Would you go to Michigan vs ND 2014 @ Neutral Site?

Submitted by MikeCohodes on

So with the ND series coming to an end, and ND trying to make it so they have more home games in this round of the series than Michigan by having the series start and end in South Bend, would you want to see the game take place at a neutral site?

Notre Dame is playing Miami (YTM) this weekend at Soldier Field in Chicago.  The largest chapter of the UM Alumni Association is based in Chicago, and it's a far more entertaining city for night life than South Bend.  So, would you want to see the final game in the series be at Soldier Field instead of South Bend?  Or do you want it to be in Indiana?

I personally would love to see it in Chicago.  No matter where it is I'm going to try and get tickets, but I'm sure they're going to cost an arm and a leg for this final game in the series.

Anyone like this idea?  If it is at a neutral site, is there a better venue than Chicago you'd like to see?

bluebyyou

October 2nd, 2012 at 10:58 AM ^

 

If I were Brandon and if, by some chance you could get someone semi-decent to come to Ann Arbor, I would cancel the last game with ND as the money difference between a single away game in South Bend vs a home game in Ann Arbor is huge.

From the South Bend Tribune:

http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/sbt-notre-dame-exercises-3year-out-in-michigan-deal-20120925,0,7948813.story

"Hollis said that both schools have out clauses. If either school cancels, it must pay the other $1 million if notice is given within six months of the game, $500,000 for a cancellation that comes 6-24 months and $150,000 for a cancellation that comes 24 months or longer".

turd ferguson

October 1st, 2012 at 8:29 PM ^

But how does this solve that problem?  We'd still play one more game in South Bend than Ann Arbor.  The only neutral site that would feel more like a Michigan home atmosphere than a Notre Dame home atmosphere is Ford Field in Detroit, and that would be pretty lame.

snarling wolverine

October 1st, 2012 at 8:43 PM ^

The only neutral site that would feel more like a Michigan home atmosphere than a Notre Dame home atmosphere is Ford Field in Detroit, and that would be pretty lame.

Why do you assume this? Even if ND has a larger fanbase (which I question - we have far more actual alumni, and thus far more people with a family connection to our school), if they allocate the tickets 50-50, why would they outnumber us?

turd ferguson

October 1st, 2012 at 10:25 PM ^

I didn't say they would outnumber us, but I think the confusion is my fault.  I was thinking that this would be tacked onto the end of our current series as an additional "home game" for Michigan.  The only place we'd get something that feels like a semi-home game (i.e. well more than 50% of the fans) is Detroit.  In most other places, it'd probably be close to 50-50.

justingoblue

October 1st, 2012 at 8:03 PM ^

for the final (for a while) September game of M/ND would easily be the most expensive ticket in college ball for 2014. ~60,000 seats compared to ~80,000 and 115,000 (which both still made the top ten list). I'm not objecting or anything, just saying that those prices would be out of this world.

Then again, it's on the lake, at night, in September, and it's M/ND.

turtleboy

October 1st, 2012 at 8:14 PM ^

Spot on. Only way it would happen is if they went to a place like Jerry World where they could sell more tickets than at ND Stadium. Playing at Soldier Field, or Wrigley would net around half or a third the gate as at Michigan Stadium, two thirds to half a typical ND Stadium gate take. Gate for the last game was a little over $42 million at ND Stadium, last year Under The Lights easily pulled in $60 million in ticket sales. If they moved to Soldier they'd likely split only $32m, less than $22m for Wrigley.

justingoblue

October 1st, 2012 at 8:18 PM ^

Jerryworld got between $125-$285 per ticket, and this game could net more per seat. That's significantly higher than M or ND is bringing in for the one game (especially considering M gets nothing if it's in South Bend), plus the suits all go in one-off rentals. A few of those sales plus the outrageous face prices might bring it close to what ND would get, if not up to what M brings in.

I'm not saying ND would bring in more cash, but I doubt it's that low.

snarling wolverine

October 1st, 2012 at 8:21 PM ^

The other way it could happen is if we dig in our heels and say we're cancelling the 2014 game otherwise.  And why not?  ND pulled a bush league move by informing us on the day of the 2012 game that they were exercising the out in the contract.  The contract called for either school to give three games' notice before exercising the out clause.  They may have legally upheld that provision but certainly didn't respect it in spirit.

 

MikeCohodes

October 1st, 2012 at 8:29 PM ^

To reach a gate of $32 million at Soldier Field (capacity 61,500) you'd have to have an average ticket price of $520.  I know that's just an average but still, that seems insanely high for a one-off game.  I'm beginning to think my original post was not that great an idea now in terms of revenue for the schools. (not that either is hurting for money)

rob f

October 1st, 2012 at 8:12 PM ^

serve them notice that we're cancelling the 2014 game, write them a check for breaking the contract, and find someone else from a so-called "BCS Conference" for a home game at The Big House.  I'm sure we'll make more than enough $$ doing so to cover that check to ND and then some.

But that's just me...

WolvinLA2

October 1st, 2012 at 8:45 PM ^

Yeah, I'd be OK with that.  Any decent home game would probably make it worth it.  Even if it wasn't, I'd be OK sticking it to ND. 

EDIT:  Although I continued thinking about this, and we should be pretty fucking good in 2014.  Beating the shit out of ND, in South Bend, in our last game would be pretty sweet.

MikeCohodes

October 1st, 2012 at 8:42 PM ^

I know there's the four of them downtown according to the alumni association website, but I life 45 miles out from the city in the NW burbs and can't get downtown easily.  Of the UM bars in Chicago which do you think is the best?  I want to make a trip downtown for a game this year but don't know which one to go to. Have you been to them?

Purkinje

October 1st, 2012 at 9:08 PM ^

Well, see, when I say I live "in Chicago", I'm lying. I live in Grayslake, as my medical school is in North Chicago. I've only been here since August, and I've not yet ventured downtown to a bar for a game. Several friends of mine go to Duffy's on a pretty regular basis, and they love it. But that's the extent of my knowledge.

MikeCohodes

October 2nd, 2012 at 12:24 AM ^

Seriously.  Of the 4 UM bars in Chicago, that one wins based on name alone.  I'll have to make sure to make the trip to that one.

I'm like Diabeetus - I say I'm "from Chicago" but I live about as far from downtown as he does - I'm in Gilberts, which is further west but not as far north as Grayslake.

oriental andrew

October 2nd, 2012 at 10:12 AM ^

I'm a transplant, so I guess it's forgiveable, but I've never even heard of Gilberts.  When you said NW suburbs, I thought you meant somewhere near where I live (Long Grove).  Then again, you're not that much farther to downtown than I am, and you have a straight shot out on 90.

My sister lives in the Lakeview East neighborhood and took this pic of Duffy's one football Saturday:

When I first moved to Chicagoland after graduating, the bar was Joe's on Weed.  Watched the Brady-Terrell-Shea Orange Bowl there with some friends.

MikeCohodes

October 2nd, 2012 at 11:17 AM ^

I grew up on the Deerfield/Buffalo Grove border, went to Stevenson, and had a ton of friends in Long Grove.  I drive through it daily as I work in Lincolnshire now. 

Our best friends bought a house in the development first, and we fell in love with it when we came to visit them, but I had never heard of the town before myself.  We moved out to Gilberts because we bought our house in 2006, before the housing crash, back when 240k for a 3 bedroom townhouse was a great deal that you could never hope to find in BG.  If only I had a time machine...

justingoblue

October 2nd, 2012 at 3:50 PM ^

A high school friend used to live a little farther down 72 from you; I've passed Crusin' and those railroad tracks more than a few times. My mom's place is right off of County Line and Randall, and I worked at Potbelly's right there during high school.

I'm undergrad class of 2012, but went to IU, not Michigan.

Wolverine Devotee

October 1st, 2012 at 8:26 PM ^

Fuck notre dame. Put the game in Chicago. Anything to spit back in their faces for quitting.

RickH

October 1st, 2012 at 8:49 PM ^

I'd love to change it up like that. It'd be nice for fans around the country to see us play, the only problem being either filling the stands or filling the stands till the point of crazy ticket prices. Notre Dame is way ahead of the curve by playing games all over. It only gives them media coverage and a recruiting incentive of playing all over the country. That's why ND would rather give up Big10 teams than USC/Stanford/whoever else, cause it gives them coverage elsewhere.

saveferris

October 2nd, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^

The Notre Dame / Michigan State rivalry goes back a lot farther than the Michigan / ND rivalry.  Back in the early part of the 20th century, when Notre Dame couldn't get a lot of midwest teams to play them due to religious prejudice, Michigan State (Michigan Agricultural College back then) was one of the few teams that would schedule them.

Sparty and ND have faced each other 75 times and without interruption since 1948.  Michigan is the more storied program and the bigger draw, but ND has a LOT more history with MSU.

snarling wolverine

October 2nd, 2012 at 7:34 PM ^

Well technically, it doesn't go back farther than ours - we were their first opponent ever (and actually taught them how to play).  But the two schools stopped playing in 1910 and didn't resume on a regular basis until the 1970s.  You're correct that they've played MSU a lot more often that they have played us, though.

BTW, the Domers may claim that it was anti-Catholic prejudice that caused other programs to shun them, but they also had a reputation in those days as a program that didn't play by the rules.  We stopped playing them after we became convinced that they were fielding players who were ineligible.

greenwood

October 1st, 2012 at 10:38 PM ^

Aircraft carrier.

In all seriousness, I'd prefer to run up the score on them in South Bend with our current and incoming superclasses. Something that damefan can suck on for 3 years.