Undefeated IU football team bringing attention, business to Bloomington

BLOOMINGTON — It’s been an incredible start for IU football. The team is undefeated at 7-0 and the rest of the home games are sold out.

It’s a big turnaround from the previous 3-9 season.

“Depressing, hard to watch, not a lot of fan enthusiasm,” that’s how Daniel Cunningham, Aakash Parekh, and Evan Wodock all described Hoosier football during their time at school.

They’re now juniors.

“In fact, I didn’t even buy football tickets because I knew we’d had a bad season these past couple of years,” said Parekh.

He’s kicking himself now because of the turnaround from the team bringing a new atmosphere to campus.

“Kirkwood is packed, can’t find parking anywhere, and I love seeing everyone come in for the tailgates. A lot of our parents come,” said Parekh.

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“This is by far the most excited I’ve seen this town about football,” said Galen Clavio, the director of the sports media program at IU.

Clavio has witnessed about 40 seasons of IU football. Sellouts at Memorial Stadium bring in 60,000 people and thousands more come to tailgate.

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“We’re at or beyond hotel capacity here in town on these football weekends. We’re at or beyond capacity with most of these restaurants. It’s an hour and a half, two-hour long wait to get in even two to three hours before the game starts,” said Clavio.

“Saturdays have been great. Winning is good for business,” said Chris Martin, the president of Finney Hospitality.

Finney Hospitality has four restaurants in Bloomington. All of them are doing well this fall.

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“It’s been busier than last year and previous years, but it is true that when they win, we are busier,” said Martin.

The Hoosiers host Washington on Saturday at noon. College Gameday will be in town.