Honoring fan loyalty vs. maximizing revenue
I have been one of the "lucky ones" to have unrenewable season tickets for the last two years. While it is somewhat obvious this package could have been offered again this year, DB decided on a strategy to maximize revenue ($295 for half a season with one of the three big games with a $25 surcharge instead of $480 for all the games with a $7 surcharge). Hard for me to complain since I knew what I was getting myself into.
I emailed the ticket office to ask if I would be allowed to purchase a 4 game pack before the general public since I had season tickets the last two years and they sent me a link to info on the four game packs. When I replied asking them to if they could answer my question the reponse I got was basically NO you're not a season ticketholder. Thank you for the $2300+ the last two years. Now get in line with the general public. No thank you.
I didn't realize that. That's a little ridiculous. I'm not a fan of the four-game pack in any case. I think two games is about right. When you get to four games, it's cheaper for me to just buy the ones I actually want from students, etc. I'm not down with paying $70 for nonconference games (ND being the obvious exception).
I didn't realize they took the whole "nonrenewable" ticket thing so seriously, though. Basically, you were good enough while the tickets were available, but now get back in your place. I'm not cool with that approach.
In my experience, the ticket office has normally been willing to help.
I trust Brandon more than it seems most here (Brian, especially), but the football uniforms thing put everything else he's done in a different light.
I'm really worried he's going to try to bleed this thing dry.
That's how business is done nowadays: a customer is a set of numbers to be fully utilized and maximized. Brandon got to where he is by being a ruthless maximizer and producer of income at two major companies. It would be foolish to expect him to abandon what has worked for him his entire career in business or something as "foolish" as tradition. I still think that if he doesn't leave for politics soon, the inside of the Big House will have so many ads that it looks like the world's biggest minor-league baseball park.
The era when tradition was important and vendors of any product still cared about their customers is a quaint artifact. Even though many of us "bleed maize and blue," and "live and die with the Wolverines," our loyalty is no longer a positive character trait; it is simply an asset to be utilized to the fullest.
David Brandon may talk about tradition out one side of his mouth, but the "tradition" about which he is most concerned is the tradition of putting our money into his pockets. To Brandon and those of his ilk, anything else is merely cloying sentiment to be mananged and leveraged for maximum profit.
I just hope he leaves before he permanently damages the "brand."
you do realize that money isn't going to brandon but to the other 25 sports that aren't football or basketball right? I mean I get caring more about football I really do but if you are truly a michigan fan and not some bandwagon football bitch you should be proud of the fact that we are adding sports while departments across the country have been slashing theirs. This is because of football revenue. I am sure I am in the minority but I for one would sacrifice a night game or two, and some ads in the big house so that no sports would have to be cut.
Agree 100%
The addition of yet another varsity sport speaks volumes of what we have been doing.
I am not a fan of gouging fans, nor of trying to maximize profits by nickel and diming every last thing that can be charged for. I am definitely a crabby old "get off my lawn" guy, but I find a bunch of things simply ludicrous. A simple example to me is not being able to bring in sealed water bottles, but having to pay exorbitant prices just to be hydrated.
This kind of behavior basically poops on fan loyalty. That's a dangerous road to go down.
Hydration station is the answer. Not to all of the questions but one of them.
When I'm at the game, I generally want to stay in the stands and not miss anything. I realize you can go out to a 'hydration station," but I want water with me in the stands. I suppose the answer is to bring an empty rubber bladder and fill it with water. But, regardless, not allowing sealed plastic water bottles in . . . help me understand why. That's paranoia and overkill from my perspective.
freshmen love to fill water bottles with vodka. they look like they're full, and it's too cumbersome for the ticket people to actually check, so it allows them to bring in alcohol. said freshmen then proceed to puke in the stands during the second quarter or so. this is not pleasant if they colonize the seats near you before doing it.
They should have let you purchase the tickets when season ticket holders were allowed to. That would have been the right thing to do given the fact that you spent your hard earned money on season tickets the last few years.
for buying those tickets from previous years?
I think it came up in a thread in the last couple months where making a donation can seriously grease the wheels in regards to getting season tickets.
oh no they di'int
Should "unrenewable" season ticket packages be "renewable"? Kind of defeats the classification. A surcharge isn't a PSL. They think they can sell more with one big game than getting people to shell out for the whole season in a bad economy. They may be wrong, but it's a reasonable attempt.
Everyone who wanted varsity men's and women's lacrosse, guess what? Now comes the bill. Those two sports just added millions more in expenses that the football cash cow must pay for.
the added revenue was for the new mega-tron-goliath scoreboards that we will all be watching this fall !!! ohhhhhhh cannot wait !
Go Blue !
I think people thought Brandon was just going to write a check for it all. Wasn't coming out of his pocket, and wasn't coming from LAX ticket sales or tv rights. At least with the scoreboard the people who are paying for it (Football fans) get something out of it. Eventually someone is going to realize college can't be the Olympics adding any sport someone wants, because Football can only pay for so much.
Some schools could learn that lesson a little sooner than others. I'm a little ticked off at the increase in ticket prices but I can understand that in the context they haven't gone up in a few years now.
How dare they make you wait in line with the unwashed masses.
The fact I have to smuggle a water bottle into my alma mater's stadium definitely erodes loyalty.
If you bugs you just decrease athletic giving and increase academic giving. The numbers will sort the problem out.
It says that these are nonrenewable tickets and are not season tickets. I had the same thing a couple years ago and at first I thought that I should have received at least a point for the purchase but now that I made the donation and have season tickets I do understand. I looked at those "all in" packs as a taste test.
cant you bring in an empty bottle? I would gladly trade you my seats from the couch with unlimited access to beverages. for yours at the game...
the next complaint will be that the people in front of him won't sit down ! /s
Go Blue !