Interesting note -

I graduated from the university of Alabama in 2004,during a time when they were doing significant stadium renovations.

During my time there, home games were sold before the season in a package to students for a flat fee of $5.00 per game regardless of who was on the schedule. No dynamic pricing, no ticket price increasing, no gauging.  

The goal was not to make money and they created interest and made students feel important.  Home games were a blast, despite UA going through their rough patch.

Oh My! This is hitting the fan. President and the regents are kicking butt. These statements are damning. The one point I want to make is that, if you are a leader and people are against you, you get to face the music and apologize and correct it yourself. The minute you have people talking to your boss and not you, you are in trouble. You are not going to be able to fix it. Because, if people have any other gripes in the future, they won't come to you and they will go to your boss. You won't be able to earn the trust back. I am having a hard time believing that DB can survive this. Even if he does, I don't see how he can sustain it.

There's a lot more damning commentary and data in there than the student word clouds.

Student ticket sales in 2015:

12,000 @ $210 = $2,520,000

20,000 @ $150 = $3,000,000

If no one else buys the 8,000 ticket difference, it's pretty obvious that the increase in ticket sales offsets the lower price.

I once talked with then-incoming Wayne State University president Dr. Irv Reid when he was announcing some investments in their athletic programs. I'm paraphrasing, but his reasoning was that for a university, athletics are really the only time where you've got undergrads, graduate students, faculty, staff, alumni and surrounding community members all intermingled and interacting in a meaningful way. In many ways, sports serve as the commons of the modern American university and Dr. Reid thought they were worth investing in for that reason.

I think that mindset is antithetical to Brandon's apparent view of his constituencies -- donors, sponsors, maaaaaybe the athletes themselves. The fans in the stands aren't stakeholders -- they're eyeballs to be sold, wallets to be tapped, display mannequins for branded apparel and a backdrop for the TV cameras. 

Students are powerful people when speaking in a combined voice.

I remember the announcers calling the michigan penn state game saying how strange it was that the players referred to michigan as a "Brand". There is a deep cultural change that needs to occur.

it was only a year ago that many on this blog were calling for Brandon to take student tickets away (not just individually but collectively) because the students weren't showing up early enough for games.  How things have changed.

...hiring a 'Michigan Man' to lead the football program and return to 'Manball'.  I'm sure Brandon could argue that bringing in Brady Hoke was being responsive to the wants of much of the Athletic Department, many former football players, the old head coach, and a big segment of the fanbase.  Unfortunately, Hoke and his staff have not met expectations and are therefore 'DISAPPOINTING'.   

I find a lot of the bloggers here to be disengenuous regarding the importance of 'Tradition'.  If the program was 7-5, 8-4, and then 11-2 in his first three years, we would not be hearing this outcry.  The emphasis in the football hire should have been on getting the best head coach available instead of the focus on getting a 'Michigan Man'.  The most successful Michigan head coaches were creative and innovative - they did not follow traditions.

Don't misunderstand me.  I would welcome a return to the 'traditional' game day experience of the late 60s and 70s.  I love the band and consider it to be an integral part of the game, dislike piped in music and modern 'gimmicks', and believe student tickets should be inexpensive. 

The survey and the word clouds really addressed almost everything, even the part about the AD creating a schism between the athletes and the rest of the greater university community. It really put things in a new light with the teams "Us" mentality, the "Us" is an undefined group and includes who you percieve it does. If players feel that "Us" is just the players and coaches, they are right. If they feel "Us" also includes all athletes, or former players, they are right. However if the players believe that "Us" includes 113,000 in the stadium, all the students, alumni, faculty and all the fans across the state and around the world, they are right.

I cannot stand the "you don't support the athletes" bullshit, and my first reaction was to laugh my ass off at the cloud, but then I thought about the guys on the team, and, this shouldn't have been published. Fucked up. Can you imagine how these guys feel reading this? I have a horrible feeling we may be about to see some athlete/student body dustups. I don't see most on the team reacting well to this. 

But... But... We're not going to be maximizing revenue!!!! ::Dave Brandon's head explodes::

I keep having this reccurring nightmare that this clown weathers this storm. Honestly, I think I'll vomit if he's still here next year. I could live with Hoke if he somehow wins out (but that would be the only way) but DB has to go.