Big Noon Kickoff in Grange Grove - 2x This Fall - October 2025

Earlier this Fall, we went down to check out both the Barstool College Football Show and Fox's Big Noon Kickoff at the University of Illinois.  I wrote about the first visit for the Southern Cal game here in late September.  Both productions (and they were BIG productions) set-up shop in Grange Grove on the West side of the (Gies) Memorial Stadium in what is typically a quiet corner of the Grove.  (We were at an earlier game this season when the crews weren't there and there was a corporate hospitality tent in the same corner that BNK was set-up).  Seeing both of these shows was a fun experience, but due to our arrival time (We walked into Grange Grove right as Barstool was wrapping up and before Big Noon was starting), most of the 'space' was filled in, so we were standing near the back.  With the KoTBT being well...a kid...that meant that his 'line of sight' is such that if we moved in closer, he couldn't see anything.  Not to mention the signs and such being hoisted up in the air created a situation where even I couldn't really get a good look at the stage.  Besides...the talent has their backs to the crowd.  It *is* a tv show after all. 

But, that doesn't mean that it wasn't a treat to experience.  The exposure for the program progrum can't be beat.  The visuals showing the outside colonnades of Memorial Stadium are top-notch and the vitality shown on screen from the students and fans shows how transformed the Illini football program has become in the past few years under Coach Bret Bielema.  (Build the statue now?)

Here are a couple of photos from our two trips down for the shows.  First, the Southern Cal game then for Ohio State.  Different outcomes, but both still fun trips.  It was a lot of fun being just the two of us.  The drive down, the game and the drive back.  Both of these games were 11 am starts and I'm sure there's some folks who aren't loving that, but for me they're perfect.  Get up early, get on the road.  Be home before dark.  

The "real" tailgating experience in Champaign doesn't really happen in Grange Grove.  It is happening across the street in Lot 31.  But, that doesn't mean that Grange Grove isn't PERFECT for something like Big Noon Kickoff showing up.  Before the 2015 season, the area of Grange Grove was a parking lot.  For heavy-hitting donors.  When they announced it, I can only assume the only grumbles were from the folks who had those sweet parking spots.  (I still remember that some folks had spots that even had their names on them).  Today, Grange Grove is alive on gameday.  There's a bunch of Greek life in tents on the northern portion of the grove and mostly corporate tents on the southside of the Grove.  

When it is just the KoTBTs and me, we don't tailgate.  We park (usually in Lot 32) and walk through Lot 31 to take-in the tailgating atmosphere, then head to Grange Grove.  Then, in early for warmups, of course.  

That's probably a big reason why I like Grange Grove so much.  Besides the tailgating, they've now created an environment where we can host tv productions like Big Noon (We know College Gameday won't come because we're in the B1G) and filled it with excitement like (if you arrive early enough) the "Illini walk" where you get to see the players getting off the buses.  

We're headed back for a couple more games this Fall.  One of them will be with the larger crew and that week we'll be in Lot 31.  Doesn't mean the KoTBTs and myself won't leave the family tailgate a little bit early to check out what is going on in Grange Grove.  That's how traditions are built.  One home game at a time.