Student Ticket Sales Aren't Going So Well
If you aren't already, get used to this, and I wouldn't blame the students.
In news that will come as a shock to many, charging students $295 for a home schedule in which the best game is against Penn State and the race for second is between Indiana, Minnesota, and Maryland doesn't go so well—especially a year removed from alienating much of the student fanbase with an unpopular, poorly implemented, and subsequently scrapped general admissions plan.
The deadline for renewing student tickets came and went on Tuesday, and in years past there's never, to my knowledge, been a need to extend the deadline. Student/poster bdsisme noted an email went out today urging some students to renew their tickets for the fifth time—in the three years prior, according to him, there'd been just four combined emails of that nature, which is consistent with how it was when I was in school ('06-'10)—and offering an extension to "Michigan Football SuperFans":
Dear [Student],
Thank you for being a Michigan Football SuperFan! According to our scanned data, you attended 5 or more home football games on-time last season (prior to or at kickoff). As a result, you have been granted SuperFan priority for the 2014 season.
Earlier this week (Tuesday, April 15) was the deadline to renew your season tickets for the 2014 season. However, since you have proven your loyalty this past season, we would like to offer a one-time extension of the season ticket renewal deadline in order for you to continue your devotion as a Michigan Football Superfan.
We know you are busy closing out the Spring semester and may have questions regarding the new seating policy for the 2014 season. By extending the renewal deadline to Friday, April 25, we hope you are now able to guarantee your seat as a Michigan Football Student Season Ticket Holder.
How magnanimous of them.
"Closing out the Spring semester..." ???
Isn't the January to April semester the Winter semester and the May/June the Spring semester?
You're right.
Oh man, I didn't even notice that. How do you get the current semester wrong in an email like this? Embarrassing.
Yeah, especially when the Athletic Department is so concerned with the STUDENT-athlete.
April 19th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^
Brandon was in charge of Dominos when they changed their recipe. It was Brandon that identified the need for change. It was DB that instituted the change in recipe and business practices. And it was DB that did the commercials. The new pizza recipes were rolling out to great acclaim at the end of 2009 and it was with that success Brandon offered his services to MSC.
But don't believe me, read this.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dominos-new-recipe-only-50-years-overdue/
This discussion about Pizza franchises may be more interesting than the 2014 M football team. Nice job gents.
go to UM but I know a lot of universities have renamed their semesters Fall, Spring, and Summer.
Many of those universities take 3-4 weeks (sometimes more) off from mid-December to mid- to late-January. In addition, a lot of universities are further south where Spring comes early.
I think January 3 until the 3d week of April is more accurately described as Winter in Ann Arbor.
Yes, I work on a big multi-university survey (and if you're a UM undergraduate and you're reading this--please go take it. It's called UMAY) and I have to get them to reword and recode some things each year, because every other university in the consortium considers this to be "Spring" semester.
And, somewhat relevant to the thread: my father in law said this is the last year he's keeping his season tickets. I think they've had them for over 40 years.
I'm not a student, but have had season tickets for roughly 10yrs. I let the 15th come and go and decided not to renue. Several factors were involved (schedule, other obligations, etc) and I recieved essentially the same letter. "....we know you're busy and probably haven't had a chance to log-in and purchase, etc, etc, so we're giving you 10 more days in order to purchase...."
I honestly can't blame them and I would guess the number of fans either choosing basketball tickets or just not renewing has probably climbed significantly. I"m sure a simple email will probably garner a decent amount who truely did miss the deadline to purchase. However, the product on the field plays a roles too and well....
Dave Brandon dropped the ball big time by allowing the B1G to schedule MSU and ohio home and away in the same years.
The ball got dropped when they added Maryland and Rutgers, watering down a conference schedule already weak on marquee opponents. I hope those cable fees are worth this.
What is he supposed to do? The Brandon bashing is just getting out of control here, when you blame him for something that's the B1G fault, not his. I'd bet $1 he tried to get that rectified to no avail.
I'd take that bet. DB publicly stated his ability to influence the conference schedule with regard to the OSU game. You think he didn't have input with regard to schedules post-Maryland/Rutgers additions? Of course he did. And he failed miserably. There is no other team in the B1G that got doubled against a rival. There is no other team that got doubled against more than 1 opponent. We got the shortest end of the stick in the entire conference and DB did nothing to stop it.
Dave Brandon should have made sure this never happened. He should have seen (like most did) the effect this was going to have a ticket sales in even years and raised hell with the Big Ten office. Even a marquee home and home was never going to rectify the scheduling problem of putting OSU and MSU home during odd years especially with how watered down the Big Ten schedule becomes with the addition of Maryland and Rutgers.
How could anyone not realize what a disaster msu and osu both away the same year would be fan wise and competitively and not do anything? It called for a veto with delaney.
MSU only agreed to be in the same division with Michigan, OSU, and PSU if their scheduling with Michigan was changed. Dave Brandon wanted to keep both OSU and MSU on the schedule so he agreed to the even year boning. It's all about compromise.
I'd be interested to see a source for that, but that doesn't look like a compromise given that we got nothing while MSU (and even Northwestern) got plenty. The guy who moves home games to Dallas isn't one that I'd trust.
The continuation of annual games with MSU. Had MSU moved to the West Division, as was their desire, annual games with MSU would soon become but a distant memory. How do you think that would have gone over with the Hate Dave crowd?
But yeah, if you have a better explanation I'm sure we'd all love to hear it. At least one that doesn't revolve around a hate on.
I don't know if MSU had much bargaining position. I think MSU loses more with the loss of the annual Michigan-MSU game.
And quite honestly, I don't see how the scheduling change helped them. They now have Michigan and OSU home during even years (only Indiana has a similar setup in the division). MSU's odd year schedules are just awful--4 Big Ten home games with only PSU at home. At least Michigan's terrible even year schedules have 5 Big Ten home games in the future making the likelihood of drawing Nebraska, Wisconsin, or Iowa on the home schedule higher.
You nailed it
The entire MSU sports existence revolves round playing U of M. What was Hollis' bargaining chip: "Oh yeah if you don't do what I want we are going to only play the only reason our athletics exists once every 3 years!"
And oh yeah they'd lose the matchup vs OSU every year as well. So lose games versus the top 2 "brands" in the conference, including your ONLY rival... that's a bargaining chip?
But yeah, if you have a better explanation I'm sure we'd all love to hear it.
And if you have a link that supports what you're saying, I'm sure we'd all love to see it.
So, ummm, that's not a "source". In any event, the only benefit for MSU going to the west would be an easier schedule. They'd lose marquee games against the big boys of the B1G. Neither MSU nor Michigan would be willing to give up an annual game that gets big attention (and, for a school like MSU, a sold out game).
My explanation is simple...DB got rolled.
Seriously, do you have a link for this garbage or not?
Sorry, that dirt doesn't stick. In a war of influence between UM and MSU, do you really think MSU is going to win? He got worked by Hollis big time.
Very sick of the notion that Brandon might be a jerk but he is good at his job. Evidence is accruing that he is a jerk and VERY bad at what he does.
Isn't Minny coming to Ann Arbor two years in a row?
I don't blame much of this year's schedule on Brandon—note I don't do that in the post. I do blame him for scheduling App. St. instead of even a half-decent opponent that wouldn't conjure up horrible memories for everyone in attendance, but that's just a small part of the issue. I'm not sure how much responsibility falls on him for allowing the Big Ten to schedule back-to-back road games at MSU, but it certainly doesn't help his cause.
However, the bigger issue here is that Dave Brandon, not the Big Ten, sets the price point. After last season—and given this year's schedule, the recent team performance, and the general admissions fiasco—raising the per-game price of student tickets was inevitably going to lead to this.
I'm on the same page as you Ace. My only gripe is the "Brandon did nothing to fix the away games with State and OSU." I agree with everything else you are saying.
...that's got to be a misprint, right? $295 is absurd for a student tickets. They were about $5/game when I was a student and, frankly, they should be free to any student who wants them. It's not as if the stadium isn't large enough for the entire student body with plenty of room left over to scalp the alumni & fans.
I paid 230 for the student season tickets when I was at Michigan. I'm willing to bet that you were the students in the 80s when it cost 5 bucks a pop.
They were $140 a decade ago.
inexplicable to me. The upside is all but invisible, but the media glare (read: deathwatch) will be hot.
April 18th, 2014 at 10:52 PM ^
April 19th, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^
you know we could lose the Appalachian State game? Hence, it is unlike the SEC walkovers you reference.
Indiana sells combo fottball and basketball tickets, because if you want Basketball then you also buy football. Last year the combo was $200. (IU student BB tickets are NOT for all games - but a mix of confernece and non-conference). I haghly doubt the B1G has anything to do with that policy ...
Truth is this year's schedule sucks ... but had Michigan been to 3 straight BCS games, even this shitty schedule wouldn't cause any season ticket or attendance concerns. The product on the field is the MAIN issue, and EVERYONE in the AD knows it. Last year's collapse has turned into this season's issues with tickets ... and schedule. Playing MSU twice as an away was just fucking stupid - and I do blame Brandon entirely for this.
We all heard how Alabama still has student ticket issues and that is NOT as a result of the product on the field - its just student mentality. Some students will NEVER miss a game - some have no clue why they even go. So the answer is simple - reduce the size of the student section to fill the need. When the real demand increases then increase the size of the section.
Dave Brandon heard that we were getting back-to-back games at MSU (which now put them in the same home-away cycle with Ohio State) before we did. He should have protested fiercely and if he did, it's very hard to believe the B1G's decision would have stuck.
Instead we get arrogant asshole comments like "We can win as easily there as we can here."
and the schedule this year fall right onto DB's shoulders. I am left to wonder what the hell is happening in that office when you sprinkle in the occasional sky writing incident. I'm also still a little bitter over the Jerryworld payday/band stuff.
With a new president, it would be interesting if DB was let go, and Hoke and his staff remained. Just spitballing --
These are clearly problems that did not seem to exist in the past (I'm going back to Bo's days). Historically, Michigan gets screwed (e.g. 1973, etc.), but now it seems we're screwing ourselves.
A home and home with Arkansas has been added to future schedules.
I should have added "against a team that has a chance to be ranked when we play them." Considering we just traveled to UConn, I thought I implied that.
talk about it, by 2018 Michigan might just be able to compete with Arkansas.
I think an email with more exclamation points would have helped.
I am one of the students that that has bypassed the opportunity to purchase student tickets. If you had told the junior year version of me that I'd ever even consider such an action, junior year me would have punched you and then himself in the face and gone to work building a time machine so he could punch current me in the face even harder.
I've noticed the mounting emails that have developed more and more of a begging tone with each one. I can't believe UofM has been reduced to this. It's very sad. But you just cannot continue to jack up prices for a product of decreasing quality-- in terms of the schedule, gameday experience, and most unfortunately, the on-field performance.
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