The undefeated IU football team brings attention and business to Bloomington

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

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

“Depressing, hard to watch, little fan enthusiasm” is how Daniel Cunningham, Aakash Parekh and Evan Wodock described Hoosier football during their high school years.

They are juniors now.

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“In fact, I didn’t even buy football tickets because I knew we had a bad season the last few years,” Parekh said.

He’s now upset about the team’s turnaround, which is bringing a new atmosphere to campus.

“Kirkwood is packed, there’s no parking anywhere, and I love seeing everyone come to the tailgate. A lot of our parents come,” Parekh said.

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“This is by far the most exciting football-related thing I’ve seen in this city,” said Galen Clavio, the director of IU’s sports media program.

Clavio has seen about 40 seasons of IU football. The sellout at Memorial Stadium draws 60,000 people and thousands more flock to the event.

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“On these football weekends we reached or even exceeded the capacity of our hotels here in the city. We are at full capacity or not at all at most of these restaurants. It takes an hour and a half to two hours to get in two to three hours before the game starts,” Clavio said.

“Saturdays were great. A profit is good for business,” said Chris Martin, president of Finney Hospitality.

Finney Hospitality has four restaurants in Bloomington. Everyone is doing well this fall.

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

The Hoosiers host Washington on Saturday at noon. College game day is in town.