Dave Brandon Address to the Canton Economic Club
Dave Brandon addressed the Canton Economic Club on 7 April and discussed several issues of interest to the U-M faithful including: Instituting positive change, Practicegate, The Big Chill, the Basketball Practice Facility, Crisler renovations, and whether he's considering a run for governor.
Change: “One of the first things I did is I decided I wanted to identify something that was an opportunity for us to be different and show change. [The night game is] going to be unbelievable. Michigan against Notre Dame, nose to nose, under the lights, prime time. National television. That’s cool. That’s change to grow. That’s change is good.” Other changes are in the works: “No hints. We’ll talk about cakes after they’re baked.”
Practicegate: No self-imposed penalties are contemplated, only action so far was Alex Herron's dismissal.
The Big Chill: “The current record is 70,000-ish, and we’re going to beat it. We’re going to create an atmosphere and an opportunity, tailgating in December. We’re going to (transform) Michigan Stadium into a hockey rink and … it’s going to be phenomenal. Tickets are going to be very affordable. This is not an opportunity to make a lot of money, it’s an opportunity to fill that stadium, set a record and be part of an experience that no one else will be able to duplicate. That’s change to grow, that’s change is good.”
New Basketball Practice Facility/Crisler Renovation: Construction of the new Basketball Practice Facility will begin immediately after Spring Commencement. As previously noted here, the next phase will be improvements to Crisler's infrastructure followed by a third phase that “...will be absolutely a complete remodel of the facility where you would potentially bust out the concourses and you would create the bigger circulation space. More restrooms, capacity, more amenities, better food service, maybe some kind of club-seating opportunities for those who are interested in that experience. Really making it a modern arena for the purpose of big-time college basketball. And that’s ultimately where we’d love to go with Crisler Arena because the program deserves that. Both the men’s and women’s program deserves that.”
Governor ambitions: “No. I made a five-year commitment to President (Mary Sue) Coleman and to the university, and I also in that spirit said if things are going well and the university’s pleased with my performance and I feel like I’m making a difference that I want to make, then I’m here to extend that for another five years. So I’m all in for Michigan.”We already know that one change that has proven to be good and will certainly create growth was MSC's decision to hire Dave Brandon.
stud
on a national level for winning for ages, but it's nice to be in the national spotlight for other reasons as well. It's great that the student athletes get state of the art facilities but now finally the fan gets that experience too in football and soon to be basketball. We have the tradition to keep the current fan base but we need new and exciting things to draw in others that aren't aware of what is the University of Michigan. Basically I expect the fan base to grow with fancy seats, grand lobbies, and pretty buildings...
Best idea ever. I'm glad to hear he's thinking big in regards to overhauling Crisler. It needs big changes.
PIMP
"Seriously, who wants to be governor or CEO of a pizza chain when you can be the Athletic Director at Michigan?"
I wonder how he plans to redo the lower bowl in Crisler. It'll be interesting to see how/if they extend the bleachers or re-arrange. Even if they don't completely redo it and just put in new seats, it'll look worlds better.
Maybe they'll put bleachers on both sides ;) even though that would probably piss off some ticket holders on the west side...
I wonder if it will be more of a cosmetic renovation or something more like what ND did with their basketball arena, where they just completely redid everything basically.
I never really followed ND's remodeling, but every and any thing they add to Crisler will improve it enormously. Fans will take a lot more pride in being there if it's not so outdated and bland (and I don't mean outdated in the cool/positive way that Yost "feels" outdated).
I love how he finishes by saying "So I'm all in for Michigan."
I'm starting to really dig this dude.
He sounds like such a fan of whatever he's talking about--even when it was Domino's Pizza. I'm excited to see what's next.
However, I don't buy the "not contemplating penalties" thing. He's not being responsible if he doesn't contemplate those things--penalties and sanctions are definitely possible, so discussing ways to mitigate them only makes sense. I think he just doesn't want to broadcast it.
...has commented on his Big Chill statement. I think it's a big deal that he's saying that they will do what's required to set the attendance record and make the experience a quality one for the fans.
Well, honestly, he's not going to have to try too hard to get more than 70k in Michigan Stadium for Michigan-Michigan State hockey. It was nearly impossible to procure tickets for the Cold War in 2001. It's going to be much the same way this time around, even with 25k+ more seats to fill.
The only real threat to that is the fact that Michigan State hockey fans have become about ten times as fairweather in the past 10 years, and have essentially bailed on Comley's program. Let's face it, we need MSU fans to buy tickets, too, to get to 100k.
I prefer talking up my cakes prior to baking them... kind of a pep talk. Makes them more delicious.