2023 will be the last year for printed Football Season Tickets
Looks like the end of an era. I was doing my Football STH renewal and was greeted with the screen below. As someone who collects tickets (and the now dead programs, other than the yearbook) this is a really big bummer. Seems like free money as they are currently offering the printed tickets for an additional $50 a set. It also is a great memento for young fans. Hopefully they offer something like the NFL does with commemorative tickets.
February 10th, 2023 at 2:54 PM ^
May sure is a funny way to spell will.
February 10th, 2023 at 4:54 PM ^
Or maybe we'll just always win the Big Ten and get a bye
February 10th, 2023 at 3:10 PM ^
Even if mobile tickets are required for CFP games, why does that mean that you can't have physical tickets for the regular season?
Also, from a "safe and contactless" standpoint, what's the practical difference between scanning a ticket and scanning a phone? Either way the usher isn't actually touching anything.
February 10th, 2023 at 3:19 PM ^
back in my gate 10 scanning days, I could definitely scan bar codes on card stock tickets faster than screens on phones. Way less fumbling around especially in the cold with gloves on.
February 10th, 2023 at 3:44 PM ^
Yeah, I don't get the CFP argument at all. Red herring justification.
February 10th, 2023 at 4:00 PM ^
So that they don't have to support two ticketing systems.
February 10th, 2023 at 5:09 PM ^
Pretty sure the scanners work on either printed or electronic tickets.
This is about controlling the secondary market.
February 10th, 2023 at 6:48 PM ^
As someone who did print and electronic tickets last year it is the same system.
February 10th, 2023 at 5:01 PM ^
Personally I don't like bringing my phone into the games, so a mild inconvenience. Plus like others have said, ticket stubs have always made great momentos, not the same with commemorative tickets.
February 10th, 2023 at 7:16 PM ^
I especially don't like bringing my phone when it's bad weather. It's not like I can use it in the stadium anyways. Plus I love not having my phone for a 4-5 hour stretch. It's a freedom I can rarely experience these days.
February 11th, 2023 at 12:46 AM ^
I called the ticket office and was told that this years paper tickets will not have cool designs and glossy art. They will be very plain tickets. Apparently they are really trying to get everyone to switch this year.
February 10th, 2023 at 1:53 PM ^
Well I guess no more 2 tickets with 2 cokes promotions. I printed and mounted mine from Indy with help of mvictors on twitter but it's not the same.
February 10th, 2023 at 2:01 PM ^
You should have a choice between "I Understand" and "This Sucks"
February 10th, 2023 at 2:03 PM ^
UM Athletic Dept:
February 10th, 2023 at 2:43 PM ^
one of the greatest movies of all times
February 10th, 2023 at 2:52 PM ^
You mean "Robin Hood, Men in Tights", right?
February 10th, 2023 at 2:10 PM ^
I am old and this is bullshit. Both of these things are true.
February 10th, 2023 at 2:17 PM ^
I am The Fannman and I endorse this message.
February 10th, 2023 at 2:44 PM ^
i was at that fight in vegas when you tried to make it into the ring. you didn't quite make it and the ringside fans beat your tail.
best fight i ever saw, live or on TV, holyfield-bowe II.
February 10th, 2023 at 2:13 PM ^
Are they still going to charge $10 per electronic ticket? Because I’m sure they have a crap load of employees manually entering each order.
February 10th, 2023 at 2:21 PM ^
The big envelope in the mail was an important annual event. It was a little reminder that it was OK that summer was ending because football was almost here. Now, I’m going have to hope I don’t miss another freaking email.
February 10th, 2023 at 2:29 PM ^
It's like college acceptances these days. Kids would wait by the mailbox looking for the "big envelope" from the colleges they applied to indicating that they had been accepted and rued the small envelopes with the rejection letters.
Now they get an email. I think I still have my college acceptance letters and maybe even my first job offer letter in a box somewhere.
February 10th, 2023 at 2:47 PM ^
my first "real job offer" out of grad school was a phone call.
Interviewed, left for the airport, and 30 min before jumping on the flight they called me an told me the salary and benefits, and they wanted me to take the job.
ps. i took the job
February 10th, 2023 at 2:47 PM ^
i remember friends in college pasting their job rejection letters all over the wall of their house. they had a whole wall full of them:
'thank you for your interest in X company. we appreciated you taking the time.... unfortunately we don't have a place for you at this time...'
February 10th, 2023 at 8:00 PM ^
…another candidate’s qualifications more closely matched…
February 10th, 2023 at 2:44 PM ^
That’s a bummer even if it does make sense. I have a couple shadow boxes packed full of old ticket stubs, seems like this will be an odd relic
February 10th, 2023 at 6:40 PM ^
Same here. I'll open it up every once in a while - some good games in there!
February 10th, 2023 at 2:59 PM ^
It is nice not having to worry about remembering to take the tickets or worry about losing the tickets. Just another sign of progress. The new car I am buying doesn't have a cassette deck or even a CD player.
February 10th, 2023 at 3:01 PM ^
Just renewed!
This old guy prefers the digital tickets. Much easier to manage...don't have to worry about forgetting or losing them...simple to transfer or share.
February 10th, 2023 at 3:04 PM ^
Kind of amazing that "you must have a a smartphone" is now a requirement to attend a Michigan football game.
I haven't messed with the electronic tickets myself. I assume they're relatively easy to transfer from person to person, if you have a party arriving on a staggered schedule or whatever?
February 10th, 2023 at 7:19 PM ^
I showed up to a basketball game and my phone wouldn't load. They printed the tickets for me without too much trouble.
February 10th, 2023 at 3:09 PM ^
The AD currently offers souvenir/commemorative tickets.
February 10th, 2023 at 3:17 PM ^
when i was in school, i tried to keep my tix... but theyre long gone now. wish i kept all the stubs from the 1997 season (my freshman year). would have been a cool thing to hang next to my recent two Michigan Daily front pages (printed) of M's big wins over tofu.
February 10th, 2023 at 3:18 PM ^
I dont have a smartphone, so I guess my days of attending Michigan football games are over.
February 10th, 2023 at 3:27 PM ^
Sort of surprised this wasn't already the case. I'm a season ticket holder at a MAC and they did away with printed tickets a few years ago. It sucks but unfortunately is the way of the times. Btw, can anyone give me a ball park on what a non conference game is running? Thought about trying to hit up a game for the first time in over a decade
February 10th, 2023 at 3:43 PM ^
I guess I'd feel somewhat differently (read: begrudgingly accepting) about this if I actually felt like the Athletic Department cared about any of the pretty valid, albeit nostalgic concerns about this. Or if I felt like any of their gameday operations decisions of late have been particularly true to what Michigan can and should be.
It's hard to put words on it, but I just feel like this is a decision made by some annoyed Athletics admins who want the olds to get out of the way and let them make a little more money while hiding behind the "industry standards" crap.
In short, I hate that nothing the biggest fans can ever say will ever move the needle when they want to do something like this.
February 10th, 2023 at 6:39 PM ^
https://souvenirs.teamcpi.com/MichiganAthletics/en-US/category/107/
$10 you can get a ticket for any game last year with any section/row/seat. I know it's not the same as a game ticket but it is an option.
They also gave reasons as to why they're going this route. I guess you can always chose not to believe them but they sound valid. I'm sure i'll get negged...
February 10th, 2023 at 7:11 PM ^
We found Warde's account, folks.
February 10th, 2023 at 4:04 PM ^
I suspect this is all about control of the secondary market. Those resellers have to let the AD wet it’s beak
February 10th, 2023 at 4:05 PM ^
Why don't they just tell everyone the truth? They can't make money from StubHub if people are selling physical copies of tickets. I might print this so I can remember when I said this next part. There will eventually be a "transfer" fee equal to the amount they would have made from StubHub for every electronic ticket you transfer.
February 10th, 2023 at 4:13 PM ^
Idea that I am freely giving to the Athletic Department:
Getting printed memento is a great souvenir for each season.
I understand the many good reasons why electronic ticketing will happen, but here is the idea;
just print up the 7-8 or 9 images AS if tickets were still being used - these would not be real tickets but keepsake items. I'd order it just to have the physical item, and get students or faculty from the Art School to help design them and highlight different things going with the team, players or different schools. Make it an advertising development thing.
February 10th, 2023 at 4:52 PM ^
This is the marketing operation that can't even issue a 100th anniversary hockey patch for public purchase. LOL on commemorative tickets--but you are absolutely correct.
February 10th, 2023 at 5:25 PM ^
This rather feels like the Athletic Department trying to control the secondary market. Like others, I kind of enjoy getting the envelope and actually having a stub to save for more memorable games. Also, it's bad enough when I have, say, returns to make at a UPS Customer Center and I have to make adjustments for my phone just so they can read the codes, and there are only a few people in line there generally. This is going to be hilarious at a gate or two at every single game, isn't it?
February 10th, 2023 at 6:37 PM ^
I have a drawer full of my old Michigan football tickets. (or at least most of the ones from post college.)
February 10th, 2023 at 6:43 PM ^
I also keep my stubs, and this makes me sad, but I was not going to keep paying $50 for the generic tickets. It was bound to happen.
Someone check on the guy that always wants ticket stubs for his collection.