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| The NIU Season Ticket Guide and Donor Guides have been mailed! |
2015 Huskie Athletic Fund Donor Guide
2015 Season Ticket Order Form (pdf)
ORDER Season Tickets Online
Season Ticket FAQ
On Monday, March 9th, NIU Assistant Athletic Director for Development Tim Rice and Assistant Athletic Director for Ticket Operations Chris Radford answered YOUR questions about the Huskie Athletic Fund and 2015 football season tickets in a live chat on NIUHuskies.com.
See the complete transcript of the chat below as Tim and Chris talked about some of the new features that are a part of the Huskie Athletic Fund and football season ticket options this year, like the End Zone Club, three-year agreements for premium areas at locked in donation levels, the Huskie Family Pack and mini-plans. They also answered questions about changes to other areas, and upcoming events centered around the Huskie Bowl on April 11.
Remember, the 2015 renewal deadline is April 11 in order to receive the benefits that begin immediately following the Huskie Bowl with a special Donor/Season Ticket Holder Appreciation event, as well as seating and parking priority.
If the answer to your question isn't here, or if you would like to speak one-on-one with a member of the Huskie Athletic Fund or NIU Ticket Office staff to get your question answered, call 815-753-PACK (7225) Monday- Friday between 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Season tickets are also available for purchase online anytime at www.NIUHuskies.com/tickets.
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| NIUAthComm: Good afternoon Huskies! Welcome to today's NIUHuskies.com chat about the 2015 Huskie Athletic Fund Annual Drive and 2015 NIU Football season tickets. We've got some pretty good questions already in, but we can't wait to get some more so fire away! |
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| Joe (Batavia): Question concerning the HAF tent. So why are you limiting the number of passes to the tent by donation? Are my kids supposed to play in the "Yard " while I am inside the tent? If the goal was to limit the tent and make it more exclusive, would it not have made more sense to enter the tent you must make a minimal $2500 donation, and then all your season tickets would be eligible to enter the tent? This would have increased your donations, if people wanted it they will pay for it. Under the current scenario, individual families like mine can get broken up. |
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Tim Rice, Huskie Athletic Fund: Hi Joe and thanks for your question. After a department-wide review of the hospitality tent, the feedback from many of our supporters was that they wanted a higher quality of food and a more exclusive event. In years past, we have had more than 450 people in the tent at each game. In an effort to be better stewards of the generous donations made by our supporters, we determined it would be best to allocate passes based on donor level above all else. |
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| Ed (Downers Grove): On my Season Ticket Renewal form under last season's location it just has Section: Group. What does this mean? I would have thought my seats would have been listed as I've had them for 10 years. I do notice my total is listed. Please advise. |
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Chris Radford, NIU Ticket Office: Hi Ed - After renewals went out, we realized a few renewals that had multiple season ticket locations generated the word "group" instead of those locations. Your same seats as last year are still saved in your account. Simply call us at the Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225) to renew your same seats. |
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| Grant (Fort Worth): When will the donation website be up and running? Can you donate specifically to the Master Facility Plan? |
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Tim Rice, Huskie Athletic Fund: Great question Grant! We love it when our donors donate online! The Huskie Athletic Fund website (huskieathleticfund.com) will be live again by this Wednesday. We are sorry for the delay. Thank you so much for your interest in the Athletics Facilities Master Plan. Currently, we are in the silent phase of the campaign process, but there will definitely be an opportunity to donate to this effort in the future and please know we are working diligently to move this forward. |
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| Bryan (Yorkville): There is only 1 price listed for alumni association members for tickets. Do tickets for any level get marked down to this price or are those tickets for designated sections? |
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Chris Radford, NIU Ticket Office: Hi Bryan - The Alumni Association season ticket rate is $115 in any section except for A and G, where season tickets can be purchased for just $99. Just indicate which sections you prefer on your renewal form. |
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| Tim (Aurora): Do you know of how the Huskie Bowl will be formatted this year? Will it be a true scrimmage or just drills like last year? |
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Tim Rice, Huskie Athletic Fund: Tim, nice name! Sure, the 2015 Huskie Bowl is going to be community-focused. At Noon, there will be a Communiversity Block Party on the West Side of Huskie Stadium, including local small businesses and vendors. Then at 1 pm, please join us in one of our many premium areas, including the Terrace Club, the Coaches Club, the Skybox and the new Endzone Club for an open house and to tour those areas. Kickoff of the Huskie Bowl is at 2 pm. In terms of the format, the football staff is tentatively planning a full scrimmage with the team split into Red and Black but of course, that is dependent on how the rest of spring practices go. Following the game, in the Barsema Hall of Champions, we will be holding a Huskie Athletic Fund Appreciation event for all who have renewed their 2015 donation. |
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| Austin (Geneva): Will there be any partial season-ticket packages available this year or in the future? |
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Chris Radford, NIU Ticket Office: Austin, thanks for your question. Yes, we do have two different three-game mini-plans available this year. One plan includes the Homecoming game (which is still TBD) plus any two other games (except UNLV), while the other plan includes the UNLV game and any two other games (except Homecoming). The mini-plans cost $75 and the tickets are in sections A and G of Huskie Stadium. |
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Tim Rice, Huskie Athletic Fund: Hey Fred! Thank you. Last year, chairbacks did sell out. We highly encourage you to add your name and specific request to our list, which will be reviewed after the April 11th deadline. All premium seats that open up will be allocated shortly after the deadline based on your 2015 donor level and then your priority points within the level. Give us a call at 815-753-PACK for more information. We look forward to hearing from you. |
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| Fred (Aurora): Is there a waiting list for Chairback season tickets this season? |
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Tim Rice, Huskie Athletic Fund: Sorry, gave you the answer before the question but one more thing, we anticipate there will be plenty of benchback seats available after April 11 so get your request in and thank you. |
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| Nick Rex (Facebook): Nick Rex Is there any plans to make the ticket order forms easier to understand? Season tickets cost this. Then it says these tickets require a donation as well. So is that donation plus season ticket cost. Then parking, if you make a donation of a certain amount for your season tickets, does that count toward your parking as well? Or is the parking donation on top of the ticket donation? A lot going on and it is confusing with multiple sheets in the packet along with the book. |
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Chris Radford, NIU Ticket Office: Nick, we certainly realize there is a LOT of information in the renewal packets you received. Part of that was on purpose. We decided to send the Huskie Athletic Fund and season ticket renewals together this year. We highly encourage you to reach out to one of our dedicated staff members to help you with these questions. We are glad to meet with you in person to go over the forms, or via phone. Give us a call at 815-753-PACK (7225). |
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| John (Oswego): I donate around $2,000 to the HAF and I have 4 season tickets for my family. I have always received 4 passes to the HAF tent in the Yard. This year, however, it looks like I will only get 2 passes. Why is this and how will I be able to take all 4 of my family into the tent, or will I need to leave 2 family members standing outside the tent? |
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Tim Rice, Huskie Athletic Fund: Hi John, great to hear from you. Sounds like you are really close to being at the next "director's" level ($2500+). Did you know that your annual giving level includes your gifts to unrestricted, premium experience, sports specific and gift-in-kind? Also, at the $2500 level, you would receive four passes to the tent and access to the fifth quarter events after every home football Saturday game. Also, remember that the tent is located inside The Yard and there is a lot of family-friendly activity right there - from the band to the big screen TV to the Kid Zone and more. |
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| Cameron (Geneva): Is there going to be an x's and o's with the pros this year? I haven't heard any information about that to this point. |
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Tim Rice, Huskie Athletic Fund: Hi Cameron, in fact, we met about this just this morning and Yes, there will be an Xs and Os with the Pro. It will be held on Friday, April 10 in the Yordon Center, the night before the Huskie Bowl. Expect to see the announcement very soon here on NIUHuskies.com. |
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| Nick Rex (via Facebook): Also, new 3 year plans. Do you pay for the whole thing up front? Or just this year now and the next two years come next March/April? |
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Tim Rice, Huskie Athletic Fund: Nick, great question. We created the three-year agreements in an effort to benefit our most loyal supporters. The three-year agreement is essentially a three-year PLEDGE with payments every year for your per-seat contributions. The great thing about the three-year agreement is that you will lock in your per seat donation level at this year's rates. |
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| Anthony (Rockford): Love the home schedule for next season and will definitely be renewing my season tickets! Just curious, when will we know if the Boston College home game will be in 2016 or 2017? |
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Chris Radford, NIU Ticket Office: Anthony, that's great to hear and we're really, really happy you will be renewing your season tickets. As you know, Sean Frazier has worked hard to upgrade our future schedules and now is the time to get on board and be in a great position to see those future opponents like BC. I am not sure whether BC has announced which year they will be traveling to DeKalb. That is a question for Sean Frazier. |
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| Jason (Bartlett): Love the Coaches Club and Yordon Center Terrace tents you guys added last year! I saw that you are adding an Endzone Club for next year. What are the differences between the Endzone Club and Coaches Club? |
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Tim Rice, Huskie Athletic Fund: Jason, awesome question! We are excited about the addition of the Endzone Club for 2015. The Endzone Club is our latest enhancement to NIU Football Gameday. It is located on field level with a view of the action few fans get to experience at Huskie Stadium. There will be heat, a cash bar, food buffet and high top tables. Of course, the Coaches Club remains a great option, with private restrooms and close proximity to your season ticket locations. The Coaches Club sure was a great place to mix and mingle with other Huskies during those November home games last year! |
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| George (Hanover Park): I'm a small business owner and would love to advertise inside Huskie Stadium. How would I go about this and what options are available to me? |
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Tim Rice, Huskie Athletic Fund: George, NIU Athletics, in partnership with Learfield Sports, has an outstanding menu of sponsorship opportunities, including inside Huskie Stadium, in The Yard, game programs, radio broadcasts and more. Evan Hawkins is the general manager of Huskie Sports Properties with offices in the NIU Convocation Center. Get your company in the game, call Evan or Ross at 815-753-2129. |
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| Jared (St. Charles): I'm an NIU alum with a family of four. What are some of the ticket packages you have for families? |
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Chris Radford, NIU Ticket Office: Jared, glad you are considering bringing your family to Huskie Football games this fall. We have a brand new Huskie Family Pack this year with four season tickets for just $299. We realize families can have more than four people, so additional season tickets can be added for only $74.75 each. Ticket locations are in the upper half of sections A, B, F and G. Hope to you and your family at the games this fall! |
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| Bill (Oswego): Just to confirm, Ohio State tickets are $89 a piece and only season ticket holders are eligible to purchase them, maximum of 2 tickets, correct? |
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Chris Radford, NIU Ticket Office: Hello Bill. Because of the high demand we anticipate for this road game against the Buckeyes, the defending national champions, tickets will only be available to Huskie Athletic Fund donors beginning Monday, May 4. The number of tickets available to purchase is based on the 2015 donor level. If tickets remain, on Monday, June 8, season ticket holders will be able to purchase two tickets to the Ohio State game. According to information we have received, those tickets are $79 each. |
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| Ben (Woodridge): Do you anticipate having any travel packages to Boston for the Boston College game? |
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Tim Rice, Huskie Athletic Fund: Hi Ben, yes, we are excited to continue our partnership with Anthony Travel this year. We do anticipate there will be travel packages to the Ohio State and Boston College games. Stay tuned to NIUHuskies.com and thanks for your interest. |
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| NIUAthComm: Looks like we have answered all of the questions for now! We really appreciate everyone's participation and your interest in NIU Athletics. Chris and Tim are available anytime to answer your questions and to speak with you about the Huskie Athletic Fund, premium areas, season tickets and more. Contact Chris (ticket questions) via e-mail cradford@niu.edu or by calling 815-753-PACK (7225) and press 1 for tickets. To contact Tim, call 815-753-1923 or e-mail him at trice@niu.edu. Thanks again and GO HUSKIES! |
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