Annual Season Ticket Holder Survey
The annual Michigan Season Ticket Holder Survey is out. If/when you have seen it and responded to it, feel free to discuss your repsonses and comments in this space.
Some of the noteworthy things about this year's survey:
- As usual, there are no questions about the team's performance. You won't get to vote on firing the Offensive Coordinator. That doesn't bother me in the slightest. What would I say? "Gosh, I'd like it if we won all of our games"?
- There's nothing about schedules, opponents, etc.
- They did not ask about whether night games are good, bad or indifferent. I don't know if that might telegraph anything about the possibility (unliklihood?!?) of a night game next year. I seem to recall the question in last year's survey, although I may be incorrect in that regard. My preference is zero night games. Anyway, they didn't ask.
- Main questions are with the game-day experience. Parking/shuttles; Stadium staff; concessions; bathrooms; ticketing; resale/StubHub; marketing promotions; digital platforms; cellular service. And, naturally stadium rock.
- I got a kick out the fact that they asked about the "Fire Up!" and "Let's Go!..." videos. I had forgotten how awful those things were until they asked.
One thing they didn't really ask about (there is space for other narrative comments) is about the use of the video boards for instant replay. Can anyone explain why every big play, every big penalty, every disputable play isn't replayed? We've got a platoon of cameras, a network television crew, and two video boards each of which is larger than an adult Blue whale. Oh; and 110,000 people who might want to see what the millions of people who paid exactly nothing for the game are watching at home.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:00 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 11:27 PM ^
+1 Insightful
December 21st, 2013 at 1:32 AM ^
What. The. Fuck, are you talking about? I think you should be posting in the thread above.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:07 PM ^
December 21st, 2013 at 10:02 AM ^
Aren't ticket prices going to be the same next season? I thought there were no planned increases.
December 21st, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^
And the current survey, in push-polling fashion, reminds everybody of that fact.
But Preferred Seating Donations (also holding the line for now in '14) have gone WAY up in recent years.
As the Lawyers, Guns and Money blog has pointed out, Michigan football ticket prices are now at historical highs, adjusted for inflation, when you include the PSD's:
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2013/06/a-brief-history-of-michigan-football-ticket-prices
PSD's don't get enough publicity. If Brandon issues a press release saying that ticket prices are flat in a given year, he'll get a bit of good press out of it. But PSD's are now outstripping ticket prices for many of us. My PSD bill is bigger than my ticket bill. And when PSD's go up, it isn't a front-page story anywhere. It gets noted on MGoBlog; not so much elsewhere.
That LGM blog post can't be recommended too highly. (I saw it originally thanks to a hyperlink here at MGoBlog.) Still it might not be a perfect analysis. As usual, some of the analysis gets distracted into how much the head coach is getting paid. I think a lot bigger problem is how much the Athletic Department is paying to the University for tuition, and how much money is going to take care of Title IX funding formulae.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:16 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 9:37 PM ^
And that it blows up their computers.
Seriously; I'd very much like to get access to a report of all of the raw comments and the full polling data. The first thing I'd say would be to congratulate the Department for doing this. Only then would I complain any further. At least they are asking; I'll happily give them that much.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:46 PM ^
eventually, if you so choose. our school is a public entity and thus subject to the freedom of information act (FOIA). make a 'foia' request in a month or two, no exemptions exist to deny you that info.
i also was a bit salty with responses, echoing some of those above, and adding the fact that the music is deafening.
December 21st, 2013 at 8:59 AM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 10:11 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 11:00 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 11:03 PM ^
I am with him. More RAWK less whine and cheese
December 21st, 2013 at 8:12 AM ^
December 21st, 2013 at 8:38 PM ^
My first home game was MSU in 1961, we lost 28-0. I have attended nearly 300 games since and had season tickets for most of those years. I travel a minimum of 7 hours drive and once I am in Florida for the winter much more to make it to the games. I have probably spent a half million dollars following the Wolverine football teams from Hawaii, Rose Bowl, and every stadium in the big 10.
It finally hit me while at this years Penn State game. Why the hell do I continue to torture myself watching these dedicated young men not being given a fair chance to win a game with inept coaching. The Saturday football experience just isn't the same as what it was. Years of a declining product, Lloyd Carr, Dave Brandon schemes, Al Borges, Hoke thinking he looks tough standing in the cold in short sleeves, blaring rap music, maybe I am just getting old. But this is the end of the line for me.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:12 PM ^
He basically said there are a lot of weird rules Michigan set for him, and a lot of times he'd have it ready and it would get denied by the manager or whatever you'd call him. Any play where someone is remotely injured at all (even if it's just a play where he's slow to get up) they can't show the replay. That pretty much eliminates all your nice hits.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:27 PM ^
But that rule was lifted shortly before the season began last year.
Having been to Camp Randall, and Spartan Stadium, and Ryan Field, and Ohio Stadium, and some others, I was always struck (Conference rule notwithstanding) that Michigan Stadium was the absolute worst in terms of NOT showing anything of the remotest controversy. Michigan Stadium was also very bad about showing nearly-worthless closeups of the ball carrier, etc., that denied any real appreciation of the whole play.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:39 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 9:40 PM ^
Assuming that what your buddy is telling is is accurate, and considering what Section 1 has observed at other stadiums, this policy by Michigan is 100% fucking stupid.
And it's 100% on David Brandon.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:51 PM ^
...the rule, and Michigan's own patterns on replays pre-date Dave Brandon. I'll actually cut him some slack on this one. But it bears explanation.
When I raised this issue earlier this year, I was cautioned to give it some time, once the Conference rule was lifted. Let the video crew get used to it, I was told. To some extent, everybody still displays some caution in this area. I haven't been to a game at Camp Randall in a couple of years. They used to be the best, for showing lots of replays. I took in two games at Ohio Stadium this year, and they are significantly better than we are in showing replays. At Spartan Stadium this year, I could hardly bear to watch, it was all too painful. I was at Ryan Field two years ago, but not this past fall.
It's a hard thing to quantify, Don. This is my impression, anyway...
December 21st, 2013 at 8:30 AM ^
What difference does that make? Are you saying that David Brandon is literally unable to affect policy in this matter? C'mon.
Brandon should know that Michigan's thoroughly antiquated policy on video replay is a joke compared to the stadiums that you've identified; if you're able to discern a clear difference in Madison, Columbus, EL, and Evanston, then thousands of other fans are able to do the same. It's not a mystery at all.
Brandon constantly talks about wanting Michigan's WOW experience to be without equal, yet he refuses to take one obvious step that 110,000 people in his own facility are clamoring for.
December 21st, 2013 at 10:42 AM ^
So I'm with you, Don; it's a change that Brandon sholuld execute. Having been to all those other places, I can tell you they are better. But none of them as yet are doing the kinds of replays that I'd like. Michigan just seems like the worst.
I don't know how many people are "clamoring." I'd like a lot more clamor, and that is why I periodically bring the subject up on MGoBlog. Apart from things I have initiated, have you ever heard of anybody else complaining about replays in the Stadium? My experience is that it is never much discussed, until I bring it up, after which people say, "Yeah, why not more replays?"
December 20th, 2013 at 9:16 PM ^
Gotta love how much they tell you they want to hear from you, but then don't ask about most of the concerns we have.
December 21st, 2013 at 12:26 PM ^
They literally had a question at the end where you could write about anything you wanted.
Do you expect they read your mind and craft a question specifically for you?
December 20th, 2013 at 9:34 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 10:16 PM ^
December 21st, 2013 at 2:26 AM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 9:51 PM ^
Just finished mine. Basically echoed those above, trying to be as blunt as possible but in as calm a voice as I could muster in the hopes it would actually be read.
December 20th, 2013 at 9:53 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 9:59 PM ^
December 21st, 2013 at 12:25 AM ^
I was legitimately surprised when I went to BWW in Ann Arbor. I never knew they had TVs in the bathroom like that. Neither BWW near me in Indiana has anything like it. Anyways, I like this idea because I don't like to miss the action.
December 21st, 2013 at 12:42 AM ^
There is a radio feed in the bathrooms...
December 20th, 2013 at 10:00 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 10:06 PM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
allows music to be played during play. INVALID
December 21st, 2013 at 12:41 AM ^
What's the rationale for these kinds of limits? I don't see one.
December 21st, 2013 at 8:25 AM ^
December 21st, 2013 at 9:06 AM ^
December 20th, 2013 at 10:28 PM ^
express to them that a family that has held season tickets in the same seats for 40 years is effectively priced out of them and how painful the decision to pull the plug is finally going to be.
Being asked question about what I think of the carnival/circus like atmosphere of the pre-game entertainment and scoreboard video's is demeaning to me as someone who has invested so much money and personal time just to be a fan of that great university's football team.
The cost is what is making this less enjoyable Dave. Not all of us are pizza executives.
December 20th, 2013 at 10:59 PM ^
...by one of our better local writers. Profiling stories like this. People -- alums, fans with decades of support for Michigan athletics -- who are now being priced out. Angelique, are you up to it?
We know that it isn't the marketplace; StubHub is the blunt-force instrument of proof on that. Season tickets are simply not worth their face value.
We know that the legendary waiting list for season tickets is no more, and that in any event StubHub shows that it isn't too hard to get single-game tickets.
We know how much the recent price/PSD increases have been, over the last 5-6 years. Completely out of line with any inflation-adjustment or other pricing index. There is a revenue imperative, falling disproportionately on football and mens' basketball, and somewhat on ice hockey, and the revenue imperative is driven by runaway spending.
It is much like the rest of collegiate life in the 21st century. Is it really worth it, to pay the University of Michigan $160,000 to get a degree in Comparative Literature or Womens Studies or Sociology? Is it worth it to pay $4200 for four season football tickets? It's a fine University; it's a fine football program. But is it worth the cost?
December 21st, 2013 at 12:42 AM ^
It's really astounding how little you understand about universities. It is not the degree that costs $160,000.
December 21st, 2013 at 1:28 AM ^
Yes, my degree in one of those subjects you don't care about was absolutely worth the price I paid to the University, thank you very much.
December 21st, 2013 at 8:50 AM ^
I didn't say that I "don't care about" any particular subjects. I know that I don't judge the value of anybody's degree; they are all just fine by me. I questioned (not judged) the cost-benefit proposition in some of those degrees. I didn't presume that it was any clearer than the decision to renew season football tickets; a very personal decision at that.
I do question why Michigan's Athletic Department (as well as our counterparts in Columbus, Madison, East Lansing; and Tuscaloosa, Austin, Norman, etc.) costs so much to operate and what real constraints there are on costs, which now are apparently pricing out patrons.
December 21st, 2013 at 8:31 AM ^
December 21st, 2013 at 10:17 AM ^
But is it worth the cost?
no
December 20th, 2013 at 10:47 PM ^
I blasted the athletic department for dynamic pricing, specifically for pricing out the average fan and overpricing the less desireable games such as Akron. I also voiced my displeasure about the recent collaboration between the Office of Development and the Michigan Marching Band. I stated I felt it was offensive to use the MMB as a cheap vehicle advertise giving campaigns and getting married at Michigan Stadium. When it came to if I was going to renew I put 2 out of 10, citing the raising ticket prices through the PSL and the constant advertisements of capital campaigns. I would have put one out of ten, but i gave them a point for the night game (which was awesome and we need more of them). Yes, I am 30 something that actually enjoys the loud rawkish environment over the old whine and cheese atmosphere of the past.
December 20th, 2013 at 10:57 PM ^
One thing I was irritated with (inconsequential, but nonetheless, irritating):
- With the GA, I often had to sit right behind the field goal post, which is fine.
- This forced me to follow the plays through the scoreboard monitor when they were playing on the other side of the field....which is also fine.
- But too many times, the "MAKE SOME NOISE" caption on the scoreboard monitor did not go away until the play was completed, causing me to miss out on what exactly resulted from the play (e.g., "did they get the 1st down or not???")....found this to be soooo irritating during game time.