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.
Jabrill Peppers hasn't even played here yet. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
And yes, those players are exciting, but Losing trumps Excitement. Which we've done a lot of in the last 5 years.
beating Akron on a last second incomplete pass might be ''exciting'' but it's not what I have in mind. Losing 13-17 Nebraska in one of the worst offensive performances I've ever seen is not exciting. Losing to OSU on a two point conversion I think bought the team some leeway, but it was all gone thanks to the performance in the BWW bowl where players basically said they didn't try. If they don't try why should we?
April 19th, 2014 at 12:30 AM ^
I think you're missing a huge point here. Many students aren't buying the tickets because of absurd pricing, a brutal schedule, and the fact that it's been so damn easy to buy tickets off of other students lately. Like $5 before the game (if that) easy. I love watching Michigan football as well, but I'd rather pay a more reasonable price to go watch us battle, especially against an Akron-type opponent.
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.
As I stated in the other thread on the main page, the best thing is for the student section to be bone dry this year.
If you can afford it when you're good, you can afford it when you're bad. That's how being a fan works. Being from Pittsburgh, I never got the concept of witholding money to show your displeasure. it's not like the FO is trying to be awful. Clearly they know they're not performing to expectations. Pay your money, help the team. Obviously it's different for college because we're not buying players (except us, har har har) but the point stands. If you have the $300 to spend when Michigan is expected to compete for a conference title, you have $300 to spend when they're not, that what being a fan is.
Obviously this doesn't apply to students who cannot afford tickets under any circumstances.
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.
Quite frankly it doesn't matter. OSU's home schedule last year featured Penn State as the marquee game too. Michigan fans should care about watching Michigan. The opponent is irrelevent. You're Michigan fergodsakes! What the hell, this isn't Northwestern?
This really isn't about anyone's fanhood. You can be a fan, watch the game, and cheer for your team without visiting a stadium, and people doing simple math are deciding to do just that. It's not that we don't care, it's just that we can't afford to go to games anymore.
I specifically wrote if you can't afford it, then I'm not talking about you.
The reality is the team sucks, the stadium experience sucks, the schedule sucks, HD TVs are cheap, and yet ticket prices continue to increase.
For those who can afford tickets, it could be that their economic sense is overwhelming their loyalty. I blame the B-school.
Don't come back when the team starts winning again.
Why not? Judging quality of fanhood is a really stupid exercise.
I just negged you so hard.
THIS. THIS. THIS.
Why wouldn't you want to go see Michigan beat the tar out of someone in a large win?
"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.
I completely agree with that. Student tickets should be cheap and accessable to all. Outside of that, I really don't care what they charge the general public. Unfotunately, I'll pay any price. It's not really, "Oh, I can't afford tickets anymore," it's "Oh, whose dick do I have to suck to afford these tickets now?" I'm like a heroin addict. But there's many other people who don't feel the same way, and get priced out. It doesn't mean they're less of fans.
I suppose the quality of the product on the field doesn't help much either.
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.
My friends and I had tickets freshman and sophomore year but stopped because we had more fun watching the game on HD TV than standing for 3 hours while sloppy drunk sorority chicks and totally cool fraternity brahs muscled their way into our space. The atmosphere wasn't to our liking and we didn't want to pay the prices when our experience at our apartment was fun and free.
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.
I'd buy them if they cost $600. I understand if you don't have the money but they cost around the same last year and most people went. Do people really choose to go based on who we are playing and not to see our team. Are we really that fickle?
I'm really embarrassed by our fans. We are becoming Miami (FL). If you bought them last year, you can buy them this year. If yu don't have the money in the first place, it's different. Having a half empty stadium because people are upset isn't going to do anything but cause recruits to decommit and potential recruits to commit elsewhere.
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.
But you carried the torch bro, good for you. When we win a championship it will be yours more than anyone's.
Nebraska hasn't been nationally relevant since the 90s and they sellout every game. It shows how much their fans care about the team.
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.
People are too infatuated with showing DB instead of helping the team.
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.
Right on!
He has done or is going to do more for the non-revenue sports then I think Martin whould have.
April 18th, 2014 at 11:21 PM ^
There is such a thing as going too far. There are certain things in life that should be sacred, Michigan Football is one of them. Don't piss on The Tradition. I would have thought you would "get" that. Perspective.
The tickets were the same prices in 2011 and people bought them. 70 for smaller games and 85 for bigger games. It's not about money. It's about people no longer supporting the team.
April 19th, 2014 at 12:37 AM ^
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.
The argument being that they were preventing non-students from being able to go to the games. So now the students are not buying tickets anymore and they're still being criticized. If what you really wanted was for all the students to exhibit unbrindled devotion towards the football team, even in the face of high prices and a crap product, your expectations were unrealistic. This is just a fact of life.
EDIT: reveal yourself, random downvoter
If students where "super fans" don't you think they whould have re-newed already?
What a stupid e-mail.
April 19th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
I recall the following prices when I was a student back in 1970 / 1971:
1970 - 6 games / $14 x 6.18 inflation + 1 game adj = $100.91 in 2014 dollars
1971 - 7 games / $17 x 5.86 inflation = $99.62 in 2014 dollars
2014 - 7 games / $295
Athletics should be an integral part of the student experience! Not to glorify the athletic department or to provide elaborate facilities for all the non-revenue sports. The students need to be served instead of being abused. The university and board of regents need to readjust the priorities of college athletics.
I can recall attending hockey games when we were a very poor team in 1970 / 1971. Our dormmates would get together go to the game and perform the fight song between periods on our kazoos. I loved the comraderie and spirit.
Personally, I could care less about winning the all-around college athletic trophy. Stanford wins it because their entire athletic department is endowed and competes in several additional sports.
I have been priced out of the affordability of taking my two sons to a football game. I used to be able to justify it because it was better than lining the pockets of the owners of our local professional teams. Not any more!