PSD boycott: predicting the collapse of the football ticket market
As if the game wasn't a bitter enough pill to swallow, many of us came home to horribly-timed envelope requesting our mandatory Preferred Seat "Donation" to maintain season tickets for next year. Having sold my extra Nebraska ticket for $20 ($65 for season ticket holders, $95 face, "dynamic" price $110), I started thinking...
1. What exactly happens if I don't pay my PSD? Do I lose the right to any tickets at all? Or do I just get worse tickets? Or placed at the back of the "line?" This led to the next thought...
2. What if a significant number of fans refuse to pay their PSD for next year?
Before two weeks ago, I think the expected response would be that the games will always sell out, so they would just boot you and find someone else willing to pay. But let's examine the situation...
1. Plenty of people are pissed by the PSD increase last year.
2. By all accounts, everyone on the "list" last year was able to get season tickets.
3. The coaching/team is dreadful.
4. The 2014 home schedule is stinky. (Which raises the question, which two games are going to be the two $95 premium games? Penn State and Indiana? Maryland?)
5. Given #3 and #4, it's almost guaranteed that you will pay less for a full season of tickets in the secondary market then you will if you shell out your PSD and season ticket cost.
6. Given #5, those season ticket holders that buy extra seats to sell for a profit are likely to let those extra seats go.
Given this "perfect storm," it seems likely that demand for tickets will be at an all time low, and if there was ever a time to have a PSD revolt, it is now. Can the athletic department afford to penalize everyone who refuses to pay the PSD?
Discuss.
[EDIT: I suppose if there's a bright side, it's that this may be the year to improve your seat tremendously]
[EDIT II: It's a sad state of our fandom and blog when a post intended to spur discussion has degenerated into a pissing match amongst fellow Michigan fans (and respected members of the board) about who the "real" fans are... ]
November 11th, 2013 at 4:04 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 4:08 PM ^
You must sit in the endzone.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:11 PM ^
Canadian.
November 11th, 2013 at 5:36 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 5:40 PM ^
What is the difference for you folks from Canada? No tax deduction, eh?
November 11th, 2013 at 5:40 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 7:48 PM ^
It was the first year I could. If I'm wrong I'll just blame TurboTax.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 5:38 PM ^
Not in the endzone, but pretty close.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^
You get a BIGGER tax deduction (25% larger) if you just give the school money unrelated to a seat license.
November 11th, 2013 at 5:38 PM ^
I do that too, but to the Cancer Center, not the Athletic Dept. The PSD is my athletic dept donation.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:05 PM ^
That's not how "begging the question" works.
But yeah, buying season tickets right now seems suboptimal.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:10 PM ^
Taking a Latin phrase and incorrectly translating it into English while keeping the meaning from Latin is just nonsensical. Next to no one uses this phrase correctly because it doesn't make any sense in English.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:43 PM ^
is a very useful concept. People really do beg the question all the time, and it's nice to have a pithy phrase to describe the fallacy. If people would just start saying "raises the question" when they mean "raises the question," everyone's life would be better.
November 11th, 2013 at 5:22 PM ^
Agreed. It's a nice device to have but people are too lazy to worry about such things so instead ignore what it actually means rather than using an equally as easy phrase ("raise").
November 11th, 2013 at 6:05 PM ^
Beget?
November 11th, 2013 at 7:36 PM ^
November 12th, 2013 at 4:48 AM ^
November 12th, 2013 at 4:51 AM ^
Yes, thank you. I was a philosophy major but I'm also aware of the fact that "begging the question" is a terrible phrase for what it's supposed to mean. Criticizing someone for saying it in the sense of raising a question is like criticizing people for calling people from the nation of India "Indians", correcting them that it should refer to native populations of the Americas.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:13 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 4:44 PM ^
Too many freaking lawyers on this board.
(My apologies if I used "freaking" incorrectly.)
November 11th, 2013 at 5:02 PM ^
I think fricking is preferable.
November 11th, 2013 at 5:26 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 6:20 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 6:20 PM ^
Mgoboard has really jumped the shark.
November 11th, 2013 at 9:11 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 4:08 PM ^
What good would it do you if they decide to replace coaches after you boycott?
November 11th, 2013 at 4:29 PM ^
If you think that there is an endless supply of people waiting in the wings for Michigan tickets, I would suggest you start looking at schools like Tennessee and Florida where attendance has dropped significantly except for big games. NCAA attendance at games is NOT going up.
In the last few years, large HD TV's have become inexpensive and all major games have live TV coverage.
Look at what is going on in our student section.
Michigan has been very lucky to date, but I'd bet that won't continue without a good product on the field. DB has to be worried.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:56 PM ^
Always amazes me there are those who INSIST someone else will buy tickets if I forego the opp. Stunningly, on the dynamic mgoblue.com link, I could have bought 6 tickets to the Nebraska game if I wanted to. And I can buy up to 4 tickets for the OSU game.
Akron was a different story altogether...and 2014 is filled with Akrons, not ND's and OSU's.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:08 PM ^
Buy tickets at Yost instead.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:11 PM ^
OSU tickets are still going for $145 per.
Who is buying these tickets? Ohio State fans.
If you don't buy them you can be damn sure someone else will. Except when we play the cupcakes.
November 11th, 2013 at 5:48 PM ^
I think somebody just won the Inter-net.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^
The people I've met in my section and become friends with over years are the primary reason it's more than just an economic argument for me. They're not bad business contacts either.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:21 PM ^
If you just enjoy going to the game, it financially makes more sense to not buy season tickets and then select (via StubHub, friends, etc) the 4-7 games you want to go that season. You will virtually always come out ahead (e.g., you won't waste $150 on that Akron game you really didn't want to go to, assuming you are buying two tickets).
However, there are many people who really enjoy their seat "mates" and that keeps them invested (as it were). Same if you are currently in a suite (which again, is big for kibitzing/deal-making).
But if that's not you, get rid of those tickets. Trust me, for the last few years and for the forseeable future, you'll be able to go to all the games you want for less money if you don't pay the PSD and ticket price.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:26 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 6:16 PM ^
It might have been close before the recent collapse, but as noted by Brian: you could get good tix for $50 the day before the game (and Nebraska was supposedly one of our "big" games), which is half off (if not more) if you count the amortized PSD price.
Personally, I would have been easily able to go--even in Sept/Oct--to all the games this year for less than it would cost me for a PSD and buying all the tix. I have a number of friends who have tix, so that helps, but I don't think that makes me unusual.
Perhaps if you are out of state, it would be hard, but for someone who lives in SE Mich, tix are always floating around.
November 11th, 2013 at 6:19 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 4:27 PM ^
The timing is horrible, not just given the poor performance of late, but mostly because of the low-grade 2014 schedule. Combine that with the new "Be a Victor" fundraising email from Dave Brandon today and even the UofM vs. A2 billboard battle and what comes out of the Athletic Department feels a lot like, "We don't give a shit about you or Ann Arbor...now give us money"
November 11th, 2013 at 4:27 PM ^
Based on the comments in this thread it may be a boycott of just me but I have already decided to not renew my four tickets next year. I will take my chances with Stubhub if (when?) there's a game I want to see in-person again.
I will watch on TV and root from my couch starting next year. Hoke-Borges have managed to crush my interest in something I've loved since I was about 10 years old ( i still remember watching the 69 OSU game with my dad). At least under RR I had hope things were getting better but now it's exactly the opposite. Things are getting worse and I have no idea where the bottom is yet but I dont think we've seen it and I'm damned sure I don't want to spend $3,000 for the priviledge of seeing us hit it in person.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:33 PM ^
This is the first year since freshman year of college I won't attend a home game. I tried to go in September, but it didn't work out. Only other option is for the Ohio game, and I've seen that game before in person, multiple times (Michigan receiving a beat down that is).
November 11th, 2013 at 5:08 PM ^
I hope Jabrill Peppers wins the Heisman in 2016, then poops on your lawn.
November 11th, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 9:29 PM ^
Thanks Clarkie - and I'm not alone.
November 11th, 2013 at 6:20 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 4:29 PM ^
Between the increases in PSD and game tickets, the horrific 3:30 start times, the lousy non-conference schedule, and bad coaching I',m inclined to stay away. God I hate 3:30 games with a passion. One or two early in the season okay but that's it.
November 11th, 2013 at 5:21 PM ^
What do you hate so much about 3:30 start times? I love them as a student and now as an alum.
November 11th, 2013 at 7:05 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^
Gave mine up after last season when they jacked up the donation. Not regreting it one bit. Didn't even regret it after the ND game. Trust me, you want to go to a game, there are almost always tickets available.