Unreal. The only empty areas were towards the top and thats because everyone tried to get a few rows closer. That game was more crowded than any football game I was at this year (except maybe MSU). If this is the real count then every stadium in the SEC only holds 40,000.
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Guinness certifies much lower Big Chill attendance
December 14th, 2010 at 3:47 PM
#52
Unreal. The only empty areas
December 14th, 2010 at 3:53 PM
#53
Jeff Arnold has a new story
Jeff Arnold has a new story up at annarbor.com confirming that the 85,451 figure is only a "base number" and that the final figure won't be available "for some time":
The base number [Guinness] is working with is 85,451, which is how many tickets were scanned by the third period of the Michigan hockey team's 5-0 victory over Michigan State.
Guinness uses a different system of calculating attendance than the NCAA. Guinness adjudicator Mike Janela said Saturday that Guinness relies on the number of tickets scanned on the day of event rather than tickets sold.
...
Guinness officials also have a list of non-ticket holders who count toward the record. Media members, marching band musicians and other people attending the event are not added into the finally tally.
Michigan relies on the number of tickets sold for an event and then includes media members, stadium workers and other people present for a game to reach an attendance mark. The announced crowd of 113,411 is considered the largest crowd to witness an event at Michigan Stadium, which also holds the NCAA record for attendance at a sporting event.
The official said Guinness will continue to work with Michigan officials in establishing a final number, but that it would not become available for some time.
December 14th, 2010 at 5:37 PM
#54
85,000...?
December 14th, 2010 at 5:41 PM
#55
It does look pretty full in
It does look pretty full in those photos - but people are also wearing winter coats, which take up a little more space. People in the lower photo don't seem as shoehorned in as they are for a football game.
December 15th, 2010 at 6:15 AM
#56
>>winter coats, which take up
>>winter coats, which take up a little more space
Come on.
December 14th, 2010 at 6:38 PM
#57
Still biggest.
Maybe it serves as motivation to do better in four years and break our own record or go for six digits.
December 14th, 2010 at 11:05 PM
#58
who cares what the exact
who cares what the exact number is as long as we set the record? jebus
December 15th, 2010 at 9:50 AM
#59
Free Press has an updated
Free Press has an updated article suggesting another explanation for at least part of the discrepancy: Not everyone with a ticket had their ticket scanned--some had their tickets torn. The latter wouldn't have been included in the preliminary Guinness count, which was scanned tickets only. Don't know how many of those there might be, but it appears they might be included in Guinness's final count:
"We will continue to work with Guinness to identify the exact number of people that went through the scanners and those who had their tickets torn," said Matt Trevor, assistant media relations director for U-M hockey. "We knew we would end up with two different numbers because of different standards used."
Trevor said Guinness doesn't count those who were working the game, including media, staff and concession workers. Michigan does include those people in its attendance figure.
December 15th, 2010 at 4:13 PM
#60
Detroit News article from
Detroit News article from last night has some different quotes from Guinness record manager Mike Janela with a couple new points: (1) could be a couple more weeks before Guinness releases its final tally; (2) the preliminary total of 85,451 did not even include all scanned tickets:
"We are still awaiting further information, such as verified lists of other eligible, non-ticketed spectators such as the marching bands and special guests of the university," Janela said. "As such, we do not have a final official number yet and, unfortunately, may not for a couple more weeks as we await everything."
...
"In order to make an announcement during the game, we had to go at the time with the number which was most recent before the certificate presentation," Janela said. "At the time, this was 85,451, and was more than enough to at least certify that the previous record had already been broken by that point. However, the ticket scans were still coming in all throughout the third period and after the game."
So between additional scanned tickets, tickets that were torn instead of scanned, and "non-ticketed spectators" the final, official tally has the potential to be much higher.
December 15th, 2010 at 6:16 AM
#61
109,901
The official stadium capacity is 109,901 - so anytime the attendance is over that you know they count staff and so on.
As several have pointed out the 85k number was the number of scanned tickets at the 2nd period. The university regularly counts stadium staff, the band, etc. in the attendance. Most venues include staff and so on in attendance numbers.
December 15th, 2010 at 1:18 PM
#62
>100k for sure
The story I heard is that they started tearing tix instead of scanning to speed things up because the late arriving crowd caused backups at the turnstiles. That sounds like a plausible explanation and if they saved the stubs, we should be able to get an accurate count. Come to think of it, can't they just count the number of turns on the turnstiles?
