Thoughts on Student Ticket locations
I am going into my Senior year at Michigan and I just got my student tickets the other day. I opened them up to find that I am Sec. 31 Row 10.
I am mildly disappointed. I think the University rewards the "lower is better" policy and thus as a senior I get preference to sit as close to the field as possible. I know that these seats are in the corner of the endzone where all seniors sit. Having said that, I think these are the shittiest seats I have had in 4 years in terms of actually watching the football game. I cannot imagine I will be able to see jack shit on the other side of the field and will have little to no depth perception when it comes to watching the plays develop.
Has someone sat in these seats that knows from experience? Does anyone else feel Seniors should be given seats in row 25/26 (which are far better seats) so that their game-watching experience is better?
August 4th, 2009 at 11:18 AM ^
I have tickets in section 31 row 10 also. What a small world..
August 4th, 2009 at 11:18 AM ^
I had Section 31 Row 4 when I was a Sophomore and they weren't horrible but they weren't my favorite seats. I think Row 10 will be a little better but all I remember is because we were so close we always felt like we were getting squeezed because people like the move down closer.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:23 AM ^
I just got mine in and im section 31 row 15 and I was telling other ppl in my team that 15 is actually better than 5 because its a better view and its not too far away...im just pissed that im in section 31 which is the furthest away from the 50 yard line
August 4th, 2009 at 11:36 AM ^
I will be a senior in the fall and I am ECSTATIC with my seats. Row 19 is where the angle changes dramatically and that's usually were I end up going down to anyways but 25 is just about perfect IMO.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:40 AM ^
The section is a bit dissapointing, but to say my seats are Row A is pretty awesome....some of my other friends got screwed and got Sec 25, Row 44...great football seats, bad student section though.
Is Row A worth the bad section?
August 4th, 2009 at 11:44 AM ^
What causes you to think that Sec 25 is a bad part of the student section?
August 4th, 2009 at 11:55 AM ^
Yeah, I'm in Section 26 Row 31 as a Junior and consider those seats to be pretty good.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:13 PM ^
Nice, Im in section 26 row 46 as a Junior as well and absolutely cannot wait to be in those seats.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:45 AM ^
For the 2007 Penn State game I sat in row 4 with a bunch of friends. It was fun for the game but I'm glad that my tickets that year were in row 35 or so. I think it's fun to do once or twice, but if you're one of the people that actually want to watch the game (and since you're on this site you probably are) then I don't think that they're that great.
When the action is down in the student end, they're good but it's still fairly hard to see the play develop. When the action is down in the other endzone it's almost impossible to tell what's really going on. Then you have to look at the big screens a lot more and that always makes me feel dumb, if I wanted to watch Michigan on TV I would've stayed home!
Now then, I will say that if the game goes to OT and there's some action in the student end zone, those would be sweet tickets to have.
Not student section, but 180* around the stadium from the OP seats, Section 9, Row 10. Had them for about 5 years. Usually tried to move to better seats, for exactly all the reasons you listed.
Low enough to see the curvature of the field. Plays in the student end zone were impossible to see. Touchdown tosses onto the 'M' of "MICHIGAN" were great, as was the time Game Day was in that corner for pre-game. But yeah, OT sucks if it's in the opposite end, say, the 2004 MSU game...
What a difference 6 rows makes. Per my post below, I am in section 9, row 16 and like the seats. I don't have that much of an issue being too low, and I was able to see the MSU OT w/o too much trouble. Goal line plays in the North end zone are a problem.
Sure, I would like 50 yard line seats, who wouldn't. But I don't think corner sears are horrible. (We probably agree on that?) I am just surprised that five or six row can make that big of a difference. Must be how the stadium curves?
Don't remember very well any longer, but I thought that the steps became shallower as we passed YOUR ROW (j/k about your row, but not the depth of the steps). I think that may also be a factor...just seemed impossible to see easily. (And there may have been people standing in the end zone, or along the sidelines, etc.) My seats were right on the aisle, and 10-15 seats in from the aisle one way or the other makes a difference, too.
I think seats in ~Row 25-55 are primo, regardless of section.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:10 PM ^
Section 25 is great and I loved the season I spent there (2004). Obviously has a great view, and if you're totally shameless about supporting your team who cares what the rest of the section is like? My feeling is that the better the view, the better the section. You can make the crowd experience better by being embarrassingly loud yourself and encouraging others to get that way as well, especially in the student section.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:53 PM ^
My sediments exactly
Just got my tickets in the mail. At first I was bummed I wasn't in one of the sections right in the middle of the student section but now I don't really care. I'm going to be embarrassingly loud wherever I sit and I'm actually excited to annoy the bluehairs across the aisle. Plus the people I sit with are embarrassingly loud as well. So you all can expect great things from Section 25 this year. No sugarcoat
Section 25, row 44 is pretty damn good. As close to the 50 you'll get as a student.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:41 AM ^
Do they make students sit in their actual seats now?
Just sit where you want and tell the other students to go fuck themselves. Trade stubs with them, chances are they'd rather be closer anyways.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:47 AM ^
No, they only check what section, and whether you are up or down from the portals (on occasion). What pisses me off is when I get to the game pre-kick off to pick my fav seat and then half way into the second quarter some douches will come in saying we are in their seat. Unfortunately if they get the stadium help, they will make you move... Only another reason why they should go to general seating in the student section. (And I'm a senior arguing for this)
August 4th, 2009 at 11:53 AM ^
My friends and I have discussed this and came up with the idea that they should do tiered general seating. There should be 4 sections. The highest section is for Freshman, then the section down is for Sophomores, then Juniors, and finally seniors. You could simply have a color coded ticket and as long as you had the right color you could sit anywhere in that section.
Alternatively, you could do it so that the higher up you are in the "color code" the more seats you can sit in, i.e. Freshman could only sit in the Freshman color but Sophomores could sit in the Sophomore color OR the Freshman color. That way seniors that want to watch the game from their favorite seat aren't forced to go lower than they'd like.
I'm not sure how you'd work on grad students. I'd say that if they did their undergrad here then they count as permanent seniors, but if they just came in then they have to work their way up (so a grad student that's been there 2 years would count as a Sophomore)
I was a senior when I was arguing for this.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:33 PM ^
For wathever its worth - in the mid 90's they used to count total U-M credits (or maybe years with student tickets). Grad students who went to UM for undergrad got the best seats in the student section. New grad students, got the worst. (Most folks who had gone elsewhere from undergrad didn't get season tickets anyway since they were fans of their undergrad school.) It seems that this is the fairest way to do it. Either put returning grad students with seniors or given them a fifth section in front of the seniors. There are probably not that many of them (returning grad students who go to football games) to make a huge difference.
Plus then it would encourage people to get there earlier if they wanted better seats.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:48 AM ^
Students still move a round a lot but if people complain to the ushers, they can force students to move. I saw one student down in row 4 or 5 get belligerent with the usher and a few minutes later he was escorted out of the stadium by DPS in handcuffs. That's not the usual course of action so he must have done something pretty bad.
Ushers seem to crack down a lot more for homecoming too. That's because there's a lot of non-students in the student section. And they don't seem to get that it's okay to not sit in your exact seat. Thus, ushers check tickets more often and more closely during that game.
But mostly, as long as you stay semi-close to where you should be sitting, you'll be fine.
The trading tickets would almost always work if you're trading for row 4 and you have enough tickets for their friends too.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:48 AM ^
Section 31, Row 80, Seat 17. Not positive about the row (in the 80's). I am a lone wolf though, I go to games alone, tailgate alone and sit alone. JK I tailgate with friends, but I sit alone!
Lol yeah I'm in Section 31, Row 74. Any of the earlier seniors that don't like their seats in Row 4 who want to trade I would be more than happy. I promise you can see the whole game and more from my seat =P
August 4th, 2009 at 11:53 AM ^
If you want to have the best view of the game, stay home and watch it on TV. You'll be in a fun, LOUD area of the stadium. Enjoy.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:11 PM ^
Did you say front row? Oh, never mind. Those were my seats senior year.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:18 PM ^
I'm in Section 31, Row B. I'm sure the complaints about visibility are legit, but I'm just happy to be in Michigan Stadium for another year. I'm certainly not about to give away my Row-B seats. I'm ecstatic that I get to be so close to the field, even if the visual spectrum and angle are less than desirable. I've looked at those seats since freshman year when I was in Row 78 and each week I've wanted to be in them more and more. Now I am and I'm happy.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:23 PM ^
I have had seats in Section 9, Row 16 for 12 or 13 years and I really like them. Section 9 is the exact section as 31, just on the SE corner. You will have an aweome view of everything in that endzone. The other endzone - not so much. I have learned that if the student section likes the play, I will too. If need be, I look at the scoreboard screens. Some advice - get there early. The corner sections tend to back up.
One question - when did they start the closest to the field approach? It used to be closest to the 50. I went to Michigan for undergrad and law school (insert standard joke about the guy who used to say "Michigan law school . . . in Ann Arbor"). They counted total U-M credits and my last two years I had seats in section 24 or 25 (approx. 45 yard line) row 20ish. Awesome. There were families of players who sat behind me.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:28 PM ^
Section 29, row 68 as a sophomore. I was actually closer as a freshman.
That said, pretty excited about the seats.
Now if only the brahs and sorority girls would stay at home instead of showing up in the 2nd quarter and leaving in the 3rd, everything would be dandy.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:31 PM ^
Section 31 as a senior? That sucks. I was in 25 as a senior (a few years ago). I thought it was SOP to put seniors in 25/26.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:38 PM ^
and I'm in section 31 row 93. Is that near the top?
I've never been to a game at the Big House before. So I keep holding the tickets thinking that they're gonna disappear haha.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:39 PM ^
That's just about the highest row in the stadium. (You won't have a crazy climb to get there, though; because the stadium is built into the ground, when you enter, you're on the level of row 72.)
in theory, won't I be able to sit a bit further down? I mean, unless it's homecoming like the previous posters were talking about, they don't really care. Or well, I hope so. I don't want to be quite that high if I can help it.
Probably. The ushers aren't too picky about which row you're in (unless someone complains), but you might not be able to switch sections.
...I'd like to get down to about row 60, then. No further than that out of respect for the upperclassmen I guess, but I plan on being there early and if it seems like I can, I'll move down further. But I don't expect that and I'm really just thankful to be there
August 4th, 2009 at 12:39 PM ^
yessir
August 4th, 2009 at 12:45 PM ^
i'll be a senior too and mine are in section 26 row 19 (to the right of the band) which i am pleased with. i may be close enough to be near the ESPN swing-camera-thing during big games
August 4th, 2009 at 12:53 PM ^
I'll be a freshman and I'm in section 27 row 87.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:54 PM ^
and i got section 25 row 66, i was pumped to find out i was on the 20-25 yardline, but wasnt sure how good the student section was all the way over to one side. I'm encouraged by what ive read here.
That's a fine vantage point. My personal ideal is Sec 25 between rows 20-30. You can always try to move up, too.
My junior year I was Sec 26 row 28. Great seats.
My senior year it was Sec 27 row 24. Which was the year they brought the band over to the student section. Which means I would have been in the 4th row, Sec 27.... but due to money-grubbing whoreness I was 4 rows behind the band, with tubas blocking my view 25% of the time.
I think your seats are pretty good, man. Enjoy!
I had Section 27, Row 3 my senior year. Tough viewing angle being that close to the field.
Senior.
Sec 26, Row 22.
Very happy.
When I was a freshman in 2007, myself and a lot of other freshman were placed outside of the student section. I believe I was supposed to be in Section 14 (the only time I ever sat in these seats was the first half of THE HORROR) but where your ticket says you should be means very little once you get into the right section.
That pretty much happens every year. My freshman year (05), rows 30-A of sections 12,13, and 14 were overflow student section. The seats sucked, but I did get to see Manningham's PSU catch up close.
That was the only redeeming moment of those seats.
Before they expanded the student section a bunch of people got stuck in the south end zone.
I had section 25, row 2 tickets last year, they were nice.
This year, I'm moving to start my real job and don't have season tickets at all. I am extremely jealous of anybody with any seat in the Big House, period.
one of my friends got section 31 row A. even if he can't see, at least he'll be on tv and in the paper constantly
that's worth the struggle of seeing the game on the other end of the field. Honestly though, it could be a lot worse. At least at the Big House the stands start off slightly elevated. At some places like Happy Valley and Kinnick, certain places in the stands start at the ground, which must be horrible. For Kinnick in particular I remember one end zone's stands starting at the ground, which is, well, yuck
for some reason my post posted twice, not sure why though, I only clicked submit once. Bug?