, you probably want to move into an internship or graduate assistant position in a sports marketing department during or following college. If you want to move up to a director position or above, then you will likely need a masters degree. I was a 10-year veteran in intercollegiate athletics prior to getting this position at Illinois. I highly recommend carving out a niche to sell yourself as you move up in the industry. My niche is generating attendance and revenue for college football. My staffs have set various records in that area at four different Football Bowl Subdivision schools. Your niche becomes your marketability in the industry. |
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| Mike (Urbana): I've never purchased basketball season tickets before but am interested in getting them this year. What's the benefit of being a season ticket holder instead of just purchasing for certain games? Will this be a good year to buy season tickets? |
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Chris Hanna: The main benefit is you have a guaranteed seat for every game. Many games will sell out this season. As an I FUND donor, you can get more quality seats depending on your level of commitment to the I FUND and seat availability. I FUND dollars go to support the scholarships used by our student-athletes and keeping Illinois competitive in terms of academics, facilities, equipment, etc. This is most definitely a great year to buy season tickets -- before we go back to the wait list in the years to come! Bruce Weber should have an amazing team again this season and he's the winningest coach in Big Ten history in terms of both wins and winning percentage over his first six seasons. Those are amazing stats that we sometimes take for granted. |
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| Don (Champaign): What plans do you have in store to help attendance at women's basketball? I'm excited about this year's team and hope more people turn out to the games! |
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Chris Hanna: Jolette Law brought in the Number 3 recruiting class in the nation. We are thrilled to have experienced seniors like Lacey Simpson and Jenna Smith to lead the way. I think this team will surprise people. Coach Law has great vision for this program and her goals are lofty. Pack the Hall, our premiere promotion for women's basketball, will meet those standards again this season. Last year, more than 7,000 fans were on hand filling the "A" and "B" sections of Assembly Hall to create a great environment for that game which appeared regionally on CBS. We will work to better that number this season. |
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Chris Hanna: Thanks to everyone for all of the questions. There are many here that I couldn't get to in the one-hour allocated to the chat. I am off to finish preparations for Spike the Record at Illini Madness. Make sure you're there when doors open at 5:30 PM tomorrow (Friday) night! Come back Tuesday for a chat with football student-athlete Donsay Hardeman. |
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