Update, 8:30 p.m.:

World of Beer owner Ted Mavrakis said his decision was influenced by the student response.

“I don’t want to alienate the community in which we live, so I made the decision,” Mavrakis said.

Original story:

Illinois is not coming to Evanston after all.

A week after the Fighting Illini announced a May 8 stop on their Coaches Caravan tour at World of Beer, 1601 Sherman Ave., Illinois athletic department spokesman Kent Brown said the downtown Evanston bar has called off the event.

“We were under the understanding we were going to have the event,” Brown said. “I don’t know why he canceled it, but it is his right as a bar owner.”

Wildside, NU’s official student section, made a Facebook event hours after the Coaches Caravan was announced last month, asking students to show up and protest NU’s in-state rival. The Facebook event had more than 250 attendees as of 5 p.m. today.

Wildside president Gram Bowsher said the cancellation proves NU students care about their teams.

“It really shows the progress that’s been made in the past few years for students on campus,” the SESP sophomore said. “We are taking things seriously, and it will change student culture on campus.”

Patrick Svitek contributed reporting.

— Josh Walfish