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BSU, IU plan to play football at Lucas Oil Stadium

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Ball State University has signed a contract to move its season-opening home football game against Indiana University to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, according to the Star-Press in Muncie.

BSU Athletic Director Tom Collins told the newspaper that stadium officials are expected to sign off on the deal by the end of the week.

The game is set for Sept. 3.

Collins said BSU has a goal to sell 40,000 tickets at an average cost of $40 each. If ticket sales meet expectations, the school expects to exceed $700,000 in additional profit beyond what a sold-out game at Scheumann Stadium in Muncie would generate. Capacity at the Muncie stadium is 22,500.

Ball State has hosted only one other Big Ten team in school history, on Sept. 9, 2006, when IU beat Ball State, 24-23.

Ball State ranked last in home attendance among the 120 Football Subdivision Schools last season, with an average of 8,947 spectators per game. The game against IU at Lucas Oil Stadium will still be considered a home game, Collins told the newspaper, bolstering the team’s average attendance figure next season.
 

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  • 40,000?
    Given that BSU football is not very good, and that now the game will not be played on campus, how does Collins anticipate selling 40,000 tickets with the home attendance the lowest among 120 Football Subdivision Schools? Obviously the vast majority will come from IU. Will IU be that interested in watching BSU? Probably not. Maybe the novelty of watching a game in Lucas Oil will draw some people�but 40,000?
  • What?
    I'm pretty sure there will be more IU fans at this game than Ball State fans despite it being a "home" game for Ball State. IU averaged about five times as many fans at home games as BSU last year so you know exactly why Ball State wants to play this game in Indy to draw more IU fans than they would in Muncie.
  • Football game at Lucas Oil
    Well, at least there is one team people care about - Ball State!

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