Brandon and The Money

Submitted by 543Church on

http://annarbor.com/mi/wolverines/2012/11/dave_brandon_offering_uconn_a…

Does anybody else think it is an a-hole move of Brandon to keep trying to convince UConn to move this game?  I imagine whatever football fans UConn has have been looking forward to UM coming to campus for a few years now and he wants to pull out and move it to a sterile NFL stadium. 

It is always about the money with Brandon.  BOO-urns!

 

French West Indian

November 9th, 2012 at 3:25 PM ^

...does not look awesome.

It's a disposable shopping mall aesthetic that will not age well and will require a reboot about every 7 years.  By comparison, as originally built Crisler had a timeless design.  Someday the university community will rediscover it's integrity but for now it's clear that the barbarians have breached the gate.

James Burrill Angell

November 9th, 2012 at 2:21 PM ^

I won't necessarily disagree with the Brandon/$$$$$ thing BUT with the exception of the handful of M fans in the greater Hartford area and the three or four M grads who are professors at UConn (speculating), moving the game to MetLife would be a boon for Michigan. We have a large alumni base in New York City, New Jersey that would (a) have more seats to accomodate them at a larger stadium since UConn will mostly sell its tix to its alums (b) Some of these people will find the trip to East Rutherford infinitely more palatable that making the 2/3 hour trip out to Hartford thus giving our team at least an even fan representation instead of the away game.

I do wonder what dollar amount it will take to bend UConn. I agree with the original poster that the greater UConn community is probably salivating at the thought of getting their first really big name to visit their stadium. Conversely, everyone's got their price. What's yours UConn?

chunkums

November 9th, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^

Here's the thing about people who complain about Brandon that gets me.

1. People like new facilities

2. People like new sports (like LAX)

3. People like their athletes to be taken care-of

4. People generally like things that cost money

 

But when Brandon tries to raise money, he's a bad man.

M-Wolverine

November 9th, 2012 at 1:04 PM ^

How much MORE would our ticket prices be going up?  They're going to double dip us anyway (remember when ticket prices were going to freeze because we were putting in skyboxes?), but unless we hire Tom Goss Jr., we're not going to start losing money again. They'll just raise what we pay till they break even.  So better a stadium or network pays than me.

GoBlueInNYC

November 9th, 2012 at 2:18 PM ^

I'm not sure that Ivy League Football actually exists. I say this as someone who bought tickets last night to watch Columbia play Cornell on Saturday and has sunk a sizable amount of time into trying to read up on the two teams before going to see them.

It's like some kind of inverse rule of the internet. If it doesn't exist online, it probably doesn't exist in the real world.

bluebyyou

November 9th, 2012 at 6:21 PM ^

I kind of doubt that UConn would be receptive to playing at another college's stadium, which is why an NFL stadium would make more sense.

It is called the business of college sports.  Brandon is doing exactly what he should to promote the finances of the athletic department.  Stupid contract to make in the first place.

JohnnyBlue

November 9th, 2012 at 12:49 PM ^

Think of it this way. Its better for UConn. They will get to sell more quantity of expensive tickets for the game. As apposed to what I looked into and I'm sure a lot of local um fans have noticed as well. Season tickets for uconn are 95 bucks if I remember right. I bet dollars to donuts they sell out the season tickets to Michigan fans, and they are left with an my stadium the rest off the year because all the tickets are sold out

joeyb

November 9th, 2012 at 12:48 PM ^

I think it's an idiot move for the UConn AD not to move it. He can double the number of tickets sold, sell them at a higher price, and get more exposure for his football team (unless, of course, he wants to limit the exposure of the beatdown they are about to take).

mGrowOld

November 9th, 2012 at 12:48 PM ^

Damn you University of Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon thinking only of the University of Michigan athletic department and not the poor, downtrodden students of U Conn.  Damn you and your misplaced priorities putting the well-being of MIchigan's athletic budget ahead of something all 12,000 of the U Conn Huskie's football season ticket holders have been looking forward to for years.

EQ RC Blue

November 9th, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^

In his biggest decision, he controversially went with Brady Hoke -- and that decision has since been widely lauded and approved.  All the panic over the mascot now looks ridiculous.  The road uniforms were being changed around well-before Brandon took over.  The only criticism with any merit is having OSU in the other division, and we still play them the final game of the year.  Who knows what Brandon's position was behind the scenes too.  He's looking like an excellent AD, get over it. 

gbdub

November 9th, 2012 at 1:25 PM ^

I'd also say he's failed pretty miserably at achieving good home schedule balance from year to year.

He does seem to want to nickel and dime fans until they cry uncle. Generally his attitude seems not to be "what will make fans happy and provide as many fans a s possible with the best overall experience, sustainable in the long term" but rather "what can I get away with to make a quick buck". The $500 charge to be on the season ticket wait list, the Cowboy Classic instead of a home and home, and the blatant ads creeping into the stadium concourse are good examples of this.

gbdub

November 9th, 2012 at 2:52 PM ^

But that's precisely the point, only one game really had to be moved to make the schedule much better. Shouldn't have been that hard. In just B1G games, OSU+NU >>> MSU+Iowa. Having ND at home the same year as OSU/NU was just icing on the crappy cake.

The schedules put together for the post-ND years aren't much better, which seems to imply that DB is not making this much of a priority. I think that's a mistake. 

jmblue

November 9th, 2012 at 3:15 PM ^

I agree that the home/away schedule is poorly balanced from year to year, but I don't think Brandon could have done much about that.  He does not have control over our conference schedule.  Regarding ND, we have always played them at home in odd-numbered years and away in even-numbered years,  ND won't do it otherwise - it's always wanted to alternate having U-M and USC visit.  But now that the series is nearing a hiatus, there is a chance to rectify that with a new non-conference series.

EQ RC Blue

November 9th, 2012 at 2:00 PM ^

I guess I give a free pass on the UTL unis as a one-time deal, although this bothers me more than the road unis.  On the whole, I don't really care about the road unis, but I retract the uni issue as something not to rag on Brandon for.  The essential point I maintain.

543Church

November 9th, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^

I like money too (we should hang out), but he's trying to back out of a contract in addition to cheapening the "college athletics experience" for actual fans of college football. 

Would you rather attend a college game in an NFL stadium or on-campus?   Why don't we just have UM Basketball play MSU at the Palace instead of Crisler?  We can sell more tickets that way!

 

M-Wolverine

November 9th, 2012 at 1:01 PM ^

And if you're asking whether I'd rather go see Michigan play a game in a professional stadium, or U-Conn's stadium, then I'd go with the former. If you're asking whether I'd rather see Bama in the Jerrydome or on their campus, I'll go with the latter.

Of course, if you're asking if I was in the area and would rather see Michigan play U-Conn in person because I could get a ticket in a bigger stadium vs. having them in my area of the country but not getting in and watching on tv because their stadium is small and sold out, I might have a different answer then too.

Hardware Sushi

November 9th, 2012 at 1:59 PM ^

It's not ALL about money. MetLife has twice as many seats - so regardless of ticket price, twice as many people can go. There's no way all the UConn and Michigan fans that will pay to see the game can fit into Renstchler Field.

It's that simple. If the game is at MetLife, I'll take a train from DC and see it with my NYC friends. If it's at UConn, I'm not bothering to head up to Storrs because tickets will be extremely scarce. I bet there are a lot of East coast alums and fans with similar thoughts.

And the issue for UConn's AD is not money - he's not an idiot and relizes what would happen if they move to MetLife. The issue is that the state of Connecticut invested money into Renstchler Field, so taxpayers are kind of pissy about moving the biggest game they've hosted away from the place they just paid for.

blacknblue

November 9th, 2012 at 12:51 PM ^

I may be totally off base but he may also be concerned about there not being enough tickets to go around. Also I hate to point this out but thinking about money is a large chunk of his job responsibilities.

M-Wolverine

November 9th, 2012 at 12:53 PM ^

Let's see....we can make more money, yes (though not the majority), get more of OUR fans in, and maybe make it an easier atmosphere for our team to win (not that it should be a really tough place to play)...all things in the interest of the University of Michigan, who David Brandon works for.  Sounds like he's just doing his job.  Now if they say no and he pulls us out of the game, even though contractually it's permissible, that's kinda of a take your ball and go home dick move. If you want to blame someone, blame Martin for thinking this was a marquee game worthy of opening the new Stadium improvements up with, and giving them a return game for it.  Brandon at least holds out for Arkansas...and gets Colorado to make a solo trip here.

Frankly, it's probably better for the U-Conn program, if not the U-Conn fans, because besides more money a Michigan game in NEW YORK is likely to get better tv coverage than Michgan in a heavily favored road game, so more exposure for the program.  But if they want to keep it I don't blame them either.