Student Section going GA
http://www.mgoblue.com/tickets/students-fbl.html
I am sure this makes many of you happy but as a kid whose tickets were going to have excellent senior standing next year and who always makes it before kickoff, I am really angry.
GA is just chaos
(Edit: As a poster pointed out below, tickets are also way more expensive)
(Second Edit: To those thinking you will get good seats just for showing up before kick, you are wrong. Now that there is a reason to go early, we will have our own mini-Paternoville. For good games, you will have to be there 2 hours early. I love Michigan football, but as a grad student who also remembers pregames as the best part of being an undergrad, I really think this could kill some of the Saturday fun.)
I never once complained it was hard to show up on time. It's not, and I do it. What I'm complaining about is your assertion that I should have somehow figured out a way to rally the entire student body and force everyone to show up to games on time.
My point is that, as someone who has shown up an hour early to every single football game over the past few years without fail, (and who has show up at least 10 minutes early to 90% of all home basketball games the past 3 years without fail), it seems a little bit shitty for me to not get sideline seats for the Ohio game unless I camp outside on a cold night in November two days before my senior thesis is due.
As for the issue with the Greeks... first off, I'm not sure what you mean by "man up" in this context. So your saying that I, as a non-member of greek life... should have... gone door to door to frats and sororities and pleaded with them to show up on time? Maybe you think I could have written a letter to the interfraternity council?... Or maybe you're suggesting that, when waiting in line for the Ohio bball game, I should have socked all those frat guys in the mouth who cut past me and everyone else... none of those sounds like very effectrive options if you ask me.
And here's how it works. Right now, it's "cool" to keep pre-gaming late and show up to games midway through the first quarter - presumably because there don't see any detriment to doing so. However, next year, this will change. It will suddently become "cool" for half of the greek community to wait in line 12 hours early for games, and then facilitate the other half cutting in to the front of the line right before the gates open. How do I know this? Prior to this year, no greeks ever went to basketball games. Apparently it wasn't "cool." Imagine my surprise when I showed up to Crisler at 4:20pm on the day of the Ohio game (9:00pm) and saw about ~300 "traditional" student superfans up front (e.g. Maize Rage President & friends) along with 1200 drunk greeks, many of whom hadn't attended one single other game that year up to that point.
I'm a bit insulted by your ostentatious attidude and aptitude to lump me in with a class of people who I share nothing in coming with. I actually don't even pre-game. I never have to ask "how do I find time for beer bong?," since quite literally, I don't. I'm not saying "a real job and real responsibilities" aren't hard, but I do think that there are plenty of students here at Michigan who choose not to live that "easy" college life, and instead spend their time getting good grades and planning their future careers, and who would prefer to not have to camp out in order to get a sideline seat for The Game.
Lastly, correct me if I'm wrong, but are you saying that if the students gave thousand+ dollar donations to the AD it'd be okay if that they don't show up to games on time?
"They should base their whole ticket policy on how I act, and not how the other thousands of students act. Because, that's like not fair to me, man!"
Students collectlively should have acted better. They didn't. They lose out, and they drag down those who were doing things right with them. That's the way of the world. I'm not going to blow up Michigan Stadium, but I can't bring a bag into the Stadium. I doubt anyone in there is. But we get punished for the bad apples. That's life.
And if you have such a problem with line cutting, yes, you should do something about it. Sitting and doing nothing just perpetuates the problem. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil.... If you don't feel like you can do something about it, go to the authorities. If they won't do anything, bring it up to people higher up. Either try and do something about it, or stop whining about it.
And you're all over the place in this thread on what you do before games, but if you don't want to wait in line for hours beforehand, that's fine. Don't. You'll still get in. Probably still have a great seat. At a very reasonable price. If you're all about the game you already know sitting up front doesn't make for a better viewing experience...it only makes it more likely you get on tv. You don't care about that. Be the smart one, Show up on time, grab a seat in rows 30-50, and see the game. Because I don't see tens of thousands of people camping out for games when they don't do it at schools that place a lot more emphasis on football than Michigan. Still waiting for the examples of all the other schools where that happens.
Sorry Ohio State sucked, but it's a learning experience for the athletic department too. They haven't had big interest in basketball, at least not in any era that had a "rage" section. The better question seems to be why they were letting all these people drink on U property.
And frankly, yes, I'm saying when you're paying to support the whole program, no one cares what time you show up. You can bet there aren't seat checks in the luxury boxes. They're customers. Students to the Athletic department are subisdized by the rest and taking up a valuable comodity way below market value. If they're not going to show up, they're going to have that taken away, and only have themselves to blame. This is actually the first, kind step, in trying to get people there on time. If they continue not to show, watch and see how every student who wants tickets won't be able to get them. They'll create demand. That's how it used to be.
So no, the Athletic Department isn't basing its actions on how Bo_Lives acts, or considers what he desires, at all. They have to do what's best for them, the Stadium, the Team, and what will influence the other thousands of student fans who aren't doing what they're supposed to, even if there is collateral damage. A life lesson for all students, who have so far ignored warnings, pleas from student-athletes, and incentives to do the right thing. Sorry the majority screwed it up for the few.
April 23rd, 2013 at 10:11 PM ^
They could have solved this in other ways, as Brian pointed out on the front page. But instead they chose to punish everyone for the actions of a few dumb greeks who pre-game a little bit too long. You seem to be severely lacking in the empathy department. Tell me, truly, how you would feel if when you were a student you had to line up for 6 hours before the Ohio game and couldn't tailgate with your friends & family.
And FYI, there are no other schools that place a bigger emphasis on football than Michigan that have pure general seating. Penn State does not have pure general seating. Neither does Ohio or Alabama.
Completely agree. My last year of graduate school I had 118 credits and only got row 28 of section 28. I regularly showed up 2 hours before the game right when the gates opened. I still had time to pregame, even for the noon starts. I have little sympathy for those crying there is little time to start pregamming.
This past season I was a first year season ticket holder with row 18 seats in section 40. I still got to my seats right as the gates openned. The most frustrating thing this season beyond the offense, was looking back at the student section and seeing a large majority of the student section empty for the SENIOR GAME. Many of you claim you love Denard as a Michigan student athlete, but did not even show up for the pregame senior game ceremony.
I agree that seniority should be the practice for seats. However, I guess like communism, it doesn't work in practice these days.
I find the Alabama method of several different student section zones intriguing. Hopefully the AD will listen to both student opinions and the attendance data that arises from this season.
Anyone bitching has good standing wah wah wah
April 23rd, 2013 at 12:44 AM ^
Wisconsin is pathetic. They are worse than Michigan, worse than MSU for apathetic late-arrivals.
Part of the problem in Madison are their 11 am-start games. Which Alvarez and Bielema loved, because their record in those 11 am home games was something like 18-1.
But the late student arrivals was such a problem at Camp Randall, they were doing things like public service announcements, etc. GA at Camp Randall may have been one attmept at a solution to the problem of late arrival students.
So one of the Badgers' trophy (Paul Bunyan's Axe, not to be confused with the Michigan-MSU Paul Bunyan Trophy) Rivalry with a capital R games, was with Minnesota. Note the, uh, general admission student seating:
I dont know what ur talkin bout if u get there early ull be fine. Im a graduate student n i love this!!
I should be excited about this because me and my friends were some of the few students who showed up well before kickoff, but I actually don't care.
Freshman year I was in about row 90 for the Ohio State game and I actually liked those seats better than the time I sat in row 20.
Hopefully this gets more people to come on time. It was pretty lame how empty it was right before kickoff.
Student here. Here's my anecdote: For the OSU basketball game this year, they had a warming tent set up outside of the gates for students that wanted to wait in line all day. The tent had fences in place so students would weave their way through the line inside the tent. We arrived at about 2, and were towards the back of the tent. We waited roughly 5 hours for them to let us in. There were no cops inside the tent, just some random DJ at the front of the tent. The DJ announced "only ten more minutes!" or something like that and everyone cheered. Then he announced, "alright gates are open." Then, everyone started pushing and shoving for 15 seconds, finally some idiots shoved down a few of the fences and people all charged for the front of the tent. It was like we were in a stampede at Wal-Mart on Black Friday. I was honestly scared of getting trampled. Some people were knocked down and stepped on. It was hell and there was no order. Then a cop came out and yelled at everyone. Meanwhile students were getting into fights. Eventually things got a little bit organize and we got let in. We were some of the last people to get into the maize rage, and people way behind us that got into the maize rage by shoving through in the stampede. So they better have plenty of precautions ready. That’s all I'm going to say.
Yes, my foot got caught in one of the barriers laying on the ground towards the front and I got up just in time to not get stepped on.
That honostly, sucks. But I don't think it is very relatable to Michigan Stadium where there is much, much more space and many, many more amazing seats.
Plus, I'm sure the University wouldn't let that happen again in basketball or football. Lessons learned and whatnot.
They eliminated the tent for the IU game and started putting a cop out there as a bouncer for the line, but it was still a shitshow. The steps of Michigan Stadium were trashed by all of the drunks out there. Was embarrassing to see.
April 22nd, 2013 at 10:21 PM ^
Outside the stadium won't be particularly dangerous, though there will be some risk of a crush if people push up against the places where tickets are scanned. The tunnels and stairs down may be another story. They're going to have to be very careful to avoid dangerous situations at those chokepoints.
As a current student, I know my friends in East Lansing wait in line for hours and have no game day tradition due to their general admission policy. Walking down a packed Hoover street is supposed to be fun, not stressful. Also, $300 is pretty steep on a college budget also paying tuition (thank you DB).
a large proportion of the sudent body...
what a cluster-muck of seating that will be, especially if they have a night game or a 3:30 p.m. game against ohio. drunkend brawls. brilliant!
April 22nd, 2013 at 10:52 PM ^
Yeah. I'm not exactly a teetotaler, but I don't understand the mentality of needing to be totally plastered out of your mind before going to the game. Don't you want to be able to remember the game afterwards?
April 22nd, 2013 at 10:30 PM ^
I think GA would have been nice to sit with friends without having to play ridiculous games with your tickets to "sneak" people into your section, which happened all the time anyway.
April 22nd, 2013 at 11:14 PM ^
Best memory of my one time in sparties student section which is GA is that people would piss on stands during games becasue they were afraid to leave and one guy was drunk out of his mind and started pissing on some girls leg and the student section started chanting shit at him.
Think this sums up sparty well though
with sobriety, you miss my point. it's just the observation of reality amongst the student body that i've seen in my (wincing) decades since graduation.
oh, that hurt to say decades.
I deserve to get hammered with my friends and walk down past the freshman, sophmores, and juniors. I went to everygame never missing kickoff and made the trip to notre dame and Ohio. This is bull shit
Seniority is a real thing in this world. It exists in school, in the workplace, everywhere. People who've put in years of time deserve some kind of reward for it.
I love this idea, the only thing I worry about is students cramming into the lower areas so that even when all the students are there, there will be several empty rows at the top. Although this happens a lot as it is now anyway, so hopefully won't matter too much.
I'll have to wait and see how long the lines are for the ND game before I pass judgment. This will be my last year, so I would have had pretty decent seats I'd have to imagine. As long as I don't have to sit in the endzone I guess I'll survive.
As someone who had tickets in row B my senior year, I'll just say I'm glad this wasn't the policy when I was a student. I showed up before kickoff every (or almost every) game, but not early enough that I would've gotten those seats if it were GA.
That being said, I think this will help with the empty student section at kickoff issue, so it's hard to argue against it. Will be intersting to see how they enforce this to somewhat prevent overcrowding of close rows
Well when they moved hockey to GA last year, it was hinted to me that football was headed that way too. If only more people had complained with me about hockey going GA this would've been avoided. Luckily I am finally graduating, and won't be around to witness this clusterf*** next year. Good luck students, sorry to you upperclassmen.
admittance to Spartan Stadium is an absolute C.F. Granted I realize they have an upperdeck in the equation and have a more limited seating arangement. Its just awful to even have to walk around.
Con: People like me (when I was in school) who just want to be able to tailgate before the game, show up 15-30 minutes early and go to their row 20ish seats will not be able to do that anymore. Especially for a MSU or Ohio game, we'll have a Paternoville as the OP pointed out which is unfortunate
Pros: Those damned drunks who come in midway through the 2nd quarter expecting you to find room for them and their 5 drunk friends in row 10 will be forever relegated to row 80 and above
Con: Possibility that the top of the bowl will look even more vacant during iffy games. I feel like there will be much more density at the bottom of the student section as everyone will trickle down since no one has assigned rows anymore. Top 10 rows might be empty even for big games
but if thats the case, they can limit the student section to rows 1-80 or something, and sell off the rest of the tickets. MOAR PEOPLE AT GAMES!
I think the implication is that if you don't use your tickets then, via some system yet to be put in place, you lose the right to purchase them. Alabama has such a system.
April 22nd, 2013 at 10:07 PM ^
I doubt it. I would think that if anything, the average Alabama student probably cares even more about football than the average Michigan student, so if they're not rioting over it, we probably won't either.
April 22nd, 2013 at 10:51 PM ^
yah, the idea is to take away tickets from people who CHRONICALLY dont use their seats. that way, you can allow people who actually want to go to games to go to games.
April 23rd, 2013 at 12:13 PM ^
Someone posted earlier in the thread that Alabama's system give you one point for every time you're not in the stadium by the time of kickoff. I'm not sure if there's an extra penalty for never showing up or not. Anyway, once you get to three points you can only buy a partial season ticket package the following year.
This sounds eminently reasonble to me, and would allow for a couple of missed games due to travel, illness, whatever. If you're missing more than two games, you shouldn't have bought season tickets in the first place.
One modification - which would certainly ticklet the cockles of Brandon's MOAR PROFIT heart - would be to impose a monetary penalty for folks that amass three strikes - you can buy full season tickets the following year, but it's going to cost you an extra $100 or something.
I expect there to be some empty seats, but I can't imagine it being worse than it was the past two years. The athletic department checked the turnstile count and found that every home game in 2012 (even MSU) had thousands of unused student tickets, and every game except MSU had a half-empty (or worse) student section at kickoff. We'll probably frequently have lots of empty seats in the upper rows, but at least the whole section won't be sparse like it frequently has been at kickoff.
I think the big thing is that more people will show up before kickoff than they did the last couple of years. The other stuff will work itself out.
I mentioned this above. Historically, the ushers were pretty lax about enforcing seat rights in the student section, so it was a sort of de facto GA situation. This was good from an attendance standpoint. That fear of not getting to your seat spurred people to get to the games on time. This did not seem to produce lots of no-shows. It seemed to cause the students to be more motivated to show up.
The idea that a student is clearly entitled to the seat his ticket says is a fairly recent development. It seems to have bred complacency. Why not party another 30 minutes if you know your seat will still be waiting for you? I think most student ticketholders do, in fact, want to get to the games on time. But if there are no consequences for showing up late, a lot of them will. That's just human nature.
April 22nd, 2013 at 10:00 PM ^
I would be interested in looking at those student ticket turnstile numbers. Do you have a source for that information?
April 22nd, 2013 at 10:45 PM ^
Thank you for the source.
So maybe I missed it, but when did the half-empty student section become a thing? When I went (00-04), the student section was always almost full by kickoff, and I don't remember it being an issue after that until about 2-3 years ago where you'd see the hugely vacant sections of empty student seats.
I'm legitimately asking. Is there some sort of logic or change behind students suddenly not showing?