General Admission: The Hot Take
![StudentSection1_thumb[1]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/images/General-Admission_D6DC/StudentSection1_thumb1.jpg "StudentSection1_thumb[1]")
obligatory
The student section is going general admission next year, which basically confirms a long-standing nonpolicy in which your ticket was checked at the section entrance, but the actual section was a free-for-all. Students hate it!
Here's the poll on the
@michigandaily facebook page: 589 "hate" GA policy. 104 "love" it. 44 "dislike but understand." 30 are indifferent
I love people who vote "I don't care" on polls.
Anyway, the given reason:
“This change in policy from reserved seating was put in place as the student section is the driving force behind our home field advantage and we need students to get there early and often to create a loud and full student section for kickoff.”
I guess that whole "you can get a t-shirt for going to every game on time" thing didn't work out despite being a Best In Class Loyalty Program. These are people involved in the decision to expand the Big Ten to 14 teams. We should not be surprised this was apparently unforseeable.
Michigan's also upped the price of student tickets by about eight bucks a pop. Sucks for the actual students. Might convince some of the DGAF crowd to pass, thus opening up seats for actual fans, but the kind of people who drop 200 bucks on season tickets and don't show up on time or sometimes at all are probably not going to be dissuaded by another 50 bucks on top of their tuition and whatnot.
Hot takes!
Hooray
I really wish I could find this email from a mewling brat of a student from the last time it was Complain About The Students time on mgoblog, because it was dripping with entitlement so vast it would have established a new frontier in Michigan Man jokes. It's lost in the deep recesses of my inbox, unfortunately.
In any case: I don't care about you, guy who shows up late. At all. If you're hungover or don't have time to get drunk or are too tired to show up on time, terrible subsection of students who think this blog is an inexplicable acronym, I don't care. I can't conceive of a world in which I, or anybody else, would find the slightest bit of sympathy for you. It's six or seven Saturdays a year—five or six now that they're going to have a night game annually. If you can swing that because of… actually, if you can't swing that for any reason whatsoever, I don't care. That is your problem.
For the students who read this blog this is a good thing. You can swing into the stadium at the appropriate time and plop down on the 20 yard line 30 rows up like I used to and get an excellent view of proceedings. Since I'm always in the stadium 45-60 minutes early I'll keep you guys abreast of the seating situation on the twitters so you can time your entrance to snag the seats for people who actually want to watch football. Since people will cram the first few rows overfull, anyone in the stadium sweet spot will probably be comfortable. And a drunk girl with JEALOUS on her ass can't show up in the second quarter to kick you out.
Problems: Still Extant
This isn't going to do much for the grey ring of apathy at the top of the section, which has always been a combination of the aforementioned crowding near the field and people who either don't show up at all or show up late, don't care that they're far away, and leave early. These people must be found and scolded personally.
I still don't understand why Michigan isn't using the ticket scans to give priority to people who show up on time. A subsection of primo seats for early-arrivers would do more to help out the future superfan types; I wouldn't mind telling perpetual late-arrivers they can get tickets at the full sticker price or not at all.
The reward gradation from awesome fan to terrible fan should be a lot steeper. Right now it is Free T-Shirt versus No T-Shirt. Do you know how many old free t-shirts I still have from my student days? Dozens. (AMD ROCKS!, says one.) I cannot think of a less valuable item than a t-shirt to a college student. The good half of the student section is the best subsection of Michigan fans, and right now they're getting too much of the crap for the other half without much in the way of tangible benefit.
What does bug me about the student ticket prices is that they're a terrible idea from a marketing perspective. Hook 'em young and you've got a customer for life. Continually piling annoyances on the new generation of fans bodes unwell for the future. Throw 'em a bone, starting with a kickass stadium wifi setup*.
*[YES IT'S FOR THEM AND NOT ME. I actually get out stuff just fine most of the time. I should see if my cell phone company wants me to advertise this fact for them.]
UPDATE: Kyle Meinke tweets that Michigan averaged an astounding 5400 no-shows per game last year, or 25% of student tickets sold. Anyone who missed more than one game should be told to pay full price, at the very least.
Does UGA have a GA policy for GAs?
or just RAs?
Everyone should always keep this in mind: The games are first and foremost played for the students (*), then the faculty/staff, then the alumni, then everyone else. Alumni like me barely have a say in what students do, persons unaffilated with the school have none.
Which means it's barely my business, and none of a lot of peoples' business how the school distributes tickets to students or how students decide to use those tickets.
(*) Actually, the players and their families, but that's a tiny subset.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that % redemption was already being quietly used - for instance, student tickets to the final 4 were awarded based on % of games attended. If you were a senior, bought student tickets, but only showed up for the B1G portion of the schedule, tough cookies, you were placed in priority behind a freshman who went to every single game.
If we are consistently good and more strictly limited student tickets to bowl games (IE no more of this buy up to 8 per person BS) I could see this culture slowly improving. More incentives are probably necessary though.
this still doesn't render the suggestion invalid. Just raise the bar to, say 12 games, or not reward trasnferred tickets
After a night of reflection, I'm mostly just bothered that this happens for my senior year with no apparent benefits to upperclassmen. Disappointing that cargo shorts wearing freshmen can get better seats than me after I was stuck in row 90, 70, and 50, but as long as I can get good seats getting there 30 minutes before I won't be too upset (especially for 3:30 and night games).
My experience with GA: Wear a diaper or some such undergarment.
Shuffle your feet, lose your seat.
Count on concessions being a little slower at that end of the stadium as well.
A lot of the folks on here get excited about the possibility of a student section that is full at kickoff and don't consider the implications on the actual student gameday experience. From the moment you get in line to the moment the game is over, how do you go to the bathroom and get food without losing your place in line or seat in the stadium? It will be chaos, 20,000 students were always chaos enough. Not to mention you can't reach anybody by phone in Michigan Stadium, finding people in your section was the only way to reunite with someone who loses track of a group. It will be interesting to see how it works out.
I'm assuming the seats won't be a complete free-for-all, but seats given out as you show up. From the actual release:
More details on this new GENERAL ADMISSION policy and procedure will be shared prior to the season (note: seating groups no longer apply during the ticket order process as you will simply enter the stadium together).
This sounds like what it was like when I went to a couple games in the MSU student section ten years ago. A few entrance gates were specifically assigned to students, and the students would use those gates to exchange blank GA tickets for tickets with assigned seats on them. The earlier you showed up the better seats you were assigned, and anyone wanting to sit together just had to show up to the gates together. Everyone had a spot for the game, no diapers, no shoving, no losing the group. I thought it was a lot nicer the Michigan seating policy because early arrivers got the best seats and it was easy to get groups to sit together.
And FYI for anyone whining about getting terrible seats if you aren't waiting in line: one of those MSU games I went to was the game against Michigan, which was by far the biggest game of the year for them. We heard about students lining up ahead of time, but left our tailgate less than and hour before kickoff and still had pretty good seats. It will still be possible to do all the usual social stuff before the game and get decent seats without camping out for hours (unless you are desparate for the front row, but you can't have everything in life).
Being in the student section last year, I sat near row 30 section 26 you'd think people would respect each others space with assigned seats there but you are sorely mistaken. People cram as many as they could in our area so we couldn't even stand facing the field (with the exception of the Illinois game, because the weather was terrible).
During the MSU game people were actively trying to forcibly push me and my brother out of our seats. Spent much of the game fighting with them to keep our spots (which were ours, and we arrived 30 minutes before the game) Absolutely ruined the game for us.
So to answer your concerns, it is arleady happening. If we so much as moved our feet don't expect to get that space back. If you leave don't expect to return.
This will probably happen down the road because of money. Either Brandon raises the student price too high and student demand takes a significant hit, or he realizes that the tickets can be sold to randos for much more and cuts the student section himself.
I graduated many moons ago, so it won't affect me personally, but it seems like a recipe for the opposite of the desired effect. I think that GA within sections (with section priority being based on year) is a fine way to roll, but to make the entire student section GA? Doesn't make sense.
I know the face-painters and fat slobs in batman masks (who always show up early) will cheer their "reward", but those folks are the minority...and they can still get their camera time if the GA were based on section only.
My guess on the actual effect of the change is that the regular student fan (who might show up late sometimes) is going to show up later and/or attend fewer games. If you know that you're going to be in the top of the end zone if you aren't there for kickoff, then why bother rushing at all? The "grey ring" of empty seats is simply going to relocate from the highest seats to the end zone seats and upperclass students are going to lose a nice perk they've had for ages.
Yes, I like this. Only downside is that it still doesn't allow groups of mixed points students to sit together ('legally').
Brian hit upon another potential solution. Nothing incentivizes like cash. So, at $300 a season ticket (4x what it cost me back in the day -- ouch). For each home game: Your ticket is scanned 30+ minutes before game time? $10 in a pot toward your next Michigan ticket purchase. 15 minutes before? $5. Less than 15 minutes? 0. $70 is a bit more than a t-shirt. Reverse-weave hoodie, at least!
ND game. Besides one douche yelling"weak sauce" the entire game(In hindsight it was an apt description of Michigan's performance that day) I recall two girls sitting down the entire game talking on the phone. Everyone else--those who had bothered to show--was standing on the bench. Such gross indifference to the play on the field appalled me. Why go if you are not going to watch the game???
Those tickets should be given away or taken away. I'm sure there's a few thousand children and adults who would love to see all 60 minutes of a Michigan football game.
The sort of good news here, regarding not showing up on time, is that this is a problem throughout college football. So, it's not specifically a Michigan issue.
However, that being said, if you can't show up on time to enjoy a fall Saturday in the largest stadium on Earth. If that stadium experience doesn't work for you, then you might as well not bother. In fact, don't show up, because I'm guessing your the lowest common denominator and everyone in your section will suffer.
There are going to be 115,000 people there, join them on time and put down the damn pom pom!
I like this as it rewards people who show up early. However, those folks are always going to be there. The no-show crowd will still no-show. A simpler rule is that if you miss (or show up more than 15 minutes after kickoff) then you don't get a chance to renew. If this eliminates 20 to 25% of the students, then sell more general admissions.
On a related note, how do freshmen buy season tickets? I'm going to be an incoming freshman, and, like most freshman, I'm an idiot who doesn't know anything about anything. I tried the "buy tickets" thing at mgoblue, but it won't accept the ID number the university sent me with my admissions packet. Does something happen at orientation?
http://bit.ly/10bPdza ...3rd link down.
At least since 2009 you order them online.
http://www.mgoblue.com/tickets/students-fbl.html
Note: "New students (incoming freshmen, new graduate and transfer students) can order in June."
or are season ticket holders/suite holders who don't show up to a couple games and/or show up late to games going to have repurcussions as well?
Now 5000 no shows/late arrivers in a group of 25,000 is going to be much more visible than 3000 no shows out of 85,000 but if the goal is to make people attend games and show up on time then whatever Brandon is planning on doing should apply to the season ticket holders as well as the students.
Maybe I missed it on my first read, but did u not address the seniors who are getting somewhat the short end on the stick because they aren't getting priority seats and basically were a part of the old system? What is your opinion on their claim if you have one? From my perspective, these are the only kids that should get priority seats.
Why can't they grandfather this in?
Because screw you, that's why. Now be a good Michigan Man, graduate, go start paying for the right just to be on the waiting list. for alumni tickets.
Did people in the upperclass sections (26-27) show up on time last year? If those sections were as empty as the rest, then I'm afraid you guys brought it onto yourselves.
The only issue I have with GA is at some of the other GA schools I've caught games, large packs of drunken students obtain better seats not by arriving early, but through systematic shoving and crowding of folks. As such GA has left a bad taste in my mouth. At Michigan I've already had to flag down the ushers and show ticket stubs to make it clear that this is my six inches of aluminum and your ten buddies aren't going to fit onto this bleacher no matter how much you yell at us to move down.
I'd much rather see a meaningful rewards system for showing up early, determined via ticket scans than ending up with Lord of the Flies just so all the bros can stand together. We should close the student section 20 minutes before kick off and the folks stuck at the top of the endzone get a chance to slide over and fill in the empty space. Late arrives can walk of shame themselves up under the scoreboard or something like that. The other idea I liked is that you don't get all the homegame tickets in the mail, rather they email them out to you every week. You miss X number of scans and a refund for the rest of the season appears on your credit card and no more tickets. The AD can go sell your seat at the higher general admission prices.
It would be fairly easy to write some software that moved students (who didn't buy as part of a group) into better seats to fill in the revoked tickets and create blocks of tickets at the top of the bowl they could post on Stubhub or whatever.
Edit, Here you Go DB, for free:
1. Middle of the second quarter, any student whose ticket was not scanned gets an email and a text message informing of that fact. If they are in the stadium they should go find a member of the Event Staff at half time and get their ticket scanned properly. If they sold the ticket, it is up to them to deal with the fact their customer was a no show.
2. Sunday morning some process fires up on a University server and deletes all the no shows.
3. Run the current software for seeding people by credit hours and class rank. Then juggle solo students based on the desire to also get larger saleable blocks.
4. Students are emailed their ticket for the next game, which lists their new seat.
5. New general public tickets automatically appear on the U of M Athletics Ticket site by noon on Sunday, profit.
It's win win for everyone. Those who show up are slowly upgraded as the year goes on and the Athletic Department gets a shot at selling every seat in the place. All you need is some surly staffer to answer the phones and mock those who swear they've been there the past three weeks, but somehow everytime their ticket didn't scan and they didn't get the text.
The people who piss me off are the ones who bitch and moan about how they should be entitled to have good seats, that this is an injustice, but they don't bother showing up on time anyway. Or they don't bother showing up at all, because chugging that one extra beer is so damn important. I hold zero sympathy for those students, and they have no one to blame for this "travesty" but themselves. If you can't show up on time 6-8 Saturdays a year because you're too busy drinking, you don't deserve your seats. There are thousands of Michigan fans out there who would love to take your spot, show up on time, and stay the whole game.
correct. Every game my senior year I got to my seats before kickoff to watch as sorority girls dressed like they were going to anything but a football game (literally, nothing maize or blue) would roll in plastered between halfway through the 1st Q and halftime. The worst part is the reason I noticed them is that they would walk down past my seats to where theirs were in front of ours.
I made it to one game in the last two years, NW this past year. 25 yard line up near the top and had a great time (as everyone who stayed for the end did). The student section for that game was a disgrace; it was a beautiful day and the student section was maybe half full to be generous at kickoff, and maybe 2/3 full by the end of the 1st quarter.
When I was on campus, the section was full every game. People would crowd-surf around and the marshmallow wars were epic. Someone was playing the MSU game on a boombox one game, and that boombox got surfed right up and over the wall. These days the box would have to stop half-way up because no one would be there to surf it the rest of the way.
Student-Fans need this to be reminded of what a blessing the games are for them. It would be best if students had to buy tickets the day of and get there in time to get a seat IMO.
April 23rd, 2013 at 10:17 PM ^
April 25th, 2013 at 10:52 AM ^
April 23rd, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
but Brandon's fooling himself if he thinks that alone it will cure the no-show problem. The only thing that will cure the problem is to cut back the student section by 5,000 seats and make those available to non-students. Not only that, if student demand exceeds supply, I would make past attendance a prime criteria for receiving tickets. And any student whose ticket didn't scan by the time of kickoff to Michigan State or Ohio State will not get the chance to purchase tickets at student prices the following year.
Typically I would get out of work around 3:00am on Saturday morning (after a Friday that started with an 8:00 class). I never missed a kickoff, but I sometimes watched it while walking to my seat inside the stadium. After the game I usually had about 2 hours or less before I was back at the bar working again until 3:00am Sunday.
I appreciated the fact that my seat was waiting for me. Some students actually have to have real jobs to afford to their education. These come with real job responsibilities that preclude waiting in line early for GA seats.
April 24th, 2013 at 10:09 AM ^
... I hope it didn't create an obstructed view for those fans who were sitting behind you.
There are always going to be students who are ill-served by a change in policy, and I am genuinely sorry that students whose situation mirrors yoursmay be the effected ones this time.
But FFS, does this justify taking a swipe at those students who work at OTHER kinds of jobs besides your "real" one? Or at students who, for whatever reason, don't have to work?
Yes, there are students who have wealthy parents, or prescient MET-buying grandparents, or a kickass scholarship, or a job that isn't bartending. Your sanctimonious quip about "real jobs" and "real responsibities" makes it sound like they're all spoiled brats, and that is just not true.
I realized this morning that my take on this development would be completely different if Lloyd Brady were still a student.
April 24th, 2013 at 11:19 AM ^
Is there really any doubt that Lloyd would have been the first in line anyways, so he'd get his prime spot by the ABC cameras regardless of policy.
April 24th, 2013 at 12:14 PM ^
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