New Student Basketball Ticket Policy

Submitted by goblue7612 on

Looks like they VASTLY oversold basketball season tickets, and thus they need a new policy since they sold 4500 student tickets and only have seats for 3000. Information found in http://michigandaily.com/sports/athletic-department-announces-new-baske…

"Students will have a 72-hour period to select individual tickets to an upcoming group of games. If a student fails to use claimed tickets to two or more games, he or she will not be eligible to claim tickets for upcoming games."

"Though he does not anticipate that students who purchased season tickets will miss out on games they want to attend, they will review an individual’s attendance to determine who will receive entry to the Wolverines’ marquee fixture against Michigan State."

I thought someone had mentioned a policy like this for football tickets that they wanted to see in the sad picture thread.

I imagine ticket holders are pretty upset by this. The ticket office is essentially selling 4500 tickets, and taking the money, but only providing 3000 tickets. One question that is unanswered is what happens if more tickets are claimed than there are seats? Is it first come first serve? Also, it's real risky to sell your unused tickets because if the buyer ends up not using it, you get punished, severely.

Seems like the ticket office didn't plan ahead well, they should've just cut off sales when they hit 3000 and moved everyone else to a wait list. But in the email they sent on April 23, they said "The deadline is May 3 at 5:00pm. Student basketball ticket policies are available at www.mgoblue.com/ticketoffice under Students.  To be guaranteed a seat you should order now." Guess they couldn't do that after saying that.

Take your anger to them at @DaveBrandonAD and @HunterLochmann, or more conventional email methods.

BiSB

September 17th, 2013 at 10:04 PM ^

You know how you guys were all pissed about the football GA policy? And remember how the old folks were all "deal with it, bro"?

I've spoken with the Old Guy Counsel, and we agree: NOW you can be pissed.

MainStreetMagic

September 17th, 2013 at 10:06 PM ^

I am fully supportive of the new policy for football games.  Hell, I even agree with reducing the student section.  At least with that system, if you buy a ticket, you're getting a guaranteed seat.  If I buy a ticket, I have the right to do whatever the fuck I want with it, because it's my money.  To take away future season tickets, without a refund, because I failed to show up for another game is absolutely ridiculous and should not even be legal.  This is either a greedy money grab, or another case of Dave Brandon attempting to test his limits, and piss students off enough that they'll get rid of them...whereupon they can sell those tickets to someone else.  If you want to shrink the student section, shrink the student section.  Don't pull this thinly veiled bullshit. 

goblue7612

September 17th, 2013 at 10:06 PM ^

Everyone who is upset, make your anger known somehow. Twitter, email, phone, telling the Victors Club that your future donations are going elsewhere. I wish upvotes were back, some solid Dave Brandon jokes in this thread.

Was this a pure moneygrab or just complete ignorance by the athletic department? Which one is worse?

I'm still pissed about them moving hockey tickets to general admission.

goblue7612

September 17th, 2013 at 10:18 PM ^

It was for the most part, but at the lower parts of center ice I know that we stuck to our seats for the most part, as we had damn good seats and we lost those guarantees. I'm pretty sure with the new renovations, the nice seats we had ended up as not being part of the student section. Still very bitter.

goblue7612

September 17th, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^

I know people have listed Dave Brandon's email in the past, but I cannot find it (and of course he's hidden on the directory). Mary Sue Coleman's email is [email protected]. Hunter Lochmann's (Chief Marketing Officer, the one who broke the news to Central Student Goverment) is [email protected].

I've gotten through to Hunter on numerous occasions, just by calling the ticket office at 734-764-0247 and asking for him by name. The majority of the time you'll have to leave a voicemail, and he'll call back, but on the phone records it'll be the University switchboard so I can't give you his direct line.

You can contact the Development Office/Victors Club at (734) 764-7131 or [email protected].

Or you can raid your local Ann Arbor Torch and Pitchfork Co. /s

99bobcats

September 17th, 2013 at 10:07 PM ^

I had season tickets throughout the Ellerbe years and then they switched it to GA for my senior year. It was the opposite problem (not enough interest) but they still found a way to screw us.

ChopBlock

September 17th, 2013 at 10:07 PM ^

The question is: given that 57% of season ticket holders attended any given game last year, what are the odds that students will actually be turned away? To make it even more specific, what percentage of the season ticket holders attended the marquee games last year? If they never got more than 66% (3000 of 4500) attendence at a non-MSU game, then it's not really a problem.

I don't see any difference between this policy and the airlines' policy of overbooking (although don't we all just love airline service?). Say they sold 3001 tickets for 3000 seats. Nobody would have a problem with it, because the odds that every single season ticket holder (or the person they sold it to) will show up is basically nil. 

What people are enraged about, therefore, is the scale of the overbooking, not overbooking per se. I would hope that the AD has done some statistical analysis to ensure that 3000 seats is in fact above what we can reasonably expect student attendence to be, even for a marquee matchup.

If I'm wrong, however, I'll gladly raid Ann Arbor Torch and Pitchfork with everybody else. 

ChopBlock

September 17th, 2013 at 10:30 PM ^

Fun fact: it actually isn't required to offer you a sweet deal. They normally do so they can get volunteers and avoid an awkward situation. However, if nobody wants to bump, and they have to play "Uncle Sam wants you", you get nuthin. 

The part I don't like is the fact that if you miss two games you said you'd go to, you forfeit the rest. Doesn't that seem a bit vindictive?

goblue7612

September 17th, 2013 at 10:35 PM ^

That's actually incorrect. What you're describing is Involuntary Denied Boarding situation and there is required compensation for that, which is actually a lot more than someone who volunteers in an overbooked situation (VDB).

The analogy would be that if they found you another seat in the arena, nearly as good as your student section seat than they wouldn't have to give you any compensation.

"No compensation is due if your airline finds alternate transportation that will get you to your next stopover point or final destination within one hour after the scheduled arrival time of your original flight. For flights getting you to your next point or destination more than one hour but less than two hours, cash compensation equivalent to 200% of the one-way fare on the flight you were bumped off to a maximum of $650. Flights getting you to your next point or destination more than two hours from the original time will net you cash compensation of 400% of the one-way fare to a maximum of $1,300."

TheGhostofChappuis

September 17th, 2013 at 10:26 PM ^

I think there are two key points you are missing.

First, this shift in policy is post-purchase.  That makes it a whole lot different than airlines. Second, if you don't attend claimed games, you forfeit your right to claim others, despite the fact that you've already purchased the product.  

This isn't just overbooking.  It's much, much worse.

goblue7612

September 17th, 2013 at 10:40 PM ^

The best part is that on April 23rd, they sent out an email that said that everyone who ordered by the May 3 deadline would be guaranteed a ticket. Does anyone have a screenshot of that mgoblue page (http://www.mgoblue.com/tickets/students-bkm.html) from then?

It looks like sometime between the deadline and May 22, they added this clause "Please note, due to potential demand and the very limited available seating in Crisler Center, there may be a limit on student tickets."

I'm not the best at this computer science stuff, so if it was there before the deadline, I'll eat my words. I hope someone has a screenshot though.

J.Madrox

September 17th, 2013 at 10:26 PM ^

I don't really understand the outrage. As others have said, this is what a lot of big time basketball programs do, if you want a big time basketball program at Michigan you have to deal with the consequences of increased demand.

To take what A2 said a step further, Duke makes you camp out for 24 straight hours where anytime they blow an airhorn you need to run out of your tent and report for roll call. This is just to be entered into a lottery to get tickets and usually you get them for just a few games, and no guarantee what those games are.

Lets wait for the season to play out and see how many students are actually denied tickets to games they want to go to before we bemoan the total unfairness of the plan.

TheGhostofChappuis

September 17th, 2013 at 10:37 PM ^

You're not getting it.  At Duke, every enrolled student is intially entitled to a ticket.  In order to eliminate those who are less interested, they have adopted the policy that you refer to.  This is absolutely nothing like Michigan's new policy in which students who have paid for tickets are facing the prospect of not being to receive a product they have already paid for. 

snoopblue

September 18th, 2013 at 4:02 AM ^

We made it to the title game. I get it. But we aren't Duke or even Indiana yet. Duke has been successful for a LONG time and Indiana has an insane fanbase in a basketball crazy state. Of course, as the team gets more popular and closer to elite status, ticket systems will have to adjust. But shit let's not be delusional and think we made the jump to elite that fast.

Kilgore Trout

September 17th, 2013 at 10:36 PM ^

They oversold football in 1997 (my freshman year). Most of the freshman got 3 or 4 games. It sucked, but at least we got a refund for what we didn't get.



Do you still pay the full price regardless of how many games you claim?

TatersGonnaTate

September 17th, 2013 at 10:44 PM ^

Dave Brandon screwing students again.  What a shock.  Sell season tickets and then take them back?  With no reduction in price?  How the hell does it matter if the student goes or not?  What on earth makes this maniac think this is OK?



I ordered 3 pizzas but they only delivered 2 since they don't think I'm hungry enough for 3.  Well guess what I'm not paying for 3 f***i*** pizzas am I pizza boy?

Seriously, how can this stand?

Remember when Brandon hiked student ticket prices since "students needed to make more of an investment" and it wasn't "about money at all"?  Well that worked for the Akron game, right?  So where's the refund? 

What can we do to get rid of this guy?  Can you imagine what he'll "accomplish" over the course of 5 years? 10?  When are we going to say enough is enough?  Stop the madness!

lazyfoot10

September 17th, 2013 at 10:44 PM ^

So I've been going to nearly all the games for the past 3 years (which includes my freshman year, when we were projected to finish either last or second to last in the B1G) only to potentially not get a ticket because some dude that jumped on the bandwagon and probably can't name more than 3 players on the team clicked "claim" before me or something.

What a load of garbage. 

 

Ham

September 17th, 2013 at 10:47 PM ^

My opinion of this is largely based on when the games are going to be available to claim. If they put the "start time" when I am in class, then I will be furious.

A positive aspect of this is that students who can't wait in line before the game (for instance, they could have class in the afternoon) will still be able to go to it. While it would have been better for them to stop selling tickets once they met capacity, this could have been a lot worse.

BraveWolverine730

September 17th, 2013 at 10:48 PM ^

So I'm as anti-Dave Brandon money grab as anyone, but I really don't have a huge problem with it. If you go to the games (or make sure that someone scans your ticket) you say you will, you probably won't have an issue. If you say you aren't gonna go to games and don't go, you won't lose the ability to go to future ones, but you'll lose priority for the MSU game so you might miss that, which seems fair. Any student who is a big enough fan to be on mgoblog at 11 PM on a school night is probably not going to get screwed over by this policy. 

a2_electricboogaloo

September 17th, 2013 at 11:06 PM ^

Why is it a risk though?  I feel like if your even halfway cognizant of what games you signed up for it really should not be a problem at all to avoid ever getting a strike against you.  These are Michigan students, and this kind of organization isn't exactly rocket science.  It should be pretty damn easy for any UofM student to handle.

a2_electricboogaloo

September 17th, 2013 at 11:22 PM ^

And I can't make you see how this is right, but I won't put how I feel about it in such crass terms.

FWIW, I don't like a ton of what DB does.  I think the general admission seating was poorly executed and could be better organized.  I think that some people dislike change so much that they will flip out at any alteration in the world around them, even a necessary one.  Something had to be done, plain and simple.  No matter what happened people would have cried over it.  If you're this pissed off about it, return your tickets and let someone else who wants to go have your seat, or stop whining.

Geaux_Blue

September 17th, 2013 at 11:47 PM ^

If anyone disagrees with it Che they're just, you know, goin with The Man

Why you're standing up for ~1500 ppl/game who never show except for msu is beyond me. If you're a bball fan, this is perfect for you be you already go to games and you want your team benefiting from a full home crowd. You'd rather have no home student crowd advantage against an inevitable squeaker than god forbid your casual fan friend not getting a ticket

zguy517

September 18th, 2013 at 8:38 AM ^

What about the student who didnt miss a single home game in 4 years of undergrad but is now in grad school so doesnt always have the time during the week to make every game?  Should they be penalized and not able to go to the big games then?

MGoBender

September 18th, 2013 at 12:33 PM ^

I see ya, and I was in that boat of going to 5 years of games missing only 1 or 2 prior to grad school.

I was one of those 300 in the bleachers for every game of the Amaker-Beilein transition period.  I still have ticket stubs to all those games - nearly a hundred.

You know what I did during grad school?  I didn't buy basketball student tickets.  It was tough, but that's life.  I had to make a choice.  Sure, I would have loved to go to Saturday morning games.  But I knew I wasn't going to be able to make Wednesday 9pm games, so I didn't buy the tickets.

Sometimes you gotta make tough calls. 

This post has nothing to do with this new policy, by the way, which I think is ok, but being handled poorly (late).  However, I recognize that I was one of the undergrads that never  missed a game and built my schedule around the MBB schedule so it would affect me the least.

TheGhostofChappuis

September 17th, 2013 at 11:34 PM ^

Ah yes, I was wondering when the loyalty refrain would sprout up, and you didn't disappoint.  Throw insults all you want, but until you express a conherent thought in favor of the policy or defend against the numerous legitimate criticisms being offered, I really don't care what you have to say. 

Geaux_Blue

September 17th, 2013 at 11:52 PM ^

And claimed any viewpoint not his was shitting on his grave. That's inherently a loyalty argument.

The core problem is the school could sell these prime tix for 4x the value they sell them to students and students a) don't use them, b) fail to provide a home court advantage as a result, c) resell them and/or d) don't reward the program with their attendance. This policy will affect who? Tom the guy who misses 5 games all season due to tests or Jeff, the guy who misses 15 but TOTALLY IS THERE FOR MSU DUDE BC FUCK THEM!

This is to avoid rampant StubHub/resale and gaping holes in the stands. Until the ticket office says the 1500 overage won't result in a refund of one game to 1500, I'm not seeing one issue.