An Interview w/ John Pollack of "Save the Big House"
Greg Dooley of mvictors.com caught up with John Pollack, the leader of "Save the Big House", the group that fought the university's stadium expansion plan and conducted this interview.
Whatever you think of his cause (for the record, I don't agree with much of what he says), it's an interesting read.
Plus, they are really ugly contraptions for very little utility. (Used like, almost never.)
And, night games in Michigan's gorgeous fall season are mostly meh.
I had no idea that the networks picked up the cost...makes sense
They built pads (and I assume power facilities) for lights on top of the towers, and as Sean says, then they get the networks to pay for the lights for the few night games a season.
I'll give him this, because I thought the exact same thing when I got to the WMU game last year:
The structures definitely make the bowl seem smaller by comparison, which is a negative side effect in my mind. But positives farly outweigh the negs.
This guy so represents many of the negative things about the wonderful school I hold so dear to my heart. Apart from the general douchebaggery such as, "I haven’t bought a [plane] ticket for the UConn game–it’s not as compelling of an opponent as I’m accustomed to." Wow John, sorry we couldnt schedule something that made it special for you. I guess the rededication just wasn't enough to make it a strong sell. Or maybe that in many ways the UConn game may be the make or break contest of the entire Michigan football schedule this year, you must be a true fan...Not to mention the tired bleating about elitism and entitlements. I simply cannot believe he somehow works 'wall street entitlement' and 'fat cats' into an interview about Michigan Stadium. (What a shock, a left wing New Yorker is telling people in Michigan they are doing it wrong, LOL)
Plus, our stadium savior is living in New York and does not even have season tickets, guess he loves the stadium so much he somehow can't pony up the cash to support it. If he lived in California or something I would get it, but I know many people who travel tons of hours from all over the eastern United States to make every home game whether they be against OSU or Delaware State. My favorite part is the general hypocrisy of the whole thing, here is this guy talking about everyone being equal and having the same type of seats, yet at the same time is writing a book about sailing down a river in Portugal in a boat he made out of wine corks. I am sure we would all love to take a year or two off and follow a dream or two no matter how completely and utterly stupid they may be, but most of us probably cannot afford that and so we toil away at our jobs so we can do things like go to Michigan football games to get just a brief respite from everyday life. And you know what? If someone has the financial wherewithal to purchase one of those club seats or a box, cool good for them. Over time their extra spending is going to help keep the prices down for us regular folks who would like to keep going to games for the foreseeable future...
Dear John, please crawl back down in the hole you came from and stay in it.
Thanks,
Aug
A'freaking men
Seriously, this guy is completely off his rockers. I am ashamed I even supported his position from the beginning. It embarrasses me as a current M grad student he even calls himself a wolverine. It obvious this guy is so bitter, he refuses to educate himself on the current status of the renovations and suite sales and the financial benefits that will arise from the new structure. He can take his alternate design and shove up it his ass.
I do not know Pollack's political views, but he is clearly an egalitarian. One of his biggest objections (IIRC from all his past interviews and statements on the project) has always been that the luxury boxes differentiate between the "haves" and the "have nots". You can see that same theme throughout his ramblings in this article about Wall Street and Fat Cats.
Of course, Pollack ignores two obvious things about Michigan Stadium. First, it has never been egalitarian. Anyone who has sat both in high endzone seats and in 40 or 50 yard line seats knows that some seats clearly are much better than others. Second, many fans who could easily afford to upgrade to premium seating have not. I cannot afford a luxury suite, but I have sat in them in many other stadiums. It is almost like not even being at the game. You are not part of the crowd and after the first quarter or so the game often plays second to all sorts of distractions (e.g., food, drinks, conversation). They even have TV's in the suites so you can watch the game without watching the live action. In the end, watching the game from a luxury suite is very similar to watching the game at a bar or even at home on your 52" plasma. Of course, if I wanted to do that, I would simply stay at home and do it for free. Without question, it's a status symbol to say you are in one of the luxury suites, but sitting with the faithful in the bowl is a far better experience if you enjoy attending live Michigan football games.
But wasn't Fielding Yost the one who made sure that the footings were deep enough so that a second deck could be added to Michigan Stadium? Wasn't he the one who wanted a 200,000 seat stadium?
I don't think it's much of a stretch to imagine that Yost would have supported the concept of an expansion, even if it changed the basic layout of the stadium.
...he would have supported it. He wanted Michigan Stadium to be the biggest and best college football stadium in the country.
But, according to the Bentley's write up on the stadium's history, he wasn't quite as ambitious as you recollect. Still, he foresaw the need for significant expansion.
Yost had been following the stadium building boom with a keen eye for the details of construction, promotion and financing. In the spring of 1924, he prepared an ambitious plan for development of Michigan's intercollegiate and intramural athletic and physical education programs. Couched in the middle of his list of eight "immediate and pressing needs" was "increased seating capacity of football stands." Yost had already rejected the possibility of remodeling and completing the concrete stands at Ferry Field since that would yield only a modest increase in seating at a great cost. What Yost had in mind was the construction of a new stadium with a capacity of at least 80,000. The new stadium was the key element in a plan of "Athletics for All." The increased ticket revenue would pay for the stadium and finance the rest of his proposal; including a new gymnasium, 50 tennis courts, an improved intramural athletic field, improvements in women's athletic facilities, and a university golf course.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yost agreed with the Day Report's call for a simple design, but there was some dispute over how big it should be. The report projected a stadium seating 70-75,000, while Yost argued for a much larger facility, foreseeing a day when crowds of 125,000 to 150,000 would need to be accommodated.. After much argument over the university's obligation "to provide accommodation for all who wish to attend the games and are willing to pay a reasonable price of admission," the plan approved by the Regents accepted the Day Report's size recommendations, but incorporated Yost's proposal that the stadium's footings be constructed to permit future expansion to over 100,000 capacity
The remarkable thing about Yost's vision is that at the time, the population of Ann Arbor was only about 30,000, and with no expressways, it wasn't that easy to drive into town from elsewhere. I'm sure plenty of people thought he was nuts.
Not surprised that this guy built a boat out of 160,000 wine corks with the amount of sour grapes he owns.
About to read the article.... but I do want to say this.
I have no clue whether or not it's possible at this point or not, but I wanted Michigan stadium to get up to around 150000 seats. According to past articles, Yost built the stadium strong enough that it could hold 150000 people in the future.
Is it even possible now?
-he seems completely unaware of the plans to widen the seating in the next 2 years
-Why doesn't he find the UConn game "compelling"? He probably doesn't realize that they are a good team
I find the stadium renovations to be symbolic of Michigan football finally moving into the 21st century.
We were always one of the most forward thinking athletic departments in the country, but it seems that in recent times we've allowed our traditions to get in the way of progress.
It seems that a lot of the so called "traditionalists" have hijacked what it means to be a Wolverine.
The old way of thinking in the AD was forward, not backward, and focused on the future, not the past. I find this fact quite funny and am glad that we are returning to our roots.
EDIT: By traditions, I'm not referring to touching the banner, the winged helemet, the number one jersey, or singing the victors, etc..
I am referring to such "traditions" as three yards and a cloud of dust, no night games, no stadium alterations/modifications, saying you know what Bo would have wanted/done, and then trying to mold the program to fit that ill conceived image, etc...
Does anyone else think he's just sore that a champion axle salesman from the Detroit suburbs will be able to purchase a more luxurious perch than the one his family has held for (surely) "generations?" (Apologies to the reasonable Old Blues...)
Great discussion. A couple things:
* Pollack's defense of the "empty" suites comment is partly this: he argues many of the suites were taken by U-M groups/schools (med school, b-school, regents, alumni association, AD dept, President's office, etc.) so that the 75% figure doesn't accurately reflect the true percentage of sold suites (of the publicly available). He mentioned this as we were concluding the interview but I didn't put it in there.
* FWIW, Pollack is a season ticket holder.
* As mentioned in the post I don't feel the historical/Yost argument holds any water based on everything I know about Yost and the original stadium construction (plug --> see HTTV 2010)!
...terrible that U-M schools and departments will have venues to entertain guests. I mean, they should really be going after all of their research dollars and public-private ventures by inviting potential funders/investors to sit with them in row 3 of an end zone section. That's where the real Michigan Stadium experience is had.
Of course Pollack would just say that this proves his point about the corporatization of the university and the stadium. My response: keep tiltiing at windmills, Don Quixote.
Ever since this knob appointed himself as the torch-bearer for preservation of supposed old-time Michigan values, he has portrayed himself as a loyal man of the University. He has spoken at great length about Michigan values that have been allegedly betrayed by the University in a manner that implies he's been personally hurt.
He has waxed eloquent about the egalitarian nature of the experience of sitting in Michigan stadium, where humble working-class fans of this great public university rub shoulders with those of substantially greater economic means, where class distinctions melt away for three hours in the course of rooting for the venerated heroes in maize and blue.
He talks about touching the family brick and sitting in seats that have been in his family for years, and says "I am a Wolverine through and through."
It would only be natural for those reading the interview on MGoVictors to assume without thinking about it that Pollack attended school at Michigan, given his passionate views on the nature of the public university he holds so dear.
Well, John Pollack did indeed graduate in 1988.... from Stanford University.
That's right: the man who purports to speak for the undying, elemental values of the one of the greatest public institutions in the world, the University of Michigan, never spent one hour in a Michigan classroom as a student.
He was such a "Wolverine through and through" that he attended one of the most elite and expensive PRIVATE institutions in the United States.
That's right: the man who purports to speak for the undying, elemental values of the one of the greatest public institutions in the world, the University of Michigan, never spent one hour in a Michigan classroom as a student.
You shouldn't really hold it against Pollack that he didn't get into Michigan.
...I think he's passionate about Michigan because he finally realized that going to Stanford was a huge mistake.
;)
I LOLed at the self importance douchiness of touching the family brick on the way in.
Egads. You're not that important. And you're one of anonymous thousands who has a brick. Its not that exclusive, chief.
And, who cares what some third or fourth generational opffspring of Fielding Yost thinks.I could not care less about "Duke" Yost.
But then, I don't think that means I should expect the Athletic Director to consult with me on decisions...
Second, ... how does it look smaller ... ?
Exactly. It would be like my gf saying that my huge balls somehow make my third largest in the world cock look smaller. If she really loved me and had my best interests at heart, she would just shut up and enjoy both.
i dont really care what they do to the stadium AS LONG AS they keep it the biggest in the country.
my worries about the expansion are that UM will at some point fall behind as the largest stadium because of the renovations.
I'm sorry, but am I the only one who thinks that had the original Fielding Yost (not his grandson) been alive, he would have had luxury boxes in the house at least 20-30 years ago? After all, this man was the first to design a stadium of this size on campus, the first to build a field house (that we have come to know and love as Yost Ice Arena)....It would stand to reason that he would have been among the first to put luxury boxes in the stadium. This man was an innovator. There's no reason to believe that he wouldn't have wanted Michigan to continue to be the first, biggest, best, etc.