Away Game Seating
My friend and I are planning on going to the game at IU this year, and this will be our first time in Bloomington. We've both taken trips to EL for an MSU-UM game before to sit in the student section, but other than that, we have no experience in other stadiums in the Big Ten.
We were planning on buying tickets through the UM ticket office in order to sit with other Michigan fans, but we were told that the seats were at the mercy of the IU Athletic Dept. I don't mind having "bad" seats if it means I sit with fellow Wolverines, but we can easily get "bad" tickets from other sources for a cheaper price.
I guess my question can be both general and specific:
- Can anyone who has gone to a game @ IU comment on the seating of opposing fans?
- How "nice" are other B10 seats for opposing fans?
If anything I'm curious to know how other B10 stadiums seat their opposing fans, especially given that our own athletic department seats many opposing fans in the top rows in the SE corner of the stadium.
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:38 PM ^
I was going to post this, but in regards to the Penn State game. If anyone is going to the Penn State game I would love to tag alone because at 8 pm and a white out will be an awesome game to go to. Not to mention thats only a 2 hr drive for me instead of the 8 to Ann Arbor.
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:43 PM ^
That PSU has "dissed" us by not making the game against UM a White-Out. Just making sure you don't get your hopes up only to see them crash and burn when you get there. I could be wrong though.
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:47 PM ^
I heard that too, but then they scheduled the game for 8 so I assumed they were going to. Why have the game at night on ESPN and not have one? I am sure they will especially if we r undefeated or with only 1 loss.
September 23rd, 2010 at 8:05 PM ^
You can spell out the word "are."
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:47 PM ^
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't they make the next White-Out game in 2011?
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:04 PM ^
They have student white-out and stadium white-outs. I did hear that then next stadium white-out is 2011 v. Alabama, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't a student white-out against us.
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:05 PM ^
anyone know of a good way to get some besides the obvious (stubhub/ebay, etc.)? They are crazy expensive right now. Went two years ago, plan on heading back.
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:24 PM ^
Check out this thread. There is a spread sheet that someone made that allows people to post whether they are selling tickets or are looking for tickets. If this does not help, try craigslist; you didn't mention it.
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/buying-selling-um-tickets-thread-spreadsheet
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:45 PM ^
i bought OSU tickets through our athletic dept in 2008 and i sat like 8 rows from the top, which at the shoe, is literally among the clouds.
unless you don't want to be alone i think its always better off scalping tickets. i paid $50 and somehow ended up like 5 rows from the front at iowa last year and could hear everything kirk ferentz was saying!
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:48 PM ^
I can tell you what he'll be saying this year.
"Will someone please tackle that quaterback! He's killing us!"
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:48 PM ^
I've been to MSU, OSU, PSU, ND, Illinois, Purdue, and Wisco with tickets through the UM Athletic Department, and for the most part the seats have been terrible. I remember specifically Illinois had given us tickets in the last row in the very corner, OSU put us about 5 rows from the top in the corner, and Purdue put us in the endzone. The one school that did give us great tickets was MSU. The two years I've been there they gave us upper level seats on the 30 and on the 20. Great views.
On a different note, for the Indiana game I would suggest buying really cheap tickets through the Indiana Athletic Department if you still have a valid student id from any college. The tickets are only $5 and using any college id you should be able to use the tickets (I even contacted someone from the IU Athletic Department via email to confirm this). You'll have to sit in the IU student section, but I'm hoping that we can get enough UM students to take advantage of this offer so we can create our own little section in there.
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:51 PM ^
Been to IU before, they are not strict on the seating, but that was a while back. Not a big stadium so seats aren't too far away. Not really any bad seats.
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:00 PM ^
in 2006. Almost all seating is sideline seats anyway, some rather high. However you will be among many, many Michigan friends. IU doesn't come close to selling out their 50,000+ seat stadium (although this was back when IU really sucked, they seem to have at least something positive going now). Michigan fans were everwhere but were generally located in the South end from the 30 to the goal line.
Lots of empty seats so if you don't like yours, look for better ones. Nice campus, nice atmosphere, probably one of the few places UM goes that doesn't exhibit a disturbing level of hate for their fellow man.
I would go back to IU in a heartbeat.
September 23rd, 2010 at 5:15 PM ^
My group wasn't with the largest part of the Michigan fans, but there were Michigan fans everywhere, particularly seated on the sideline sections down near the end zones. By halftime most of the IU fans had left so the Michigan folks kind of spread out. It was cool, we were able to get a GO!!!...BLUE!!! cheer going from one side of the stadium to the other.
IU fans were generally ok...I didn't experience any hate (the best they could come up with was "You guys are nerds!" and "You're gonna lose to OSU next week!") but no real sense of being welcomed either. Also, I would recommend getting to the stadium about 30 minutes before kickoff--when I went, the game was sold out (10-0 Michigan team, lots of demand from Michigan fans) but they only opened anough entrance gates for the normal lackluster IU crowd. Thus, the lines to get into the stadium 15-20 minutes prior to kickoff were very long and unorganized and we weren't able to get to our seats until after the game had started. It was annoying mainly because the line to get into the stadium stretched past 2 or 3 closed entrance gates. It may be better now, but I have no idea.
Parking was really easy--I forget how much parking was but it was a couple of bucks to park in a giant grass field that was right next to the stadium. We set up our tailgate right there and it was a 3-minute walk to get to the game.
September 23rd, 2010 at 5:28 PM ^
I bought tickets to this year's IU game through the UM ticket office. I believe they are Sec. 105 Row 20ish. Looking at a map of the stadium they do not appear to be that great of seats. But hopefully I'm with some fellow Michigan fans.
September 23rd, 2010 at 5:31 PM ^
by my brother that traffic into and out of Bloomington sucked. Give yourself some extra time. As I recall only a couple state highways in and out of town.
September 23rd, 2010 at 5:53 PM ^
Google says it'll take three hours from Cincinnati. I was going to leave at 10 for the 3:30 game.
September 23rd, 2010 at 7:26 PM ^
just give myself extra time regardless, so I can have a few adult sodas before the game.
September 23rd, 2010 at 5:34 PM ^
I have been to each of the past few times UM has played in Bloomington. (I live in southern Indiana and don't get up to home games that often.) To get tickets just get the IU ticket phone number from their website, the gal that helped me with my order was quite kind and helpful. When I told her which game I wanted she asked "Are you a Michigan fan?" When I replied yes she said, "I can put you close to their section if you want." I will be in the next section over.
The other times I have been to Bloomington the crowd has been fine and there have been thousands of Michigan fans there. Also, Memorial Stadium isn't huge and so all the seats have a pretty good view. People at IU aren't really that big into football for the most part and one can tell that from the atmosphere; the ambiance is not bad but it is not crazy awesome either.
I don't think it has ever been a sellout when I have been there so you may just want to buy the tickets the day of the game.
September 23rd, 2010 at 5:37 PM ^
Oh, and Bloomington traffic is much like AA traffic; they are not big into people actually getting into the town. There is a decent highway to Bloomington from Indy but after that the roads cannot handle a game-day rush. But it could be much worse (State College, I'm looking at you...).
September 23rd, 2010 at 6:01 PM ^
Went to IU when Breaston played and it wasn't bad. Don't expect any great seats but in that stadium the stands are very steep so you will be able to see no matter what.
September 24th, 2010 at 1:21 AM ^
I live 30 minutes from Bloomington and go to all the Michigan games that come through there. The last one I chose to sit with Michigan fans and I bought those tickets from the IU box office. They gave me a choice on where I wanted to sit and I got pretty good seats as well.
I also go to all games that go through Lafayette and Champaign.
September 24th, 2010 at 1:22 AM ^
I've been to most of the B10 stadiums. Most of the fans I've found to be smart-asses, but in a generally friendly way. (Except for OSU fans, too many of whom tend to be, in a word, vile.) PSU fans, for all their noise, are really hospitable. So are Iowa fans -- the difference being that Iowa fans get blind drunk. Last year, after the game, the campus was littered with passed-out drunks.
Indiana has a wonderful campus. But the football atmosphere is, frankly, virtually non-existent. The fans just don't care very much. Makes for a peaceful but somewhat boring game. This week, when a friend of mine called IU to inquire about tickets, the box-office person said, "Oh, just show up at game-time. We'll have plenty."
September 24th, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^
if you have a non michigan student id , i would advise buying student tickets thru the indiana atheltic department at 5 dollars a pop