What you need to know for football season kickoff
By Kirk Johannesen
August 30, 2022
IU’s first home game, which is also the Hoosiers’ season opener, takes place 8 p.m. Sept. 2 at Memorial Stadium against the Illinois Fighting Illini.
The game marks IU Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day, which means faculty and staff can purchase tickets for themselves and their families at a discount.
All surface parking lots around the stadium are sold out, but parking is available in the grass lots immediately south of the stadium, along with various parking garages on campus. Fans are encouraged to purchase parking in advance. Cash is required to purchase parking in the grass lots on game day.
Cars parked in the athletic lots need to be moved by 6 p.m. Sept. 1 to allow for game-day parking. Cars that are not moved will be towed. IU Campus Bus will provide shuttle service around campus and to College Mall to help those who had to move their cars and need transportation to the stadium.
The barricades in and around the stadium will include a QR code that can be scanned to access the IU Football Gameday Guide — which answers most questions — and the IU Team Store.
A few changes
IU Athletics recently entered into a new merchandise agreement with Legends, which will enhance the IU merchandise options and locations on IU football game days. Fans can find merchandise locations on the east, north and west sides of the stadium.
All purchases at IU Team Store locations are now cashless. IU Athletics has moved to cashless payments for tickets, concessions and merchandise for all athletic venues and shops starting this fall season.
IU Athletics recently announced partnerships with Molson Coors Beverage Company that makes Coors Light its exclusive domestic beer sponsor, and with Upland Brewing Company that makes it the exclusive craft beer sponsor. However, other brands of beer will be sold at games as well.
The north end zone concourse has been relabeled “Hoosier Red Zone,” a family-friendly area featuring televisions and interactive games. Fans can also sign up for a chance at a free VIP experience that allows a small group to go to the field before the game and watch players warm up.
Lighting at Memorial Stadium has been upgraded. IU Athletics has installed a new Musco LED system to improve the lighting for TV and stadium fans. It replaces the previous lighting system installed in the 1980s, which required additional mobile Musco trucks to be brought in to meet the lighting needs of TV for night games. That will no longer be necessary.
New entertainment feature
Sydney Butz, a freshman from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is the featured twirler, and she’ll perform during the Marching Hundred’s pregame and halftime sets. She’s been twirling since age 3.
“I am incredibly excited and honored to perform in Memorial Stadium for all the Hoosier fans on game days,” she said.
Butz said IU’s crowd will be the largest she’s performed in front of, but having competed on the world level, she understands what she’ll need to do to please the fans.
“You need to be able to perform and show off for the crowd,” she said. ” Since I am the only twirler on a very large field surrounded by hundreds of band members, I will need to work hard to stand out and be sure that I am entertaining everyone in the stadium.”
Butz learned twirling at a studio in Oshkosh, where she also studied dance.
“The thing I love most about twirling, and what makes it most unique, is that it combines the grace and beauty of dance with the strength and power required to twirl, which is why it’s so exciting to watch,” she said.
Kirk Johannesen is a communications consultant in the Office of the Vice President for Communications and Marketing.