Wish The Game was not played Thanksgiving weekend
Until yesterday I had not experienced in person the phenomenon of 1/3 or more of the stadium being red. Having to listen to a pretty loud O-H-I-O cheer going around the Big House like the wave in the 4th quarter was nauseating (I mean that literally). It would be better for Michigan if the schedule went back to having one fewer week, so that the game is played the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Too many season ticket holders justifiably can't make it on Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, and OSU fans are too happy to scarf up all available seats.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:41 PM ^
Your premise may be part of the justification for people selling their tickets, but I wonder if sitting out on a cold, damp windy day may have something to do with why people sell their tickets?
My tickets were $190 plus the seat license of another $100 which makes it roughly $1200 for the privilege of my family of four freezing our butts off and then being clobbered again by freaking OSU. The "Game" is epic to be sure, but...
December 1st, 2019 at 1:17 PM ^
but I wonder if sitting out on a cold, damp windy day may have something to do with why people sell their tickets
People from Ohio have ZERO problem filling the stadium despite your excuses.
My tickets were $190 plus the seat license of another $100 which makes it roughly $1200 for the privilege of my family
Please don't renew your season tickets then. Let a Michigan fan on the waiting list who is going to embrace the privilege of supporting the school and the seniors on Senior Day have them instead.
December 1st, 2019 at 2:39 PM ^
Your seat license is almost the same price as the seat ticket itself? Something about your math/pricing feels odd.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:41 PM ^
If Michigan fans would rather hang out with their in-laws in New Jersey or spend Thanksgiving at a resort in Key West than go to the Michigan-OSU game, then how could anyone here deny that OSU cares more about the game? That would seem pretty self-evident.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
You can also stay home and watch the game on a big screen TV for what four tickets to "The Game" will cost. The cost of tickets continues to go ever upwards and that puts a real strain on many fans who might find the cost prohibitive.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
OSU fans aren't any richer are they? They have to add travel costs as well and may have to pay high prices on Stubhub etc. to get tickets.
I think it's painfully obvious there's a 'motivation' gap here.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:47 PM ^
Since fans lose games.
December 1st, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^
Um, are you being willfully obtuse here? Are you suggesting that stadium environment doesn't have a real impact on a game? Especially The Game?
You know better.
Our fan base stinks, for a lot of reasons, this one has a real impact.
December 1st, 2019 at 5:10 PM ^
I agree with your premise. HFA is probably more important in college football than in any other sport. I think the fans were more energetic than usual yesterday though, as they should be for OSU. After our first TD, it was as loud as I can remember outside of being late in the 4th quarter. As the game went on and we fell further behind, it got predictably quieter.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
The problem is we got about 107k seats to fill. The alternative might be to shrink the stadium, then we might be able to pack it. Lol.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:12 PM ^
OSU seats 100,000 doesn't it? Maybe its apathy, but there is no reason to see that many OSU fans at a Michigan home game. That was sickening.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:19 PM ^
So we can fill the stadium with 110K for tomato cans but cannot fill 107K as you say for Ohio?
LOL indeed.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:27 PM ^
Well, the context of OP’s post makes clear that he thinks it’s harder to fill the stadium during thanksgiving weekend
December 1st, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^
Reading.
Try it some time.
Yes, the context of your post is the holiday impacts attendance. My response is that reasoning is flawed given how well buckeyes travel for this game. Last time I checked, Thanksgiving is a holiday in Ohio too.
The logic, err excuses, in the your post further falls apart when when one accounts for other variables for buckeyes such as:
- how much they show up for other away games (they don't like they do in A2)
- especially when the weather is generally going to be nicer earlier in the year/schedule than over Thanksgiving
- those other games are NOT on holiday weekends (meaning, ohio fans should travel more to the warm, non-holiday weekend games)
December 1st, 2019 at 5:15 PM ^
Here's where the holiday undoubtedly impacts attendance of home fans: in the student section. What other game do you see packs of opposing fans in the student section? You don't, and this is because students from across the country aren't all that likely to stay in town or come back on time for the game, unless they're diehard fans. To clarify, I think most ticket holders in the non-student sections get tickets because they love the team and being at the games. In the student sections, I think you'll find a mix of this with people who have tickets because it's the cool thing to do.
December 1st, 2019 at 9:57 PM ^
Ugh. That's NOT the point.
in the student section. What other game do you see packs of opposing fans in the student section?
When this game is in Ohio, how often is their student section not full? Never.
When this game is in Michigan, there's red in the student section. That was all painfully visible for the whole nation to see on TV on Saturday.
So, again, how can Ohio people support their team over Thanksgiving (given all the excuses people are making in this thread)? Rhetorical question; don't actually answer that because any reply I fear will be just more BS rather than addressing this shitty fanbase as the root cause.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:42 PM ^
how could anyone here deny that OSU cares more about the game?
It's not so much that they care more, but that they expect to win more. For obvious reasons, fans are more likely to attend a game they expect to win.
Conversely, most people don't like going to games where their team has little chance. I went yesterday but I frankly wasn't looking forward to it.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:52 PM ^
Who would deny that the OSU fan base, as a whole, cares more about the game than the Michigan fan base?
December 1st, 2019 at 6:15 PM ^
A lot of people here seem to think there's not an enthusiasm gap. Even though it's plain as day. They want to win, they expect to win, and they have been winning.
Getting over the Ohio bump would do wonders for this fanbase's psyche.
December 1st, 2019 at 6:26 PM ^
Who denied that OSU fans want it more? They may be the most rabid fanbase in college football.
I don’t understand people on here who question other fans who have different priorities in their lives.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
You are right .... I hated the B1G moving to Thanksgiving Saturday about 10 years ago.
Many reasons: (1) people just have other things going on that weekend. (2) The likelihood of crappy weather is higher, one week deeper into the cold season. (3) Throughout the conference, the students miss the biggest rivalry games (or Rutgers, if you're #Unrivaled). (4) It's hurt attendance for things like the MHSAA finals at Ford Field. Et cetera.
But games on that day are now a thing, for better or worse. And 30K Buckeye fans in Ann Arbor is one of those worse things.
OSU fans travel well, but they certainly don't get those sort of numbers for road games at PSU, Wisky, Iowa (etc) - which are played elsewhere during the fall, of course.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:43 PM ^
I think this is the general consensus other than the few old school die hard who think we just need to “toughen up” and “quit being pussies.”
December 1st, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
I have had season tickets for 40 years and never have there been that many Ohio fans in the stadium for The Game. It was embarrassing and something needs to be done to ensure this never happens again. I am used to large numbers of MSU. ND and OSU fans showing up at our home games but nothing like this in the past.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
I mean it's probably to do with the fact that OSU fans can go to Ann Arbor feeling pretty secure about the fact their day will be a triumphant and joyful experience while Michigan fans would have to postpone other plans just to witness their team getting run out of their own building.
If Michigan won a few of these, this would likely become more 'normal' again. But at this point this is for OSU fans a bit like going to the game at Maryland is for the East Coast-based Michigan fan base.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:22 PM ^
OSU fans can go to Ann Arbor feeling pretty secure about the fact their day will be a triumphant
Yeah, they gathered in the end zone after the game with the band and the players to sing their song in our endzone. Eff that!
How any Michigan fan is okay with their hated rival celebrating like that is beyond me.
December 1st, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^
I'm not sure anyone is "okay" with that. It's just that there is no simple solution.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
If you had season tickets you'd know there was way more red in 2009, 2013, 2015, and 2017 than yesterday. I honestly thought there would be more. I was surrounded by red in 2009 and 2013. Ann Arbor is just too close to Toledo and is too nice to OSU fans than the other way around, and not to mention we lose literally every year. 
December 1st, 2019 at 2:10 PM ^
Yeah, from my observation it seemed like most sections had a smattering of OSU fans here and there, but it was not as bad as 2009/2013/2017. Those three years were the worst.
Red really stands out, though, so a handful of red jackets in a section can seem like a lot.
December 1st, 2019 at 2:34 PM ^
There were a lot. It’s not just that red stands out, there were too many osu fans for that to be considered a hostel road environment. It was an embarrassment.
December 1st, 2019 at 2:35 PM ^
This picture is from either 2005 or 2007 and looks no different 
December 1st, 2019 at 5:19 PM ^
That has to be 2005. 2007 was awful weather for the game, some of the nastiest I can remember.
December 1st, 2019 at 9:03 PM ^
I was there in 2005--lots of sun and actually warmish. I had to take off a sweater in the third quarter.
And you are correct, 2007 was total shit--I was not there but remember watching it from a bar.
December 1st, 2019 at 10:36 PM ^
Yeah, that's how I remember the 2005 game as well. 2003 too, IIRC.
December 1st, 2019 at 2:37 PM ^
2009. Also I'd really love to know why the fuck we give them a section of tickets right down in the SW corner so their stupid painted fans plus the cowboy douche can get on TV every year. Give them only the very top rows in the north and south endzones, jesus.
December 2nd, 2019 at 9:34 PM ^
Sorry dude, but there are many of us season ticket holders at the top of the north end zone and we don’t want them up there either. I noticed the most red on the east side down low between the 30s. Unless that’s the visiting team’s parents/family area, there were a lot pricey seats sold off to Buckeyes.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
I want to spit in the eye of any Michigan ticket holder who sells a ticket to an OSU fan. I went to the Horshoe for the 2016 game and it was a sea of red. There was one tiny sliver of blue way high in an upper deck. It was intense, crazy, and loud as fuck.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:55 PM ^
Yep, went this year and last and the amount of M fans in Columbus is nowhere near the amount of OSU fans in Ann Arbor for the game. We can't say "oh we have so many more seats to fill" when their stadium holds 100,000+ also.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:13 PM ^
I think the people that sell to OSU fans deserve to be kicked out of the stadium for good, but it was plenty loud yesterday. The team was the problem.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:31 PM ^
I certainly agree that this is a serious issue, but I would guess that a lot of fans sell their tickets on Stub Hub or wherever and have no idea who is buying them, they just want to get the best price. Not sure how you solve the issue of selling to OSU fans if the transactions are anonymous to the seller.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:45 PM ^
Easy, the AD can ban aftermarket sales for that game. If Stub Hub doesn’t like it tough, Michigan can decide not to allow them to resell ANY games.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
That’s what happens when all you do is win and all your rival does is lose. You’re going to pay to watch your team win, whereas many Michigan fans don’t want to cough up $250-$300 a ticket to watch their team get skullfucked.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:19 PM ^
Exactly, I paid $150 to watch that ass beating yesterday. No more. I've gone to every home OSU game since 2009. If the team cant be bothered to prepare for this game why should I bother?
December 1st, 2019 at 1:24 PM ^
You’re going to pay to watch your team win, whereas many Michigan fans don’t want to cough up $250-$300 a ticket to watch their team get skullfucked.
More excuses. If that's the case then, then those fans should give up their season tickets immediately.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
If you still have leftover turkey from Thursday, you might still have a wishbone to pin your hopes on.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
So my son flew back Friday for the game. The CSG Airbus only runs Sunday, so he took the Michigan Flier to downtown. Then the campus bus system was not running.
So basically the University could care less if the students come back for the game.
It was better the weekend before. It was also better for the athletes to end a week earlier - have a real Thanksgiving break and get some time to prep for any finals.
College football has been ruined for profits.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:14 PM ^
College football has been ruined by feckless NCAA and conference chairs who care the most about TV money and nothing for the students, athletes or in person fans.
Disgusting charade and Delany is truly an awful "leader" who looks creepy as hell.
December 1st, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^
Yes and no. TV money is the means to an end, and the end is the huge salaries guys like Delaney, athletic directors and coaches make as a result of TV money. Nicer athletic facilities too, of course, but the biggest winners are the guys driving the process. No surprise there.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:57 PM ^
Michigan fans who get tickets for THIS game and then sell them are fucking entitled assholes. Those are the ones who should be stripped of their fandom.
December 1st, 2019 at 3:44 PM ^
I'm curious. How is this done, the stripping of fandom?
December 1st, 2019 at 1:02 PM ^
On the contrary, the reason why Michigan fans don't go to Columbus is because nothing about that experience is enjoyable.
Michigan hasn't won there since 2000, the weather often sucks, and their fans are at best assholes, at worst harbingers of violence. What's the point?