The Daily Hoosier

IU adds in-game DJ for football and men’s basketball

September 2, 2022 Seth Tow IUBB, IUFB 3

Memorial Stadium and Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall are getting some new beats.

DJ Gno (pronounced know) announced Thursday on Fox 59 that he’s now the official DJ for IU football and men’s basketball. He said he’ll be at every home game this year.

Gno DJs at Lucas Oil Stadium before Indianapolis Colts games and has also worked with the Indiana Pacers.

“We’re very grateful to be a part of the Hoosier tradition, and try to rally these guys and get some W’s this year,” Gno said on Fox.

Gno will make his IU debut Friday during the opening night football game against Illinois. He was recently DJing at Colts training camp in August, and he also performed at the Barstool Indy 500 Party in May 2021.

Gno isn’t the first DJ to pair up with the Hoosiers this year. Iman Tucker, who’s worked with the Indiana Fever, announced on Twitter earlier this summer that he’ll DJ at Indiana women’s basketball games.

This isn’t Indiana’s first partnership with a DJ. IU previously had DJ Unique playing music at games in the mid-2010s.

But DJ Gno’s setup at IU games will be different than Unique’s was. Unique played music only during football and men’s basketball pregames. Gno will do that as well, but he’ll also be part of the in-game music experience.

IU Senior Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications Jeremy Gray said that the scripts for breaks in games will include slots for the DJ interspersed with slots for the marching band or pep band. There will be a lot of collaboration during games between the DJ, a marketing person, and the band director about how everything will flow.

“We just think the time is right to have a permanent in-house DJ,” Gray said. “And to play during the games, so not just pregame, but throughout. And integrated into the show. That’ll be the case for men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and football.”

During football games, Gno will be set up in an open-air part of the press box. During basketball games, the DJs will be situated amongst the student section. It will take up a couple spots in the student section, but Gray doesn’t see it impacting the seating capacity at all.

The in-game DJs add another element to IU’s evolving fan experiences at games. Some of the changes are smaller, like updating the pep band uniforms for basketball games last year. Others are much bigger, like bringing beer sales to Memorial Stadium.

“I think it’s time to update the experience in those places, and we think having a dedicated DJ for those sports will help us execute the fan experience well,” Gray said. “This is a good time to do it. It’s just updating the fan experience.”

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