Michigan To Play Florida In 2017, In Dallas
![jerry-jones-cowboys[1]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/images/Michigan-To-Play-Florida-In-2017-In-Dall_908E/jerry-jones-cowboys1.jpg "jerry-jones-cowboys[1]")
Just about all of the luster has gone out of the idea of playing a football game in Dallas after Michigan got pounded by Alabama to not make any money, to the point where actually getting the band there required Dave Brandon to squeeze half of the cost of that out of donors.
So guess what, guys!
Gators will open 2017 season against Michigan in Arlington, Texas. Game scheduled for Sept. 2
— Mark Long (@APMarkLong) December 19, 2013 I'd say this further proves that Dave Brandon charged his family for Thanksgiving dinner, but like playing a canned version of the Victors against the #1 basketball team in the country, money isn't actually a good explanation. These games are kind of inexplicable when OSU and MSU are locking down quality home and homes.
This leaves… I don't actually know. With dynamic pricing shoving marquee prices into the stratosphere and Michigan charging extra for premium opponents, a home and home is at least a financial push compared to these one-off neutral site games, and then you have a nice thing to show your season ticket holders instead of a six-game home schedule featuring Cincinnati and Air Force as your nonconference draws. If Florida won't agree to it, maybe someone else would.
The only thing I've got is that this gives Dave Brandon a chance to hang around his idol some more.
FWIW, this completes the unerring accuracy of that list the BTN leaked a few months ago.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:26 AM ^
Based on this and numerous other interactions with Dave Brandon and the Michigan community. I have come to the conclusion that he will never satisfy anyone.
I think this will be a fun game to watch, and the situation could only be marginally improved by hosting it at the big house.
It will give the alumni/fanbase in the region to attend a game they likely would otherwise be unable to attend while the people in Ann Arbor/Michigan will get to "miss out" on a home game by watching it on tv.
given the choice between a MACrifice, a neutral against Florida, and a home vs Ole Miss I would take the Florida game.
Its really embarrasing how the community reacts to stuff around here.
December 19th, 2013 at 3:33 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 11:31 AM ^
I concur with all the comments about the crappy home schedule, trying to get good home and home matchups etc. But on the other hand, this kickoff game is a big deal, everyone is primed for the new season of college football and watches it, and it is a great opportunity to burnish your brand and appeal to recruits. We had the opportunity to do that with the UTL games with ND, but those are gone. I think there is something to be said for seizing this opportunity.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:40 AM ^
But they'd still watch it if it were in Ann Arbor or Gainesville. And then they'd watch it again the next year.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:32 AM ^
Interesting game to watch on TV. We rarely play Florida. I live in Dallas so I can go to a game without flying back to Michigan.
Also, if home and home series were better financially, wouldn't DB do it?
December 19th, 2013 at 11:35 AM ^
Lost in all the ridiculous whining about Michigan scheduling a heavyweight game to play, is discussion on how many TD passes Wilton Speight will toss to Drake Harris in this game. I set the O/U at 1.5. Place your bets. I am going with Over as he Drake launches his Heisman campaign
December 19th, 2013 at 11:35 AM ^
But hey, no ads in the stadium!
December 19th, 2013 at 11:36 AM ^
Is anybody happy with anything anymore?
December 19th, 2013 at 1:31 PM ^
someone should post the annual, "Festivus - airing of MGoGrievances" topic. Let's just get all this unhappiness out in one thread and be done with it. On to 2014!
December 19th, 2013 at 11:37 AM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 11:37 AM ^
I hate Jerry World as much as anyone, especially since it's closer to the teams we play there (and therefore gives them something of an advantage). But shouldn't the naysayers stop to consider the fact that we had only one game slot open. There literally wasn't a single opportunity for a home and home within 4 or 5 years of this game. So no SEC team was going to come up to AA without a return engagement. So it's better than nothing, no?
December 19th, 2013 at 11:42 AM ^
have opening in every schedule from 2018 through the end of time.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:40 AM ^
... what happened that last time we played UF at Jerry World! :)
December 19th, 2013 at 11:53 AM ^
We should start Stauskas at QB.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:41 AM ^
redemption in arlington!!!
I think I'll go.
love,
jdon
December 19th, 2013 at 11:42 AM ^
brandon is a dipshit. the guy will do literally ANYTHING for twenty bucks and a bag of used women's lacrosse uniformz.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:48 AM ^
Commits to game on neutral site that will earn the university less money than a home game. Gets bludgeoned by fanbase for trying to make money.
December 19th, 2013 at 1:53 PM ^
my objection is not really with the notion of "making money" per se. i recognize that the athletic department needs to at least support itself.
my objection is more with what i feel is the basic focus of the department in general. in many cases (and i think we can all make a list fairly quickly), they seem to make decisions and agree to things that supposedly advance the "brand" or will make some marginal bit of money without realizing that doing so sometimes actually damages and / or dilutes the "brand." hence the repeated trial balloons and backtracking. they just seem eternally surprised by the reaction to every move they make. part of this is the general calcification of the fanbase, but part of it is utter tone-deafness.
with all that said, i'm sure that brandon and his staff think that they really are on the cutting edge of everything, and i'm sure that i don't know anything about marketing. i'm just tired of being treated like a wallet wearing a block 'm' hat at every turn.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:44 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 2:29 PM ^
...and i preface this by apologizing if i'm misreading your post...
the idea of massive amounts of money vs. small chunks is exactly my point. my objection to the dave brandon approach (and it goes back to my original, negged post) is that many of the transactions in question (the seat cushions, the macaroni, the band / no band things, the taking of a neutral site game for, it turns out, very little actual 'profit') DON'T, in fact, make or cost a ton of money, certainly not in the context of a multi-million-dollar athletic department budget.
and that's when my "death by a million paper cut" sensors go out of whack. we hear about how expensive this all is, but the really annoying stuff (to me, anyway) is mostly at he margins. i get the higher ticket prices. i get the luxury boxes, the naming rights, the advertising, and i get that part of this stuff funds non-revenue sports. i love that we have a men's lacrosse team, although i barely know what lacrosse is, let alone whether we're good at it..hey, this is the business we have chosen.
it does feel, however, like they agree to every single revenue option that they are offered (yes, with the exception of advertising within michigan stadium). that's the part that rubs me the wrong way.
rant over. sorry.
December 19th, 2013 at 2:36 PM ^
Here's the thing: You don't have to TRY that hard to make money at Michigan. Michigan is going to make money just by being Michigan.
In fact, you know the single best way to make money at Michigan? Put a good product on the football field. If you do that, you will make all the money you ever need.
December 19th, 2013 at 5:52 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 2:36 PM ^
and yet Alabama is having a hard time selling out all of their games...
I think its more of a perception issue than anything. And I percieve a game against Florida in Texas to be like another Bowl game and awesome.
jdon
December 19th, 2013 at 1:08 PM ^
And yet, Michigan is literally the only major-conference in the country to not have advertising in its stadium.
December 19th, 2013 at 1:56 PM ^
not to be a old-fart doomsayer, but if you think that's not coming someday...well, i hope i'm wrong.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:48 AM ^
I agree with other posters. This may not be ideal (compared to a home and home with a high quality opponent), but given the circumstances this move is not bad. Some possible motivations:
- Strength of Schedule: The other two non-conference games that year are Air Force and Cincinnati. If we scheduled a bodybag game at the Big House then people would complain about lacking strength of schedule, especially with the new playoff system.
- Appeal to fans: Everyone knows how tough it was to get a ticket in 2012. Dave Brandon is surely taking that into account. Part of our fanbase that can't easily get to games regularly will be able to go, and they will go.
- It's not just about us fans: IIRC the players were pumped to play in Dallas before.
- In a tough spot: With Arkansas on the schedule the next two years, other home and homes scheduled in farther out years, he needed to find a single game to fill that spot. Not a home and home.
December 19th, 2013 at 1:54 PM ^
As to #2, the value of tickets to the Bama game was indeed high. I expect this game to be nowhere close. I'd be surprised if they don't fall around face value for a couple reasons. First, we've been there before (no more novelty). Second, while Florida is a really good opponent, they don't have the same "history" of Alabama/Michigan.
Personally, I'd love to see the game in Florida, in A2 or on TV. Dallas? Nope.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:49 AM ^
I heard this argument when we played Alabama last year, and I know ND cites it as a reason to keep both Stanford and USC on their schedule-that way, they get one game in Cali every year. If some more high school kids think of us because we're the focus of college football for a weekend, I'm good with that. Though hopefully this game will be at least more competitive. No kid wants to play for the baby seal side in the club vs. baby seal rivalry.
December 19th, 2013 at 12:26 PM ^
FWIW couldn't you do this just as well with home-and-homes instead of neutral site games, with the added benefit of not being in a soulless NFL stadium? I'm OK with this one game because DB got hosed by ND backing out and he has a lot of home-and-homes scheduled in the future, so hopefully games like this are the exception, but I don't see anything this game provides that wouldn't have been improved if it had been part of a home-and-home.
December 19th, 2013 at 11:49 AM ^
Do we know if this counts as a home game for us or for Florida?
December 19th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^
but playing in Dallas again at that stupid stadium is terrrible.
Still - good news overall to have a real opponent.
December 19th, 2013 at 12:21 PM ^
Georgia has scheduled a home-and-away with Oregon for 2015 and 2016.*
(EDIT) Georgia and Oregon later canceled those plans, and GA's AD complained about traveling that far during the season.
My bad.
December 19th, 2013 at 12:40 PM ^
recently played in Happy Valley.
December 19th, 2013 at 12:03 PM ^
From a Michigan fan perspective, I'm meh. Better than a MACrifice game, but not as good as a home-and-home, and I hate the growing money-above-all landscape in college football. Whatever.
As a Cowboys fan I hate this. Why? I'm one of the legion of Cowboys fans who is sick of Jerry Jones destroying this franchise while doing his best Al Davis impersonation, thinking he's qualified to be a friggin' GM while the team has won ONE playoff game in the past 17 years. This team will never accomplish anything good again as long as he's pulling the strings. Yet events like this are what will give Jones enough ancillary income from JerryWorld to weather the storm when Dallas fans finally get fed up enough w/the shitty product he's putting on the field to stop going to Cowboys games.
December 19th, 2013 at 12:04 PM ^
Same situation that you are in...couldn't agree more
December 19th, 2013 at 12:09 PM ^
Not really on topic, but I really like our 2015 schedule. UNLV is probably the only real cupcake on the schedule and we get MSU and OSU at home.
December 19th, 2013 at 1:44 PM ^
Agreed. And UNLV is 7-5 and Bowl-bound this season. If they can maintain a little success, that non-conference schedule, while without a huge nme opponent, could be pretty solid.
December 19th, 2013 at 2:37 PM ^
Hopefully everyone is right and 2015 is "the year", because that is the perfect schedule to make the playoffs.
Every non-conference game is winnable yet looks better than MAC/I-AA tomatoe can, the most difficult games are at home....just sets up so nicely.
December 19th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^
I went to the Bama game. Even though we got hammered, I thought the atmosphere was amazing and I enjoyed the game. I even sat in the nose bleeds. Its a big stage and even bigger television exposure than a regular home and home. I felt like the mixture of michigan to bama fans was pretty even. I look forward to it.
December 19th, 2013 at 12:12 PM ^
On a list of things I'm looking forward to next year, I'm listing "looking forward to Borges being the OC" higher than "looking forward to Dave Brandon being the AD". I think a person and department can be so focused on "the brand" and what they are doing that they completely loose sight of the big picture about the brand. Sigh. More permanent damage to come.
December 19th, 2013 at 12:25 PM ^
I feel like I disagree with the vast majority of actions DB takes, but on this one I'm fairly neutral. It's a good marketing ploy, and should be a fun game to watch. As an out-of-state season ticket holder, it's far better for me than a tomato can home game that I'd have to pay for and would probably struggle to even give my ticket away (like Akron this year, and probably most of the games next year). I'd hate to take away any of the fire Brandon momentum, but also don't feel like it should be spent on this issue.
December 19th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
I hate it when he does that.
-Goose
December 19th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
This is very interesting as the current freshman will have mostly graduated and this game will be played with players we havent seen yet. Ditto for the gators. Totally agree that no matter what happens over the next 4 years, matchups like this are needed to make Michigan relevant even though its obvious thats not why the game was $cheduled....
December 19th, 2013 at 12:40 PM ^
is this willingness to mix NFL with college football like some perverse cocktail that "you're all just gonna love!" BULLSHIT!!!!
The Green Bay Packers used to play some football games at County Stadium in Milwaukee (where the Brewers use to play). It was dusty, it sucked and above all it was stupid. Attendance was a joke. But nobody cares anymore about mixing NFL and MLB because it had been done over and over before and by that time people got numb to all the stupid.
So now what's the excuse?
Personally I hate NFL football. Sissy-sliding quarterbacks, arrogant owners and bag-wearing "OMG we suck again!" fans.
I love college football because it is 1,000 times better, and always has been.
The Michigan Wolverines football team plays non-conference and conference football games in Michigan Stadium, not "JerryWorld" with FOX NFL program music blaring from the speakers. That's horseshit.
I don't know anyone who would not decisively prefer to watch the Wolverines playing the Florida Gators in "The Swamp" or in Michigan Stadium (which would be historical firsts for both teams.
My opinion is that David Brandon is an asshole for doing this and screwing over the fans.
December 19th, 2013 at 12:50 PM ^
I think it's important to remember that we'll be young / rebuilding in 2017 and that 2018 will be OUR year. Hoke will finally have his recruits, and Borges will have his QB.
/s
December 19th, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^
I'm in the group that is glad Michigan is playing Florida. I really believe we'll be pretty competitive by then, and that it will be a good game. I want Michigan to schedule and play games against the SEC.
ND is really the thing that messed this up. As Jamiemac mentioned, future home and homes (Ark, VaTech, Miami, UCLA) are pretty good. And I believe that Brandon will do what he can to schedule home and homes with some of the biggest names out there (Alabama, Florida, FSU, USC, Stanford, Texas, A & M,) It is coming, but you have to schedule those far, far, in advance.
I actually think that as DB gets more and more in place with the facility infrastructure, we'll see costs slow down (i.e., not endless ridiculous increases in ticket costs, etc.)
For me to cut to the chase, I think that DB is doing a good job, and operating to the best of his ability given the constraints he has to deal with.
December 19th, 2013 at 2:02 PM ^
...absolutely. i was in favor of us playing alabama, and in favor of every single upcoming series you cite.
that said, i far prefer a home-and-home to a single neutral site game, and yes, that includes a trip to gainesville. i LOVE the the idea of us going into those environments wherever and whenever we can. those games (win or lose) make us a better program and better team, almost without exception.
December 19th, 2013 at 1:55 PM ^
December 19th, 2013 at 2:29 PM ^
I love this because of the national exposure. We'll have some high quality players at that point and shoukd be able to contend nationally. UF will probably have gotten rid of Muschamp and might actually field a team,.
As for home and home, etc, cut the guy some slack. He makes boneheaded mistakes but the home and home against Arkansas and hopefully another one starting in '18 will bookend our Jerrytrip nicely.
December 19th, 2013 at 3:18 PM ^
Prediction: David Brandon will not be the AD when this game takes place. He is too brash and has already pissed too many people at UM off. With a new president coming in and complaints about DB likely being one of the first things he/she hears, I think there is an excellent chance he flames out.
Those 2018 Governor race rumors won't go away, either. He would need to resign to prep himself for that by summer 2017 at the absolute latest.
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