Iowa City knew it was in for a lot today, as Black Friday and Iowa City's post-Thanksgiving conference game met on the very same day.
According to an article on thegazette.com, both events always draw quite the crowd in Iowa City and Coralville.
Black Friday draws a large crowd from all over the state because of sales in the Coral Ridge Mall.
The post-Thanksgiving conference game with Iowa City's rivals, Nebraska, is the first of its kind, and led the city to prepare for even more chaos because of the added sports fans coming in to see the game.
Hotels in the area were booked by Friday night, according to Laurie Haman, who is the vice president for the Convention and Visitors Bureau for the Iowa City/Coralville Area.
The traffic in the area is expected to be very congested, and businesses were unaware of exactly how the 11 a.m. game will affect the shopping. They did not know if the crowd would be larger or smaller at certain times.
Some businesses stretched the big deals all day so Hawkeye fans would not have to choose between Christmas shopping deals and the game. The stretch of Black Friday to Thursday has also done a part to help benefit shoppers who want to attend the game as well.
Some Black Friday sales were kicked off as early as 9 p.m. on Thursday evening.
The following day is Small Business Saturday for Iowa City, so this will contribute somewhat to the weekend traffic as well for the city.
According to an article on thegazette.com, both events always draw quite the crowd in Iowa City and Coralville.
Black Friday draws a large crowd from all over the state because of sales in the Coral Ridge Mall.
The post-Thanksgiving conference game with Iowa City's rivals, Nebraska, is the first of its kind, and led the city to prepare for even more chaos because of the added sports fans coming in to see the game.
Hotels in the area were booked by Friday night, according to Laurie Haman, who is the vice president for the Convention and Visitors Bureau for the Iowa City/Coralville Area.
The traffic in the area is expected to be very congested, and businesses were unaware of exactly how the 11 a.m. game will affect the shopping. They did not know if the crowd would be larger or smaller at certain times.
Some businesses stretched the big deals all day so Hawkeye fans would not have to choose between Christmas shopping deals and the game. The stretch of Black Friday to Thursday has also done a part to help benefit shoppers who want to attend the game as well.
Some Black Friday sales were kicked off as early as 9 p.m. on Thursday evening.
The following day is Small Business Saturday for Iowa City, so this will contribute somewhat to the weekend traffic as well for the city.
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