Big Day For The Big House

yes, b/c when given the opportunity to go from making a ton of money, to a shit ton of money, people most instinctively refrain from making that 3rd step to an ASS load of money.

The trend in BCS conferences seems to be scheduling premium foes at neutral sites to maximize revenue for both teams. I suspect we will see fewer non-conference home-and-homes other than ND, and more 1-offs at places like Giants Stadium, FedEx Field, Soldier Field, etc.

I assume you're talking about a good to high quality program in a BCS conference and that would mean a second home-and-home series in addition to playing Notre Dame.

If the Big Ten opts to schedule nine conference football games starting 2011 with the addtion of Nebraska to the  B10, I doubt you'll see Michigan scheduling a second "quality non-conference game" using the critieria I stated iin the first paragraph.   UM would only have three non-conference game slots available and I suspect they would want to have a minimum of seven home games per year.  With alternating seasons of four and five B10 home games per season, that means Michigan can only have one home-and-home non-conference opponent.  With all that high-priced seating now in place, I don't think the Michigan Athletic Department would want to go to seasons with only six home games.

If the Big Ten sticks with an eight-game conference schedule, there might be a possibility of that happening, but my guess is that it would be slim.  Let's face it--from a financial  standpoint, if seven home games is good, eight home games is even better in terms of spectator  admissions.  If the team is playing well (or at this point, even poorly), it won't matter if they're playing a non-conference team from a BCS conference or from the MAC--the attendance numbers don't vary much historially in terms of the opponent.   For example, last year, the attendance for the Delaware State game was 106,304 while the finale with Ohio State was 110,992.   The other attendance figures were as follows:

Western Michigan - 109,019

Notre Dame - 110,278

Eastern Michigan -107,903

Indiana - 108,118

Penn State - 110, 377

Purdue - 108,543

While we don't know how the future Big Ten Conference schedules are going to pan out (we'll know more in late August), the addition of the Cornhuskers means Michigan might have season where they play the Ohio State, Penn State and Nebraska in conference plus Notre  Dame out of conference--all among the winningest programs in CFB.  I have a hard time imagining Michigan want to add another quality opponent to a schedule that already includes those teams and the possibility of a conference championship game.  

Michigan does currently have a game scheduled at Connecticut on 21 September 2013 and the Notre Dame series does continue onward through 2018 with a break in 2019/2020.  Other than that, my guess is that UM's non-conference schedule will largely include ND plus two MAC teams and one buy game.  San Diego State was paid $1M to play Michigan on 24 September 2011, for example, as a buy game.  If the B10 does go to nine conference games, through, that contest against SDSU might have to be postponed because its on the fourth Saturday of the season with Western Michigan (3 SEP), Notre Dame (10 SEP) and Eastern Michigan (17 SEP) already on the schedule.   See http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/081809aab.html

That $1M price tag to play San Diego State illustrates one big problem with these buy games--they're getting expensive.  UM typically pays around $500K to the MAC schools to come to Ann Arbor and the Wolverines paid Utah $600K in 2008.  But with the going price now at a million, those buy games are getting more costly.  While UM has the financial resources to do this, other programs in the Big Ten might not--this would be one big reason for going to a nine-game conference schedule. 

What I would like to see Michigan and David Brandon do is to make Notre Dame part of a rotation of major BCS programs on the non-conference schedule.  While I appreciate ND's  program, I don't hold it in such high reverence that I want to see the Wolverines play them virtually every year from now until 2031 (when the current agreement is scheduled to end).   I'd put Notre Dame on the schedule on two years out of every six or eight seasons and bring in other major teams like Texas or Alabama or Miami-FL (all programs which OSU and PSU have recently played or will play in the near future) as well.  Mix it up a bit--I'm sure the television networks (and the ratings) wouldn't mind and it sure would add some variety to the schedule that I think most fans would really enjoy. 

in say, 2011?

12 total games, minus 9 conference games, equals 3 non-conference to play with,

Unless ND fails to return to glory, I think we gain plenty from scheduling them and two local cream puffs.

yeah, how is this possible?

I believe the implication is that the current level of revolving commitments (suites have to be purchased for a minimum of three years and can be purchased for a max of seven) will continue to pay off the cost of the renovations.  The AD will not have to dip into any other funds to pay off the structures.  They are not searching for money to pay for the renovation. 

capital gifts and suite/club seat reservations have paid for the $226 million of the renovations(!)

Can the OP explan what this means? If it simply means they can cover the debt service, that is more or less on schedule. If it means something else, that would be fantastic. What does this mean?

As long as the new scoreboards have an animation of a Wolverine with LAZERBEAMZ for eyes, I'll be happy.

That and big animatronic keys on the side of them that jingle on 3rd downs.

...then you are not dreaming.

Any idea what kind of lens and camera was used?  sorry kind of OT curiousity.

Martin does deserve a lot of the credit.  I think Brandon is a great AD, as he seems to be a CEO type that deals well with media, pressure, decisions.  Martin was a guy that new how to raise money and get the bottom line to work out.  Our facilities have been significantly upgraded on his watch and I think he's done a great job with that.  As for the coaches he hired - lets hope they pan out!

Grass is great to play on if you can keep it in good shape. And MSU came up with indoor grass for a world cup so if any school can do it, they can.

I got there about 730pm, one of the stadium employees told me they had bout 14K visitors, they were expecting only about 10K.

The line extended past Crisler when I got there.

they could have tried to squeeze in 110 more as well. Then you could have a palindrome all in binary code.