There will be more to the football team's first home game of the season than Brady Hoke's first appearance as head coach.
In an attempt to create some campus-wide excitement for the football season, the Ball State athletic department has announced that the first game of the season will be played at night, something that has never been done at Ball State Stadium.
Along with the August 28 game being the first night game in Ball State history, athletics director Bubba Cunningham said he plans to make it the first sold-out game at Ball State.
Plans for the lights came into place after the realization that the first game was originally set for August 30, Labor Day weekend.
"It really became evident when we realized that August 30 was Labor Day Saturday that that would be a tough day for attendance," Cunningham said. "That's when we really started thinking about other options.
"Once we realized we couldn't play that game on the 30th and have any kind of attendance, we started looking at Thursday," Cunningham said. "Well, we can't play during the day, so it has to be at night. It kind of forced us into making some decisions."
Cunningham explained that the other contributing factor for pushing for a night game was to better involve students.
"We talked about doing things a little bit different and doing things that students want to do," the first-year athletics director said. "Through conversations with other people in the league, night games are very appealing to students."
With the decision of playing at night official, the next question on the table was whether to bring in portable lights or install permanent fixtures.
Cunningham explained that bringing in portable lights will cost approximately $50,000. Musco, a company out of Oskaloosa, Iowa, will light the game. Cunningham said Musco has lit games at Wrigley Field, tracks at various Indy Racing League races around the country and the search and cleanup of ground zero in New York City.
Cunningham expects the cost of permanent lights to range from $250,000 to $300,000.
However, it appears the athletic department has decided to bring in temporary lights. Cunningham explained that portable lights might be the best option. He said that doing a night game once might be enough to pursuade donors to go ahead with permanent lights based on what he expects to be a sold out crowd.
As for the project of selling out the game, Cunningham said he expects a sold-out crowd to nearly cover the $50,000 cost of temporary lights.
In order to sell out, Cunningham said Chris Ulm, former team manager for the men's basketball team, has been hired to work throughout the summer to sell tickets.
The summer is when the majority of the tickets will be pushed in a promotional campaign titled "Black out, sell out."
Cunningham said throughout summer freshman orientations, they will be selling shirts, hats and, most importantly, tickets for what may end up as a historical night for Ball State football.
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