PSD boycott: predicting the collapse of the football ticket market
As if the game wasn't a bitter enough pill to swallow, many of us came home to horribly-timed envelope requesting our mandatory Preferred Seat "Donation" to maintain season tickets for next year. Having sold my extra Nebraska ticket for $20 ($65 for season ticket holders, $95 face, "dynamic" price $110), I started thinking...
1. What exactly happens if I don't pay my PSD? Do I lose the right to any tickets at all? Or do I just get worse tickets? Or placed at the back of the "line?" This led to the next thought...
2. What if a significant number of fans refuse to pay their PSD for next year?
Before two weeks ago, I think the expected response would be that the games will always sell out, so they would just boot you and find someone else willing to pay. But let's examine the situation...
1. Plenty of people are pissed by the PSD increase last year.
2. By all accounts, everyone on the "list" last year was able to get season tickets.
3. The coaching/team is dreadful.
4. The 2014 home schedule is stinky. (Which raises the question, which two games are going to be the two $95 premium games? Penn State and Indiana? Maryland?)
5. Given #3 and #4, it's almost guaranteed that you will pay less for a full season of tickets in the secondary market then you will if you shell out your PSD and season ticket cost.
6. Given #5, those season ticket holders that buy extra seats to sell for a profit are likely to let those extra seats go.
Given this "perfect storm," it seems likely that demand for tickets will be at an all time low, and if there was ever a time to have a PSD revolt, it is now. Can the athletic department afford to penalize everyone who refuses to pay the PSD?
Discuss.
[EDIT: I suppose if there's a bright side, it's that this may be the year to improve your seat tremendously]
[EDIT II: It's a sad state of our fandom and blog when a post intended to spur discussion has degenerated into a pissing match amongst fellow Michigan fans (and respected members of the board) about who the "real" fans are... ]
November 12th, 2013 at 2:32 PM ^
November 12th, 2013 at 1:56 PM ^
I'm not going to discount those with serious misgivings, but the timing of it is kind of funny that "we lost for the first time that I had to witness in person in THREE YEARS!!!! That's my breaking point." It's not, really, but suriving the losses of 2007-2010 and breaking now seems...interesting.
November 11th, 2013 at 9:13 PM ^
I have no idea whats standard pricing for scalping tickets, but my buddies and I waited until 2 minutes after kick-off and were able to get 4 seats together for $70 total. Only ended up missing the first 3 minutes of the game and I can't even say I cared at that price. Will probably try to do the same for the Ohio game as well.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:08 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 11:32 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 9:37 PM ^
I felt rogered by the "dynamic pricing" thing and I will not enter that market again. The idea for the athletic department was "Why shouldn't we get a cut of the action if tickets are hot?" which was also a sneaky way around "We couldn't pry preferred seat $$ out of people anymore, so let's see if we can't make that money and then some on individual games." It ended up being "let's make sure the individual fan overpays for tickets when they buy them pre-season."
The athletic department has sold me its last football ticket. I'll still go to games, but I will scalp, beg, borrow, stubhub, or perform sex acts in alleys for tickets. They lost me as a customer.
November 12th, 2013 at 8:23 AM ^
As stated above, thousands of tickets were available...still are, for several games. Don't let anyone fool you into believing demand is so high that you can't find a ticket. Just keep looking...scalpers were standing at Stadium and Main as we walked in, charging VERY little.
November 11th, 2013 at 9:44 PM ^
Do what you think is best, it does not mean anything other than your personal choice as to what works best and makes the most sense for you individually. You get to vote with your money, whether buying season tickets or buying on Stub Hub or staying home and watching on television or listening on the radio or ignoring the whole schebang. Support the team how you wish, because that is the beauty of America, it is up to you. Let us not tell others how they should run their life, nor how they should spend their money. If you want to protest the product, and not buy tickets, that is your freedom.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:20 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 11:19 PM ^
It's a slippery slope...
November 12th, 2013 at 11:15 AM ^
November 12th, 2013 at 11:35 AM ^
How do you figure that? This year there was literally no season ticket waiting list. You can bet there won't be one next year either with the shit schedule. We're gonna see empty seats galore next year if Brandon doesn't do some major price cutting.
November 12th, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^
The waiting list is a scam; the university gets you to make a "donation" to get your name on the waiting list. The next thing you know, you have an offer from the university to by football season tickets. Season ticket sales are down overall and will continue to fizzle.
Soon the College Football bubble will burst... It is only a matter of time!
November 12th, 2013 at 1:58 PM ^
Was it ALWAYS a complete fabrication? They haven't really increased the seats THAT much to get rid of them all. Do the "donation" weed them out? If so, while it made them a few bucks, didn't the impression of demand do more for them, and would do even more now with dynamic pricing? Or have enough people just given up that people who were waiting are all now inside the stadium?
November 13th, 2013 at 11:28 PM ^
I finally got my very own season tickets this year after years of buying them off of other people. I donated more than the $500 for the "Interest List" to ensure I got seats and although I planned to have 2 seats, they offered 4 so I took them. I've gone to every game and sold almost every seat except for 2 tickets so far. But looking at next year's exciting home schedule and thinking about how I struggled to always find 3 others to go to a game this season, I was leaning on giving up 2 of the seats. I would like to keep 4 tickets but then I received my PSD renewal in the mail...
The problem I have is that my seats are in Section 6 which it shows the section is split (half being $75/seat PSD and half $200/seat PSD). My seats are in the middle of the row/section and when I opened my PSD renewal I was greated with a nice $800 bill ($200/seat). The whole PSD thing doesn't really bother me but the fact that the guy sitting directly next to me who also has season tickets may only get charged $75/seat while I get charged $200/seat for the same seats doesn't make sense. Why would you not split the $$$ designations by whole sections? There is a $500 swing by me getting the $200 PSD as opposed to the $75. I need to talk to the athletic department. Worst case scenario: I drop down to 2 seats. Best case: I negotiate my way into other seats with a $75 PSD. I wouldn't even be opposed to a higher PSD if I could be closer to the 50yd line.
Reading all the comments in this thread though has made me consider dropping them all together. The secondary market has been reasonably priced and with next year's home schedule so unappealing, maybe I should drop them and get them back in 2015. Decisions, Decisions...
November 14th, 2013 at 10:08 AM ^
Interesting thought...drop the tickets next year and just tailgate for the home games (we have a dish) if I don't feel like scalping. Then I could actually go to the (away) games that I'd want to see...it's @nd, @msu, @nw, @osu. All driveable places and wouldn't necessarily require an overnight stay.
*EDIT - I forgot about @rutgers...not interested in that one! sorry B1G (I don't want to see them or Maryland)
November 15th, 2013 at 11:24 AM ^
What's that? All I can hear in seven nations army . . .
December 27th, 2014 at 2:56 PM ^
I'm a Canadian Michigan Football fan who, for years lived in Chatham, Ontario, an hour east of Detroit. I now live considerably further away in Calgary, Alberta, but I'm still True Blue. Unfortunately it is becoming very difficult for me to justify keeping my pair of end-zone tickets. I have no choice but to sell-off most and sometimes all of my tickets each year as I can really only get back to the Chatham area once each season. I’ve been able to sell my unused tickets to friends or to fans via eBay and more recently Stub Hub. But PSD’s have made it increasing difficult to recover my costs.
What has really changed the marketplace is the rise of Stub Hub. Their instant ticket downloads have helped them capture most of the market. It is actually a great system. Since they have so much supply and with their dynamic ticket pricing, it has put a lot of pressure on sellers. Let me be clear, I am not advocating for Stub Hub. I am just reporting my experiences using them.
This past year, it cost me almost $400 to not attend a single game (sucks to be me!). The market would only pay me what it would pay me. My point is that all-in ticket costs including PSD’s are very high compared to what you can pay for the games you really want to see via Stub Hub. The U of M is not likely to reduce the cost of PSD’s (at least not likely for the end zone where they are already the lowest cost). So unless the U of M can put a much, much, better product on the field and continue to grow their fan base, they are going to price themselves completely out of the market.
I’ll always be a fan of Michigan Football. There’s nothing like The Big House on Football Saturdays. But going forward I don’t think I can justify keeping my season tickets.
Go Blue!