September 14th, 2013 at 10:12 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:17 PM ^
There's season ticket holders that don't go to every game! If the guy on the 50 yard line doesn't want to go watch Akron, he can sell his tickets to anybody. The students that really want to go to the games already likely have tickets, so the ones that don't want to go to the game don't have anyone to sell to.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:53 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:26 PM ^
For me, the answer to that was the massive amount of money I was borrowing to pay for my Michigan education. Why would I waste a full Saturday watching Michigan humiliate Akron when I could get a stellar view from my TV and study at the same time? Boring games are a waste of time when you're competing for grades at a school like Michigan.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:40 PM ^
I'd love to see a single piece of data that would back up that claim. Even if you threw out borrowing from family i still bet thats a load of crock.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:06 PM ^
I can assure you that many a people have massive debt coming out of undergrad WolvLadumbass. If anyone now a days comes out of undergrad without debt is a freaking miracle worker or wealthy. I don't need to insult your intelligence any more than I have to say tuition isn't the only cost if attendance, right?
Frankly, I would just start charging $500 "athletic fee" charge on the annual tuition bill, and you can get into any athletic event with an ID without hassle into the designated student seating areas. No more bs tickets, buying, trading, validating, etc.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:30 PM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 12:28 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 12:53 AM ^
46% of Michigan graduates leave with debt, the average debt is a hair under $28,000. Not sure how that plays into this train of comments but someone has to post numbers after LSA goes to bed, right?
http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_state-view2011.php?area=mi
September 14th, 2013 at 10:44 PM ^
Wait, you think that the vast majority of Michigan students are coming out of school debt free? Are you serious?
September 14th, 2013 at 10:44 PM ^
We get it, you took out student loans and you studied a lot.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:31 PM ^
Same reason people were giving away free tickets on here this week. It was supposed to be Akron...a blowout.
I graduated very recently, still have some friends in Ann Arbor, a brother at Michigan and family lives nearby. I will tell you this, my parents sold their tickets for around $20 since they went to a family event out of town, my brother couldn't give his ticket away because who is going to validate a student section ticket with GA now? No one. It's hilarious that people on here don't realize how much time a football Saturday involves, and against Akron no one is going to wait in long lines to get a good seat. I talked to numerous people after the ND game and they all said GA was a huge success, but only for big games and that the student section would be empty against Akron.
Did you go to this game?
September 14th, 2013 at 10:38 PM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^
How much time does it take? Lets see, I woke up to leave at 5:00 AM and returned around 8 PM, when I then had to clean up and put away all of the tailgating gear.
How long does it take a student to walk down State Street? I used to brag that I could go to a noon game and make it back to my house before the 3:30 games started when I was a student...
September 14th, 2013 at 10:11 PM ^
And to be doubly fair NO Michigan students really "showed up" today-those in helmets or those in in the stands.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:12 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:14 PM ^
Oversell the student section until they get enough people to buy the tickets that, given this turnout, will show up to the game on time. They already oversell the student section as it is, which explains why the Notre Dame game was as crowded of a game as I can remember despite event staffs' efforts to ensure each student received their own seat. So count admissions using ticket scans, determine attendance rate for terrible MAC opponent, and oversell the section enough to fill it up.
Of course I didn't go today as a student, so this point is somewhat moot if the section eventually did fill up. Turns out I made the right choice.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:14 PM ^
the holiest day of the year for many and you dont skip the day of atonement for akron! seems many of the michigan players were fasting while the zips feasted
September 15th, 2013 at 1:22 AM ^
"Many" is probably stretching it, as much as I respect the observence of Yom Kippur.
The % that observe Yom Kippur is not a % that you would notice missing in the student section.
September 15th, 2013 at 9:58 AM ^
guessing you arent thinking about the day and the student body demographics
September 14th, 2013 at 11:42 PM ^
So where are all the students? Somebody needs to take an aerial picture of Ann Arbor at kickoff time. My guess is that you'll see a large concentration of "studying" students in yellow shirts at the frats and the party houses on State street at kickoff time.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:15 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:21 PM ^
lol...you will never get Scrooge McDuck Brandon lower prices.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:30 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:31 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:18 PM ^
How can they fill an away stadium like that and our students can't even fill 5K seats at home?
September 14th, 2013 at 10:50 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:21 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:22 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:32 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:23 PM ^
I've been going to games for 20 years and without exception, the weekend of the High Holy Days has always been a problem for attendance. . . In addition to it being Akron. . .
September 14th, 2013 at 10:24 PM ^
Not to make any excuses, but the ushers didn't help today. At Gate 10, they were trying to hand out individual tickets to each person who came in which assigned us a row and a section. I had 5 people in my group and it took atleast 5 minutes for the 70 year old looking man to count out 5 tickets and hand them to us. The lines at gate 10 were almost onto Hoover st. I don't think GA works for games like Akron.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:58 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:25 PM ^
According to everybody last week and the week before, GA is a smashing success, and we students who opposed it and insisted it would not actually fix the problem just have to own up to the fact that Dave B. has whipped us into shape.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:00 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:25 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:38 PM ^
would you rather play akron, or alabama? central michigan or notre dame?
i was thinking watching the highlights of the alabama tamu game that it must have been a lot of fun to be in that game. who cares when you're playing akron - a combined 3-33 in the last three years. just boring. tickets cost too much for this kind of crap.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:54 PM ^
It doesn't even have to be big name opponents week-in week-out, I mean middle/lower class BCS teams would do just fine. Obviously the atmosphere wouldn't be close to UTL I/II, but give us teams like Arizona, Washington, Miss St, off the top of my head. Games you can actually cheer for. I mean, games like this its hard to get excited because you start to get loud, and realize, we're playing effing Akron, why should I be cheering?
September 14th, 2013 at 10:55 PM ^
Those calling for a reduced number of student tickets next year will get their wish. I am a 5-time student ticket holder (who was at Akron on time today for the record) but there is no way I would pay that much for the following if I was still going to be here:
Aug. 30 APPALACHIAN STATE (What good could possibly come of this game?)
Sept. 13 MIAMI (NNTM)
Sept. 20 UTAH
Sept. 27 MINNESOTA
Oct. 11 PENN STATE
Nov. 1 INDIANA
Nov. 22 MARYLAND
What a joke. I'm not familiar with the regular season ticket process for the general public but why would people put up with the prices they pay for a schedule like this?
September 14th, 2013 at 11:12 PM ^
Yes. Thank you for posting this. One thing that came out of this whole conference realignment thing that I'm not sure how many people have noticed is that MSU and Ohio now share the same home/away schedue. Add to that the end of the ND series and you have years like next year where you dont have any marquee home conference games. Now this wouldn't be as bad if we'd schedule a competitive game or two OOC, but no, apparently scheduling app st again is the right way to go.
I'm currently a student, and am honestly contemplating skipping out on season tickets next year and just buying them all day of with this joke of a schedule. Knowing this athletic department, there's about a 0% chance of any price reduction, and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if they went up. Charging 40$ a game for this shit is unacceptable.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:46 PM ^
They did go up.
September 15th, 2013 at 1:42 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 8:43 AM ^
Combine that with living in Chicago, having a wife and two young kids and it just makes the decision to part ways with tickets that have been in my family for 30+ years pretty easy.
Thanks DB and confrence expansion!
September 14th, 2013 at 10:26 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ^
Can someone please explain the logic of blaming this on GA? You don't have to line up if NO ONE IS IN LINE. And if someone is in line, the seats will fill up. "I didn't want to have to show up two hours early, so I just didn't show up at all". Pretty sure you could have gotten to the game right at the kick and gotten a good seat. The way some of you are arguing I'm worried about UofM's admissions standards these days...
It looks emptier than usual because the students who did bother to show packed into the front. Games for the annual mid-season MAC-rifice have always been sparse, but spread out sparse. Let's just stop scheduling crappy teams. Apparently nobody, including the team, wants to show up for them.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:42 PM ^
When students think about their game day experience at the Big House, they take into account the whole process. If the GA process made their game day less enjoyable, they are more likely to have a negative view of games in general and are less motivated to come the following week.
The game day experience which brings fans back includes fun before and after the game. Great memories are not made sitting bored hours before the players even have pads on.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:52 PM ^
Here I'm not a student anymore (so admission standards were actually lower when I got in) and I think I can help make you a more educated snob:
1) GA is a complete mess. They are trying to give everyone individual seats and there WAS a huge line for this game today. I was at the Central game and I noted that a line that used to take 10 minutes took 30. They can't get people in fast enough.
2) Good luck selling an Akron ticket for $20 last year to a non-student. This year, HAHAHAHA. Here is my question to the board, I could have gotten student tickets for $5 all week long, how many of you bought one? I'll bet it's a very very low number, because who is going to pay for the ticket, then pay to validate it, then want to stand in line to get a good seat...
3) Today is a big Jewish holiday (I'll let you do some research to determine what it's called), and read 1 and 2 for why no student went to the game or could sell their ticket.
4) Seniors are pissed off (as I would have been) and I'm sure frats had big parties today. Students will get there early for big games against Notre Dame, the first game of the year is always special IMO, but Akron? AKRON? Nope, not going to wait in line for that game. Just watch, this will continue under GA, the way the lines work, it will be advantageous to show up 20 minutes late.
5) GA makes this looks worse than it would have in the past. in the past, everyone is spread out and the same, very low, amount of people isn't all jammed into the front rows. So to your sharp eyes, it looks more aesthetically pleasing.
I will finish this by saying I was rarely ever late to Michigan games, I hated how empty it was when i went there, but I have never liked the idea of GA and don't think it will work the way you wanted. Here is my biggest problem with all the alums bitching and saying we should make the student sections smaller, quit bitching and make some noise at the games. The "empty" student section is still louder than half the stadium filled with old people, so at least they help the team more. All I care about is our team winning and the students help way more with that!