OT - Sparty reduces Rose Bowl tickets for donors to accomodate season ticket holders
Article on MLive indicates donors are having their allotment reduced so all season ticket holders can get Rose Bowl tickets. Sounds nice, but apparently this was a change made mid-stream in contrast to previously established guidelines.
The reaction in the comments section was generally favorable, but there were some VERY unhappy donors.
If someone could post the link it would be appreciated - technical issues.
December 16th, 2013 at 10:26 PM ^
/s... I hope
December 16th, 2013 at 11:54 PM ^
On the other hand, they have (comparatively) crappy facilities with ads all over their stadium. There's probably a happy medium somewhere, but at the same time Brandon's focus on maximizing cash flow does buy some nice things.
December 17th, 2013 at 12:04 PM ^
They also have a Big 10 championship. I think that probably adds something to their "crappy" stadium.
December 17th, 2013 at 7:41 AM ^
December 17th, 2013 at 12:21 PM ^
Brandon would never do this, which is part of why the michigan athletic department has more money than state and we can afford nicer facilities and higer paid coaches. I'm sure there is a happy middle, but if ross gets pissed because he can't get a ticket through michigan for a rose bowl game because he is not a season ticket holder the football team losses a lot of money (obviously ross can afford a ticket on the secondary market, this is just a hypothetical where he feels slighted by the AD and gives all his money to the academic side instead).
December 17th, 2013 at 3:22 PM ^
Excellent point.
December 16th, 2013 at 10:32 PM ^
Thanks man.
December 16th, 2013 at 10:30 PM ^
This seems to make sense. Gotta keep the season ticket holders happy.
December 16th, 2013 at 10:34 PM ^
December 16th, 2013 at 10:36 PM ^
Different circumstances since it's their first Rose Bowl in 26 years, but that's a ballsy move. Dave Brandon would never even think of doing that.
December 16th, 2013 at 10:39 PM ^
I don't give a shit about what Sparty's doing unless it directly relates to Michigan. I swear we've had more threads about them than our own team because people on here are starting to develop the little brother syndrome that they have.
December 16th, 2013 at 10:57 PM ^
December 16th, 2013 at 11:25 PM ^
Unfortunately, Michigan State is making more news than we are these days...
December 16th, 2013 at 10:39 PM ^
Yeahhh I don't mean to be that guy, but Brian talked about this on the front page a few days back.
December 16th, 2013 at 10:39 PM ^
This was already discussed, but still good by MSU for finding a way to reward the fans. That said, they usually have trouble filling that stadium, so it's not like these fans have been diehards over the years.
December 16th, 2013 at 10:47 PM ^
December 17th, 2013 at 12:24 PM ^
That's just about what the Alumni Association packages are like every time Michigan goes to Pasadena. Bowl trips can be crazy expensive.
December 16th, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^
Word on the street is that Dantonio had fettuccine alfredo for dinner tonight. Someone start a thread!
December 17th, 2013 at 7:58 AM ^
The noodles were too maize looking and he wanted more of a spinach color.
December 16th, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^
I think they were making the right choice but they should have made that decision earlier. Guess even their planning department didn't think they had a chance to win the game. At least with the new division alignment they probably wont have to worry about it for another 26 years.
December 16th, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^
When Roscius was an actor in Rome...
December 16th, 2013 at 11:00 PM ^
All the Narduzzi threads just make us look desperate. Just make a thread if and when he goes somewhere. We shouldn't even care so much and should worry more about what our offense' doing than worry about their defense.
December 16th, 2013 at 11:08 PM ^
MSU is a team we will be playing every year for the foreseeable future. The means that our offense will play their defense once a year. Given that this is the case, why is it unreasonable to discuss their defense?
December 17th, 2013 at 7:59 AM ^
obsessing is quite another.
December 16th, 2013 at 11:05 PM ^
December 16th, 2013 at 11:28 PM ^
It's not unreasonable but the Narduzzi threads are excessive and Michigan shouldn't be overly concerned about what their coaches are doing. It would be awesome if he left, but we're going to go up against great coaches if we want to get to the levels we want to be in the college football playoff. We need to make ourselves elite on both sides of the ball so whoever coaches MSU or Ohio is irrelevant.
December 16th, 2013 at 11:45 PM ^
I agree. Having knowledge about the other team is a bad thing.
December 16th, 2013 at 11:59 PM ^
I hate them.
December 17th, 2013 at 12:06 AM ^
so hard to not be eliteist while doing eliteist type things. Its kind of funny to watch them scramble around themselves sometimes just so they can say they aren't like Michigan.
December 17th, 2013 at 7:11 AM ^
It did strike me as interesting how the assistant AD went out of his way to say they were doing this because they weren't "eliteist".
December 17th, 2013 at 12:15 AM ^
they probably booked flights and hotel rooms in anticipation of travling. Tickets were an after thought if you give $5 K or more to a school.
I remember entertaining going to '98 RB after we beat Ohio. My travel agent (yes, we had those way back then) told me the key was FLIGHTS, not hotels, not tickets.
Brandon clearly would have sacrificed STUDENTS and cut back their allotment. If the NSA can check out who you texted or called, David can certainly figure out who played beer pong into the 2nd quarter of the Akron game and showed up late.
December 17th, 2013 at 12:30 AM ^
December 17th, 2013 at 7:13 AM ^
These donors are season ticket holders. But the extra $ was supposed to get them preference for Rose Bowl tickets and many other perks I'm sure.
December 17th, 2013 at 7:02 AM ^
The cynical me says the donors should simply buy tickets on the open market and deduct the difference in price from future donations.
December 17th, 2013 at 7:47 AM ^
December 17th, 2013 at 8:32 AM ^
From what I gather, the protocall was established and then changed, which makes it all the more disturbing. I'm not at an income level where I can give substantial amounts to a university or anything else, but I can certainly understand why these people are pixxed. The coin they've been laying out has actually facilitated the program getting where it is.
December 17th, 2013 at 9:14 AM ^
December 17th, 2013 at 11:23 AM ^
Technically, nothing was promised to the big time donors. The bigger donation gets you a better seat at Spartan Stadium. The bigger donors are also allowed to request more seats than the smaller donors (8 vs 6 vs 4 vs 2) but it said clearly on the page that any requested tickets are not guaranteed
December 17th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^
December 17th, 2013 at 1:21 PM ^
They're so excited - it's adorable.