Desperate times call for desperate emails [student football tix]
An email I received in my inbox this afternoon piqued my interest. Let's look at how many emails I have received as a student urging me to buy student football season tickets, shall we?
Chart?
Chart.
| Year | # of emails |
|---|---|
| 2011 | 1 |
| 2012 | 2 |
| 2013 | 1 |
| 2014 | 5 |
Hmmm. This year's home slate, the $295 price tag, and the stadium experience is proving a hard sell to many students, eh? For those interested, here's the email some students received today (note this is the first time they've ever extended the deadline to my/my friends' knowledge):
Dear [Student],
Thank you for being a Michigan Football SuperFan! According to our scanned data, you attended 5 or more home football games on-time last season (prior to or at kickoff). As a result, you have been granted SuperFan priority for the 2014 season.
Earlier this week (Tuesday, April 15) was the deadline to renew your season tickets for the 2014 season. However, since you have proven your loyalty this past season, we would like to offer a one-time extension of the season ticket renewal deadline in order for you to continue your devotion as a Michigan Football Superfan.
We know you are busy closing out the Spring semester and may have questions regarding the new seating policy for the 2014 season. By extending the renewal deadline to Friday, April 25, we hope you are now able to guarantee your seat as a Michigan Football Student Season Ticket Holder.
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.
Forgive my GIMP skills being a little rusty:
I used to do a lot of photoshop contests (with LSUFreek and others) on the old SoonerFans message board.
Given the wording of this, I have to think that this letter will also run in the ads that come with the Sunday paper, somewhere between the 3 / $6.00 sale on bags of shredded cheese and the 10 / $10 on cans of StarKist tuna. All three offers will be good until 4/25 at participating supermarkets, I would imagine.
Considering the horrible home schedule which the price did not decrease for, the terrible experience general admission created for students and a 7-6 season last year, I'm not shocked it has been more difficult for them to sell tickets.
Sometimes I wonder if the 100,000 fans streak will be in jeopardy this season.
for the 1997 championship season, student tickets were less than $100 for the entire season.
Yearly inlfation rates between 1997 and 2014 have basically been somewhere between 0% to 4%. The ticket prices have increased far beyond inflation rates while the quality of the football product has decreased considerably.
The money from tickets is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what they rake in from the TV contracts. That money, plus large donation is what fuels the facility upgrades. Squeezing every dime you can out of your students (and future fanbase) does nothing to the bottom line but hurt it.
i can't think of tickets to any other event that cost three times more now than they did in 1997. also, one of the reasons every student got tickets in 1997 were that they were cheap. charging $295 probably turns a lot of students off. the same students that are going to be future donors. moreover, tuition, which has skyrocketed, hasn't even gone up at the same rate as student tickets.
Have you seen the price of Pistons tickets lately? Evidently the economics department has not informed the Athletic department about the concept of price elasticity. Prices can go up until the product no longer equals the value/demand. I'm not comparing 1997 to today, just comparing 2013 with the crappy slate of games in 2014.
The point here is college should be different. It is not a for profit thing (like the NFL). It should have different goals.
Like ensuring students of that college can attend games without taking out a loan.
but who's counting.
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=emm_epm0_pte_…
and, given the disproportionate increase in energy costs over the past 16 years, not really a fair analogy.
at Clemson they are free.
Well, this should be an interesting season then. Everybody got mad at the students for coming late to games and demanded a smaller student section. Looks like we're getting it.
You'd think Brandon would get a clue with the terrible home schedule and hellhole of a general admission that they will have trouble selling out student tickets this year.
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.
Don't forget, this is the dude that thought Bread Bowl Pasta was a solid idea. Marketing is clearly not is strong suit.
I renewed this year but my profile matches yours. They seek input but do not seem to listen.
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.
They're so desparate they're emailing me and I'm graduating!
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).
"Social media killed the sports star". Someone should write a song.
Putting MSU and OSU at home in the same year was ridiculous and avoidable. But I guess Dave Brandon should have raised hell to keep it from happening as well.
There is no motivation at all to buy season tickets in even years any more. Even if you added a marquee non-conference opponent, I don't think it would rectify the situation.
Boy, times have changed. When I was buying my season ticket (which I paid for myself) I never cared who was on the schedule that year. I never thought "watching Michigan play a mediocre team won't be worth my time/money." I just knew that I only had 7-8 times all year to watch Michigan live from the Big House and it was a no-brainer that I would go. There's a whole experience of watching Michigan football games, and the opponent only played a small part in that.
I'm not judging anyone, but I just don't get it.
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.
We're worse. Notre Dame went to the title game at least.
Very true. How embarassing is it that we're basically the only blue blood to not make a bcs national title game?
I don't get people that want to return to Lloyd Carr ball. You want to return to underachieving? Really? Time to raise your friggen expectations and maybe you'll get more out of it.
Hey man Lloyd owned MSU. Brady struggles with Iowa. Harbaugh will right the ship in 2015!
Not hard to own MSU when you have two idiots coaching there for most of his tenure. Now that they have a probably top three coach in the B1G at least it's a different story. And it's not enough to own MSU. When you lose 5 of 6 to Tressel you're not good enough. We'll see how this year goes though. Otherwise I'm off the Hoke bandwagon even if he's allowed to return for 2015.
..but a true blue would always prefer a Jan. 1st date in Pasedena to a Jan 8th date in Phoenix, Miami, etc.
As an MGoSnob, missing out on a BCS title game doesn't bother me in the least.
yeah! not competing for national championships when there are moral victories to be had is awesome! whee!
No, but we weren't owning everyone either. Again, this was never part of my thought process either. I didn't think about how good I thought the team would be before I bought my tickets. I wasn't a fan of Michigan when they were good, I was a fan of Michigan, win, lose or draw. No one likes the "fair weather fan" label, but using lack of Big Ten titles as an argument for not going to games is exactly that.
I think we all could deal with a ok product if we weren't treated like shit the rest of the time. The cost of parking, food, seat cusion rentals... I feel like I need to keep checking my wallet to make sure it's still there. In the old days I felt like I was treated with benign neglect. They left me alone and I enjoyed the game. Now I feel like I am sitting in the the timeshare sales pitch.
I enjoy going to games, but I wish they were not trying so hard to fleece me out of every last dollar.
by the way, did you know you can rent out the Big House for your wedding?!
April 18th, 2014 at 10:36 PM ^
I also think you're totally over-reacting. Don't you know that the PSDs are competitive with the rest of the premier programs across the country?!?! And for just $4 you can also get into the women's lacrosse game? Don't forget that there are now 2 (yes 2!) MDenLocations onsite at the Big House, where you can purchase all your favorite MGoGear. AND you can catch the exiciting Slippery Rock game for just $20.
Why do you feel like they're always trying to take your money? They're only offering you some exciting benefits of membership in this exclusive club!
I wasn't a fan of Michigan when they were good, I was a fan of Michigan, win, lose or draw
I think you're forgetting that the majority of students aren't crazy diehards though.
When you add up the bad product, the bad pricing, and the bad way students have been treated, it's not surprising Football games aren't a marquee event anymore
April 18th, 2014 at 11:13 PM ^
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.
So Gardner, Funchess, Jake Ryan and Jabrill Peppers isn't exciting football? I know we haven't been winning Big Ten championships, but let's not act like our games have been boring.
But again, this is just my mindset. I didn't think about who was on the team or hwo good I thought we'd be before buying tickets. I always bought them because I loved watching Michigan football.