Band Not Going To Dallas

They have that giant hd video screen there in Jerry World. What if they pipe the band in via satellite? They could sell the naming rights. Popeyes Chicken is proud to present the Michigan Marching Band live from an empty Big House. Save money, expand the brand, that's what businessmen call a win-win.

the count on DB is no balls and 2 strikes.  

Strike 1 was taking away a home game to travel to a neutral site to play Alabama.  Penn State just finished a home and home with Alabama ... I would guess that over 90% of Michigan fans would have preferred a home and home seriers. 

Strike 2 is now the attempt to justify not having the MMB go this "huge" game that DB scheduled ????   

$400K ... sounds to me like Mary Sue shoud simply reduce DB's pay in 2012 by $400K.  There ... band trip to Dallas is now paid for !

Go Blue!

In 1980, the band was not sent to the Notre Dame game. We lost it on the last-second miracle field goal. The next week at a pep rally on the steps of Rackham Auditorium, Bo stood before the crowd--his jaw jutted out in that defiant way--and spit out the words, "The next time I go into a war, I want my band with me!!!" Send the MMB to Dallas when Michigan HOSTS Alabama! The Team, the Team, the Team!

"who gives a shit?", but apparently a whole bunch of people do.  Is it really not that bothersome that the band isn't at all our in conference away games, but a freak out event when they aren't at a neutral site game?   

I lost all my points when I told someone who posted an offensive remark where to go and what he could do to himself.

Damn, I wish I'd saved that for Dave Brandon...

Also, the Michigan cheerleaders get to go....

The pimp hand giveth & the pimp hand taketh away.

I heard it described as extortion since they will likely get there on the dimes of upset, rich fans who will open their pocket books.

I contend the band refused to travel with a mascot and/or have a hashtag emblazoned on their uni's and this is the result.

Game played in ad filled, ADD inducing, corporate suite addled stadium - check!

No marching band - check!

Rural exurb parking lot setting- check!



So, let's just go to 2 feet inbounds for a catch, 12 minute half time, and narrower field goal posts as this is just another bland nfl game.



It's not like michigan's fight song is a huge part of the university's identity and BRAND or anything.

This goes beyond the band at an away game (home game?  bowl game?  whatever the hell it is).

This goes to trust.  This is the real reason this thing is blowing up.

It really, really bothers me that I no longer think I can trust anything Dave Brandon says.  You lose me, not when I don't believe what you are saying, but when I don't believe you believe what you are saying.

That's where I now am with DB.  Everything is just spin, even when it does not need to be.  It's become a habit.  No matter what you hear, you always believe there is something else really going on.

It would trouble me immensely as a professional If people felt they could not trust me.   

I was disheartened to hear about the recent decision to not allow the band to travel to the Alabama game in Dallas. Knowing that our athletic department consistently operates in the black, and seeing the recent increases in ticket prices and the development of season ticket "licenses," I am beginning to wonder if there is a need for me to contribute to the athletic department on an annual basis as I've been doing.

My foremost goal in contributing is to graduate student athletes - but there is something that makes Michigan special, and the athletic department seems to be ignoring that specialness with their recent moves. I'm disheartened to see gimmicky uniforms and talk of a mascot in order to raise the bottom line. I'm puzzled by the decision to pipe in music during a game and ruin the classic gameday experience - I don't even know how that helps the bottom line. I am disappointed by the recent pricing initiatives that seem more geared to increasing the bottom line than to filling the stadium and giving everyone an enjoyable experience. I thought the addition of stadium suites was meant to alleviate the pricing pressures on the majority of Michigan fans, while allowing a small minority of fans to pay for a unique experience?

And then this latest bit on the Alabama game. I was originally excited to hear we would be playing 'Bama, but disappointed we wouldn't get the classic experience of visiting another campus in a home-and-home series. I was even more disappointed to hear that we'd pay a minimum of $125 for a ticket to the game. And frankly, I'm angry and annoyed that the band is not being allowed to travel to save operational costs - when their seats are written into the agreement to play in Cowboys' stadium.

This move removes a competitive advantage on the field, kills the gameday experience for the fans, and is generally in line with the recent moves by the Athletic Department to solely focus on the bottom line, while completely ignoring the fans' experience, the student athlete's experience, and Michigan tradition. I urge you to reconsider this move, and I promise you that if I see more "cost saving measures," I will take that as a sign that the Athletic Department is less reliant on my contributions - in terms of donations, and apparel purchases. I'll still go to the stadium and wear maize and blue - but I'm sure I can get a 3-pack of hanes yellow t's from Meijer

more green. This is an embarrassment to the University.

And I love Ablauf's justification, which you know came from on-high: "we've never done it before." Oh, OK then, that makes perfect sense. It's not like they're doing all kinds of other things that they've never done before. Now, if they start having night games, parachutists, piped in music, jersey patches, 'throw-back' uni's, helmet numbers, etc., then they might have a problem trying to justify bad decisions by saying "we've never done it before."

Brandon looks like a fool. Might as well start calling him "Ca-ching!"

Remember when Dave Brandon did his coaching search after Rich Rod was fired?  Dave reminisced about how he had to send empty private jets to remote locations just to trick media reporters into thinking he was going somewhere he was not.  Think about that for a second.  Dave Brandon paid for private jets to transport absolutely nothing for the sake of media reports.  This same man, on the other hand, refuses to fly the marching band to the most media-hyped non-conference game in Michigan history?  Please explain this logic!

There have been people asking, "Why are we hearing about this now?!?!?"

Dave Brandon knows what he is doing.  He's not an idiot.  What happened recently that would have been a disaster if this news came prior to the event?  The Spring Game.  I was there, sitting in the stands, and I saw Dave Brandon walking up the isle next to the section I was sitting in.  He was taking pictures, shaking hands, kissing babies (ok, not really but you get the point).  Would that have been the case if he had released the news that the marching band was getting stiffed?  Probably not.  People would be going up to him, not to shake his hand, but to ask about the band.  Frankly, he would have the address the situation.  He couldn't announce this news immediately after the Spring Game, because then it would be intuitively obvious that he was deceiving people... waiting for the right moment.  So instead, he waits 5 days after the Spring Game to deliver the news.  The timing makes perfect sense to me.



 

Are we really naive enough to think that DB didn't factor this cost into the budget when negotiating the event?

No, it's extortion. DB knew that the fanbase would be outraged and donors will step forward to save the day, saving him $400k from his precious budget.

Since DB is all about the $$ I will give him the easiest way to make more money:

1) Student section: Get rid of it they clearly are undercharged for ticket prices and don't have a PSD

2) Band seats and Scholarships, Get rid of those as well clearly lost revenue

3) Send minions out to charge for street parking in AA

4) Insert Ferret Mascot, revenue from Stuffed little mascots

5) We have Bball PSD's why not Baseball and Softball PSD's as well

6) Arby's logo on the field and maybe a Budweiser Logo on the Jerseys

Since DB is all about the $$ I will give him the easiest way to make more money:

1) Student section: Get rid of it they clearly are undercharged for ticket prices and don't have a PSD

2) Band seats and Scholarships, Get rid of those as well clearly lost revenue

3) Send minions out to charge for street parking in AA

4) Insert Ferret Mascot, revenue from Stuffed little mascots

5) We have Bball PSD's why not Baseball and Softball PSD's as well

6) Arby's logo on the field and maybe a Budweiser Logo on the Jerseys

Sorry, I'm sure this has come up already, but what are they going to do about Hail to the Victors? Play a recording? Who decides when to play it? Has Brandon addressed this?

I mean, it is supposed to be a neutral site game. Not having the band there makes it more of an away game than it already is.

He has increased our team goals realistically back to the top. He chose an unpopular coach. He is making Michigan a marketing masterpiece. Quit your senseless knitpicking! Its a flipping band, and if we lose because the band didn't come then we suck. Go blue and beat 28 time champ bama.

This will arguably be one of the biggest games of the year.Michigan needs to bring the band.

Made an account just to say that Brandon is a major shithead for this, and I won't even bother watching on TV now. That is all. MGoPoints commence

Maybe I'm not the first to sugegst this - I did not read through all the pages of comments - but I think Brandon is sandbagging us, folks.  Wait until Absopure/Alro Steel/Dominos/Rotel or whatever other corporation swoops in to sponsor the band's trip to Dallas.  They will be heroes and adored by the Michigan fan base. 

Do one of those startup fundraiser things that brian did for the magazine ?

Why create a fake bowl game in Dallas, complete with a payout like a bowl game , and then whine that it consumes resources like a bowl game? 

Don't start no stuff, won't be no stuff.