Bad Sign for 100,000 Streak

Submitted by Commie_High96 on
Down town Ann Arbor is dead right now. I have lived in A2 all my life (36 years) and have never seen it so empty on a football Saturday! I am now standing at the corner of Main and Madison 7 blocks from the stadium, and there is 80% open parking spots and no one tailgating.

Bleedin9Blue

November 22nd, 2014 at 12:20 PM ^

Are you sure announced attendance is based on ticket sales? I've seen a lot of people on here say that but I'm not sure what the origin of that idea is.

I'm not going because I'm fairly sick (and I don't want to be sick over Thanksgiving due to being out in the wet and cold) but I'm going to make sure my ticket is scanned anyway.

snarling wolverine

November 22nd, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^

All pro and college sports teams count tickets sold as "attendance".   This is how the Pistons averaged 15,000 fans per game last season when anyone who went to games knew it was barely half that in the stands.

The only thing different about college football is that they also allow schools to count everyone in the press box and on the field, which is how you get above-capacity numbers a lot of times.

Mr. Yost

November 22nd, 2014 at 1:11 PM ^

This is correct.

No threat, they'll get 100,000.

I wonder what the "add-in" is at Michigan. The "add-in" is the start number you have before one fan enters the stadium. It includes everyone from the players to media to concessions to housekeepers.

In all college sports you count these people, but for the smaller sports you can literally count them. For football and men's basketball (and probably hockey and women's basketball at UM), you have an "add in" number.

Take your add in number and add it to your number of ticket sales and you get your game attendance.

This is why women's basketball attendance can get ridiculous at some schools. There's more team personnel and support staff than actual fans in the stands at a lot of places.

Mi Sooner

November 22nd, 2014 at 1:16 PM ^

The Purdue game in 94 or 95 had weather far worse than today. The stadium was barely half full. The announced attendance was over 100k. I think I and still trying to get warm from that game. It f'ing sucked it was so cold and wet and windy. The wind was blowing like snot.

Thanks for making me remember that as I get ready for threats suck fest.

mGrowOld

November 22nd, 2014 at 1:38 PM ^

The way Michigan counts it's a "heads I win - tails you lose" accounting.

Buy a ticket but don't show up? YOU COUNT AS ATTENDING!

Don't have a ticket but get into stadium anyways (like the high school band members today)?
YOU COUNT AS ATTENDING!

Kinda hard to ever see the streak ever getting broken when you play both sides against the middle.

WolverineLake

November 22nd, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^

I was offered free tickets by three different people (one was for seats right above the tunnel). I live less than 35 miles from a2 and have a friend who lives one block from the stadium.

I chose to stay home and watch Dora with the kids.

Even two years ago this is an unthinkable decision. I mean -- I used to block off every home game and head to a2 for the whole day regardless of the weather.

I am clearly not alone. I really really hope next year rekindles our collective passion for the once solemn home game Saturday.




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CTSgoblue

November 22nd, 2014 at 12:30 PM ^

I just sold my two sideline tickets (with seat cushions) for $2.70 each on StubHub.  I was really hoping to attend and support the seniors but my wife said no because of the icy roads and otherwise miserable conditions.

davidhm

November 22nd, 2014 at 12:32 PM ^

Drove by Pioneer on my way to my daughters bball game and that lot was barren. Both golf courses had hardly any tailgaters. Gonna be a lot of open seats today.




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davidhm

November 22nd, 2014 at 1:13 PM ^

I concur with both comments. However, given that both places are typically packed on game days but aren't today - a day where a "reasonable" person might want to park closer to the stadium - I think the stadium is gonna have a lot of empty seats. Unless of course everyone decided today was the day they were going to park further away and get their pre-Thanksgiving cardio workout in.




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HarBoSchem

November 22nd, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^

in my life that I have had tickets to a Michigan game and will not be attending. No one else wanted to go with me and I am not driving 2 hours to watch this game in that weather.

BlueTuesday

November 22nd, 2014 at 12:42 PM ^

"thank you for being part of the largest crowd to be watching a football game today. today's attendance is xxx,xxx". Something close to that is announced during the fourth quarter.

EDIT: I think it's horseshit if they count all the tickets sold and not the number of people who actually attended. 

Bando Calrissian

November 22nd, 2014 at 12:46 PM ^

When MGoBlog has literally dozens of unique posters talking about eating multiple seats, rumors of free tickets being handed out like it's a Detroit Rockers game in 1993, the students probably not putting up with freezing rain, thousands and thousands of seats left on the secondary market, thousands left from Athletics...

This just isn't going to look good. Just end the streak already if this is going to be laughably underattended. I know, I know, 100k sold and everything, but... There's not going to be any way to spin it this time, methinks. 

Bando Calrissian

November 22nd, 2014 at 1:29 PM ^

It's a streak. Nothing more, nothing less. I'd argue that what's great about Michigan is being able to draw 100,000 without fudging the numbers, and we're not really doing a good job of that right now. Ergo, no more streak.

I couldn't care less about what Sparty does today--they've been half-selling their stadium for decades.