Even if Bob Dylan isn’t NIU’s favorite star, he’s still big elsewhere.

A representative of Alpine Valley ticket sales said 16,000 tickets were sold for his show with Tracy Chapman at Alpine Valley in June. In addition, he has sold out shows in Madison, Wisconsin., Normal Ill., and downtown Milwaukee this weekend.

“He is still going pretty strong,” the representative said.

But NIU’s Campus Activities Board doesn’t know why their advertising efforts haven’t paid off.

“It was the biggest promotion in the three years I’ve been here,” said Traci Leach, Concert Coordinator for NIU’s Campus Activities Board.

At NIU, the committee advertised Dylan in The Northern Star and on fliers, handbills and “vote for Dylan” buttons, Leach said. They also advertised in other DeKalb media such as WDEK and WKDI radio stations, The Chronicle, Midweek and Sycamore Republican newspapers, she said.

They also advertised on radio stations such as WXRX in Rockford and notified all the nearest college campuses in Illinois and Wisconsin, she said. One committee member even put up posters in the St. Charles area, she said.

Despite those efforts, fewer than half the tickets available for the 1960s folk legend were sold by Monday, which could cause the Concert Committee to lose as much as $20,000.

To bring big acts to NIU, the committee calls agents to see what acts are available, Leach said. Then they bid on the ones they want, she said.

Dylan has been doing a tour of college campuses so his fee of $27,250 is low for big stars, she said. She said an act such as Billy Idol lists between $35,000 and $50,000, whereas Anita Baker lists for around $100,000.

“We can’t even touch those,” she said.

Dylan will be appearing Thursday night at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Nearly 3,600 out of 5,000 available tickets have been sold for that show, said Pat Rottinghaus, a member of SCOPE, the concert planning committee.

“People here seem to like him, we’re pretty pleased,” Rottinghaus said.