PSD boycott: predicting the collapse of the football ticket market

If/when you give up your season tickets don't do so just by failing to turn in the form. Call development/victors club and tell them exactly what your grievances are and why you're giving up your tickets. The bottom line is clearly what matters to the ad, and when they see people are giving up their season tickets, the reason why will hopefully spur positive change.

in the sense that it's the fans only real source of power in displaying their disapproval of unchecked ticket price increases.

i don't necessarily agree with any notion that boycotting season tickets shows a demonstration that you are not satisfied with the AD's performance in hiring coaches or the coaches' performance, or etc.

 i do support the notion that this team is boring to watch, and has a high likelihood of being boring to watch next year, and paying ridiculous prices to watch a boring team play makes as much sense as running power into 8 defenders in the box.

i don't think that is being a fair weather fan, either. i went to every game while in college, and my freshman year coincided with RR's first year. the team sucked, and it sucked kinda, but we weren't boring to watch. denard made every game tolerable--there was something worth watching. this team is literally the most boring team i've ever watched. i still watch them and get depressed and etc. but i don't think you're a fair weather fan if you don't want to spend the money--even if it's not an issue of being outpriced by rising costs--to watch this team next year.

Whether individuals want to bail or not, I think that the sentiment is widespread.

Dave Brandon can, if he wants to, quietly sit back and say, "I'll sell the place out; uhappy season ticket holders can do what they want to..."

But he has to know that his patrons are not fools, and even if he has a big pool of people who want to see games, the numbers tell a bleak story; season tickets (which used to be the best bargain for spectator sports in the entire state of Michigan) are now a losing proposition.

You can clearly, easily, get tickets for any game that you desire, for less money, by not getting involved in season tickets with a PSD.  The season ticket holders are getting a very bad deal compared to the market, and are subsidizing the athletic department in a very, very big way.

I don't know about the rest of you taxpayers, but my State of Michigan tax break for my PSD has gone to zero.

Next season will be the first one in several lifetimes when we have neither Michigan State nor Ohio State on the home slate of games.  No Notre Dame.

This is a massive fail on the part of the Athletic Department.  I haven't decided yet whether I will now give up on Michigan football.  But I like the idea that those who are making that decision (a reasonable one, I think) are speaking out about it.  If I could take a year off entirely, and get my current seats back in 2015, I'd do it.

I'd like to figure out what my tickets cost, and were worth, this year.

My PSD was $2400.  My ticket subscription was something like $1875 (I don't have the renewal form handy; I'll correct it later if I can).  Total = $4275.

I sold my Notre Dame tickets for $2000.  I think I was very lucky to get that much for them.  $4275 - $2000 = $2275.

My own rough estimate for market pricing for the rest of them are as follows.  (Amounts are for four tickets, net; estimated net ticket prices in parentheses.)  I haven't gone back to Stubhub to check on historical recores for actual sales for four seats together in an attractive row in Section One.  These would be "quick sale" prices.

• 8/31 - CMU     $160 ($40 ea.)
• {9/7 - Notre Dame - already noted}
• 9/14 - Akron    $120 ($30 ea.)
• 10/5 - Minnesota     $240 ($60 ea.)
• 10/19 - Indiana     $280 ($70 ea.)
• 11/9 - Nebraska     $200 ($50 ea.)
• 11/30 - Ohio State     $600  ($150 ea.)

That works out to about $1600, recouped in sales, if I had blown off the entire season and sold all of my tickets.  Which means I am losing money, just trying to resell all of them, even with the spectacular sale of the Notre Dame game for $2k.

It is a bad deal you are offering, Mr. Brandon.  I am glad that you are advertising "Dynamic pricing," because it calls to attention what a Big House of cards you are building.  It is not reflective of the marketplace.  Your football season ticket holders -- your bread and butter -- are getting a rotten deal.

sell the ones I don't want to friends or people I know.  You'll never recover the PSD cost.  This isn't Bama or OSU.  My family has had tickets in the stadium for 57 years.  My brother gave his up three years ago and I am giving mine up after this season.  Between the PSD, parking and the high cost of simply going and enjoying the day, it's not worth it.

I don't have to fight to keep my space everytime I sit down, I can go to the fridge during a timeout and not miss a thing, never wait in line for food, drink or the bathroom and I will save over $2,000.  Can't beat it with a stick.

I'll go back when there is a game worth going to.  The OSU game will be a beatdown and I won't put them on StubHub.

 

I'm in still. I save up during the year. I don't know why, I just am.  Buying tickets is my one splurge. 

Period end of discussion. I live out of state and have to fly in. Which game do I want to fly in for?

Unless I move closer I won't be going.

To OP, and others who I've been a jerk to today?

I'm not starting a thread on this...but I am just flat out crabby as shit.

I'm sorry for being a butthead.

Sincerely.  I need a kitten.

Until they pry the tickets out of my cold dead hands. I've sat in section 2 and I didn't enjoy it. The game view is nice but the rawk is a lot louder and the wind blows colder too! Brandon's economic machine can be checked. I don't think it can be broken though. He might actually have to think about reining in expenses on all of these gold plated facilities. The vision for south campus that plays at every game is the one that makes me the sickest, I will admit. Those who stay...will die penniless and starving.... I'll go with the cheap seats until I can't afford them or I move away. I maintained my season tix thru 15 years of living down south, but I think I would abandon them only if I leave and just buy the game I would likely attend for a given season. I've mentioned the RR years were the only ones I lost money on, (my modus operandi was just to try to break even) seems like that would be the norm now.

I am one of those special combat vets. I saw service on three continents (Horn of Africa in the early 90's, Former Yugoslavia in the mid 90's, Afghanistan after 2001). I raise it coincidently this Veterans Day to point out that in my opinion a patriot is not someone that just supports the country but also is willing to take steps to challenge when things are going the wrong way. (I really hope that is not considered political but this is why I really appreciated protesters even when I was flying back from combat.)

A true fan also in my opinion is also one willing to take the steps to help the team. Sending money is not all it takes to be a fan. Letting the management (AD for instance) know that things are wrong and that they need to make adjustments are also a big piece of being a fan. It is insulting to say that someone choosing the most vocal manner possible to express displeasure makes one not a true fan. They are the ones that are truly trying to make things better.

I never thought it would cross my mind, but this year for the first time I've actually thought about not renewing my season tickets.  It isn't much about the money (although it doesn't help paying thousands for the home slate we'll be getting), it is more about the feel of the game day experience now.  The way the AD is running things, it doesn't feel like they care about us.  Maybe they never did, and it's just now becoming more apparent in the "business model, branding" environment.

Memories of attending games with my brother while in school, and attending now with my son, and making new memories tailgating with friends made at football games over the years are a huge part of the reason I keep my season tickets.  The AD has nothing to do with that stuff, so it will be enough to keep me around... but for how long??  Don't know.

My situation obviously isn't unique.  Could be that it is becoming wide spread.  Pretty sure that is a good sign that the AD is doing it wrong.  If we were winning games this conversation wouldn't be happening, you say?  You might be right that the conversation wouldn't be happening out in the open, but I bet long time season ticket holders would still be quietly letting their seats go as the corporate branded world increases it's hold on what used to feel like an experience about the game, not about the money to be made from the game.

Well here's an interesting bit of news I just got from my brother (who i've shared seats with the past 25 years).  The guy who puts on our weekly tailgate, who has held 12 season tickets for over 30 years, who parks in the Blue Lot, who has hockey & basketball season tickets, who contributes over 50k or more per year to the university, who goes to every bowl game and at least two away games every year, who graduated from Michigan undergrad and then Dental school and has never missed a home game that I can remember is seriously considering giviing up his seats at the end of the year too.

Why?  He said it's just not as much fun anymore and he's having a hard time justifying the expense versus the enjoyment he gets from the games.

I have a feeling if the season ends as badly as many of us fear this problem will become much larger than anyone anticipated.

I have to think will take care of itself. But then again, there are a LOT of wealthy Mich fans so...

I feel like my football tickets are paralleling my hockey ticket experience and not sure what to do. When my wife and I graduated in 1997 we had very little extra cash but made having season tickets for hockey and football a big priority. We paid a $1500 donation for the right for four season hockey and football tickets. We got 4 tickets assuming some day we would want to go with our 2 kids and found a way to split them with friends and co-workers and were able to hold onto all 4 of them. Then hockey tickets went from $15 to $35 and the home schedules started to stink with a lot of bad non-conference games in addition to the abundant amount of stinky CCHA opponents. I decided since I only lived a few miles from campus I could just head down to Yost and get tickets to any game I really wanted to go to so I dumped my hockey tickets. I never really regretted the decision and I do get tickets to any game I want at face or less.

I am wondering if I am now in the same place with my football tickets. We have been blessed with the 2 great kids we always wanted and now that they are 6 and 8 they are really starting to enjoy the football games. The problem is that with the PSD, stinky schedules and cost of concessions it is making it hard not to consider giving the tickets up. My in-laws came into town for the CMU and IU games and I was able to get pretty good seats for CMU for $35 each and seats on the 40 yrd line for $10 each for IU. Granted those are not ND or OSU but the schedules for the next few years is full of IU and CMU games and I am a pretty good ticket hustler.

My wife is confident we are going to be really good again soon and tickets will be unaffordable for all four of us to go to games and is thinking of the long term. I am trying to determine if I am being a fair weather fan, a tight wad, or a smart business man. Maybe it is a combination of all three to an extent. I think since we go mainly as a family it is more about the band, crowd, tailgate and experience than the score but I can't fool myself into thinking that I might not be considering this if we were undefeated right now.
I have gone back and forth the last couple weeks and just am not sure what I am going to do. Just wondering if I dumped my football tickets if I would have as little regret as I did with my hockey tickets.

If I had season tickets (which I technically do, my uncle gives me one for helping him with things through the year) but not really, I wouldn't renew until I knew Borges was out the door. With Brandon demanding more and more money in litterally every aspect of gameday (parking, handicap passes, seat donation, ticket prices) and our garbage coaching that has no indidation of getting better, I wouldn't waste my time getting them. It's hard to believe I've gotten to that point, but it's here. And don't say it's because I'm a fair-weather fan, because I don't remember this many people giving up season tickets in the Rich Rod era. It's just the sinking feeling that we are headed in the opposite direction of where we need to be. If we make changes in the offseason, you can bet more people get their tickets back. But if the coaching staff all stays in tact, you can bet you just saw the 250th and final game with 100,000 Michigan fans in Michigan Stadium. 

double post

People lasted through Rich Rod and last Saturday was the FIRST loss at Michigan stadium since 2010!!  Oh well, it's America and everyone can do what they want to.  I need one more in section 24, so yay to more ticket dumping!!