Desperate times call for desperate emails [student football tix]

But only if you call within the next 24 hours!

The fact that we have "fans" that feel this makes me afraid for the future of Michigan athletics. Incredible.

Unless the student to alum policies have changed, your logic doesn't really apply to students. Whereas there is value in keeping your tickets in your name, for students who are only eligible for students tickets for 4 years (generally), there is less value because they aren't getting an interest in keeping the tickets in their name. As soon as they graduate, they will join the alum pool and have to buy from it. Thus, a student who is or might be struggling with money might now want to shell out 300 to watch Michigan beat up on some MAC teams or, alternatively, struggle to beat MAC teams. Just because it's a privilege doesn't mean students have to buy tickets. And I'm sure they know the tickets will be sold to alums. But if we're talking loyalty, maybe the alums the tickets get sold to should not sell them to Ohio fans whenever the team looks like it's going to get easily beat by ohio.

How much money would you be willing to gamble that there aren't similar problems in getting non-students to renew?

Yes, I think there is a chance that those tickets will go unsold.  Remember there is no longer a waiting list for season tickets.  btw I am a sheep that had been buying season tickets for 20+ years and been going to games since 1969.

They are overestimating the strength of the "brand".

You're just NOW starting to wonder if people are disattisfied with the product on the field and the crap home games?  How long, exactly, was your coma?

We're very possibly at the point where the announcement of crowds in excess of 100K will have all the reality and accuracy of the new Soviet Five-Year Plan that Brezhnev announced in 1973.

If the way they've been begging Michigan hockey fans with e-mails, Groupon deals, etc... to buy hockey tickets the past few seasons is any indication, then I feel this is only the beginning for football attendance woes.

Hockey used to be an guaranteed sell out with massive waiting list every season.  But years of increased ticket prices + horrible home nonconference schedules + b-ball comeback drove fans away (and, of course, the past two seasons haven't helped matters though attendance was declining before that happened).  They finally fixed the horrible schedule part this past season.  Now they need to win some games again.

But it's the same story for football... high prices + struggling team + horrible home schedule is a recipe for no one buying tickets.  Winning can cure some of the problems, but at the end of the day, for the price they're paying, fans want to see high-profile teams play at Michigan Stadium, not Jerryworld.  I don't see attendance woes getting better until they play a home schedule that's worth forking over the money.

Call it a bit of a fan revolt, but with more folks living on tight budgets these days, I don't think fans are going to just give the university their money freely and take whatever they feed them as opponents anymore.  But maybe that's what it'll take for the athletic department to get the message.

Can an aspiring neo-LSUFreek graft Brandon's head onto that gif?

Actually, it would be funnier if it were Hoke's head. Let's go with that.

Gas was also 89 cents a gallon. Prices go up and while we may not like it, it's a fact of life.

at Clemson they are free.

For contrast Mississippi State charges students $55 for season tickets. Even year headlining home games are Auburn and TAMU. In odd years $55 gets you in to see Alabama, LSU, and a rivalry game with Ole Miss.

Same here.  And what I still find utterly amazing to this day is that even after I wrote two emails to Brandon and sent in a fairly scathing "Season Ticket Holder Survey" response last year I have recieved zero communication back from the Athletic Department other than these canned emails.  And I was a season ticket holder in Section two, with four tickets, who contributed to the Athletic Department, and held those tickets for almost 25 years and I went to the last two bowl games.

Talk all you want about Brandon's supposed marketing savy - to me he is utterly clueless on actually listening (and responding) to his customer.  I can only assume that if my level of financial contribution wasn't worth trying to save they must be VERY confident in their ability to replace fans like me and you.

actually i don't think that many people around these parts would disagree with you.  students don't have full time jobs.  $300 is a lot of money for a student.

dave brandon acts like he has shareholders.  he needs the stock price to go up immediately and doesn't worry about the long term.  college sports loyalty doesn't work like a business.  today's students are tomorrow's donors and if you don't get the hooked now they're not going to donate down the line.

Why does anyone give a shit about whether the AD cares about the students?  Why does that matter at all?  I can understand if you just aren't a fan or think dealing with general admission is more of a hassle than the game is worth, but if you are a fan and are choosing not to go in protest of the AD's policies, then that is really unfortunate and IMO just that student choosing to miss out for the wrong reason.  You only get to live the college life once (at least for most of us).

Not to mention the fact that there is a finite number of times Michigan will play at The Big House while you are a student.  I can't imagine not wanting to be a part of that while being at UM.  It is what makes Michigan, Michigan, fergodsakes.

I bet you didn't go 10 years without seeing a big ten title either. So much for ''Those who stay will be champions'' anymore. 

We're slowly becoming Notre Dame. 

Not sure when you were there but my guess is they also largely WON most of their games, challenged for if not won, the B1G at least once if not twice and you got to see a Rose Bowl if you were so inclined.  My years (78-81) witnessed AC, two Rose Bowls (Bo's first win) and Ricky Leach as a Senior.  Not too bad.

Not so for this batch of students.  They get a big, heaping pile of mediocrity to enjoy.  Not quite the same experience if you ask me.

Watching a mediocre team face mediocre to poor competition 7 times for $300 is silly. Without 2 or 3 marquee games, you get no value. It's too easy to find a ticket for $20 (or less for the Akrons of the world). If I weren't graduating, I'd rather buy tickets for 4 or 5 games for like $75 and watch a couple noon snoozefests on television.

I think you're problem is two fold. 

1) you attatch morality in attending some football game.  There's almost a moral imperative of it to you.  To many, it's entertainment and nothing more.  If you're not entertained, why spend your hard earned dollars and hours of your time? Your position is one I don't get.  For example, many people here lambast students for not being in the stands early enough to see the band or players touching the banner -- I was never a student who was on time for those.  I wanted to watch the game.  I was in my seat before kickoff and was always loud and cheering.  However, I did not buy tickets for those experiences so I chose to spend my extra time partying with my friends.  I don't feel like my experience was hurt at all.  \

2) I rarely attend games.  I'm an alum now and I'll go to 1-2 a year max.  I'd rather watch from the comfort of my 60" TV and comfy couch.  Bathroom is close and there's no line, case of beer in the fridge, snacks and food of my choosing, etc.  The experience watching for home, again for the purpose of entertainment, is simply better.

I enjoyed the blowouts. You got a chance to see some players who didn't get a lot of snaps. Of course, we were also able to bring liquor into the stadium.

why would this comment get negged.  it's reasonable and innocuous.   this thread has a weird vibe to it.

Goddammit, the Buckeye gets it.  

I always thought MIchigan was the best fanbase because we were loyal.  We didn't have fair weather fans.  It turns out that wasn't true, we were just always good.  

It would be different if we had next year's schedule this year though. We would have no problem selling out. The schedule this year is literally the worst I can remember in my lifetime. 

"If you can afford it when you're good, you can afford it when you're bad."

Win or lose doesn't seem like the issue to me.  The problem that I see is price.  $295 is absurd, especially if the student is borrowing money to pay for their education.  Tickets need to be cheap enough for students that they don't even think twice about buying them.  That's how the casual fan gets hooked.  But with the continuing bleak job outlook for graduates $295 is enough for a kid to get out the calculator ans start wondering if it's worth it.

Honestly does it even matter anymore? I was just watching ESPNU the other day and they were discussing most overrated home fields. One analyst picked Michigan Stadium. The over 100,000 attendance thing is about as relevant as our national championships from the Yost days.

Your usher situation is a joke. I've sat in both student sections, and at OSU, our ushers are Nazis. They will throw you out if you're not in your seat, if you're standing on the bleachers, if you're crowding people. It doesn't matter. They do their jobs, they aren't fucking around. At Michigan? They gave 0 fucks. It was a circus, seat numbers meant nothing, ushers did nothing. Sorry.

Couple more years of mediocre/bad play and you'll see a lot of these so-called fans scatter like the Basketball ones did.

Only to reappaer when they have national success again.

1962. That's how far back their sellout streak goes.

Michigan's "consecutive games with 100,000" makes me chuckle. That leaves the door open for the place not even being filled to capacity.

Example: Akon. First time since illinois in 2001 that happened.

...factor in the relative cost of tickets at Nebraska over the years before it would be a fair comparison.  For all I know, they aren't overpriced in Lincoln.

Nebraska also had 30, 000 less seats up until this year and now have 20, 000 less.

Dave Brandon haters are just amusing to me. Hell, even I've been angry with some things he's done. But he's done far more positive than negative.

Look at what he's doing to this athletic campus. Look at what he's done for many of the "non-revenue sports".

But that's all erased when we see a Marathon ad around the stadium CONCOURSE.

No, there was one more home game.  The 2014 slate only has 7 games while 2011 had 8.  That and 2011 had ND, Nebraska,  and OSU were at home.  You're paying the same for one less home game and a piss poor slate of games compared to 2011.