Effect of moving OSU game?

Submitted by will on

I was talking with my buddy last night about the upcoming OSU game and he commented that this may be one of the last years he will be able to make it to the game, as he always travels to see family for thanksgiving weekend.

I hadn't really thought about the impact of this, as I rarely go to The Game in person, but it got me to thinking: how will the change in schedule affect ticket prices and crowd participation in coming years?

I live in Ohio and out of state tuition made going to U of M an impossibility, so when Miami offered me a full ride, I took them up on it. Now I know Miami and U of M are both small schools, but I dont know how similar the student population is. At Miami, the campus was DEAD on 3 day or holiday weekends. I rarely left on these weekends, but even I was only on campus for one thanksgiving weekend.

Will having The Game on thanksgiving weekend mean more students will be likely to sell their tickets as they are going home to see familiy? or will more parents come to campus to see the game?

Will alumni be any more/less likely to go?

Thoughts?

Will

Desmondo

October 30th, 2009 at 9:21 AM ^

First of all, Michigan is not a small school.

Anyhow, the game would be on Thanksgiving weekend once a decade or so anyway. Most recently, it happened in 2001. The stadium was still full, including the student section.

Desmondo

October 30th, 2009 at 9:28 AM ^

I know. I was just pointing out that the most recent relevant data point indicates that people will still show up.

Beyond that, it keeps the program (and conference) relevant longer, allows for a bye week during the season, and prevents the month and a half long delays before some bowl games.

This is a tremendous move on every level.

Away Goal

October 30th, 2009 at 1:33 PM ^

I've been thinking this would be a good idea for a couple of years now for these reasons.
Nail on head:

"Beyond that, it keeps the program (and conference) relevant longer, allows for a bye week during the season, and prevents the month and a half long delays before some bowl games.

This is a tremendous move on every level."

If this really is the big game it makes a lot of sense to have that extra week to get everyone healthier.

BlueintheLou

October 30th, 2009 at 1:20 PM ^

How is this the result of "expanded" B10 schedule? I looked over the next three seasons and we still have 8 B10 games. I see that The Game is pushed back, but is this the result of a 9th B10 game and a bye or just a bye? Because I still see 4 OOC and 8 B10 games. I'm confused. Forgive my naivete.

Desmondo

October 30th, 2009 at 1:37 PM ^

"Expanded" just means that the Big Ten added an extra week in to the schedule. It gives us a bye week, and pushes the conference schedule end date back one week. No extra games or anything, just spread over more weekends.

maxr

October 30th, 2009 at 9:44 AM ^

My freshman year was 2001, when they had to move the game back a week because of 9/11. I'm from Philly, and had already bought my plane ticket to go home for Thanksgiving, and thus was forced to sell my ticket :(

So, yes, permanently moving the game back might result in out-of-stater students not going as much. However, if I'd known in advance that the game would be pushed back a week in 2001, I would've simply booked a return ticket for the Friday night or something. People will adjust, it'll just be annoying because they won't be able to spend the entire weekend at home.

bigmc6000

October 30th, 2009 at 9:22 AM ^

It won't change anything except it'll be more likely to be cold. Neither school is in session for the 2 days before but it's still going to be packed to the brim because it's OSU-UM. It actually makes it more likely that I could go tho as I actually get some time off from work for Thanksgiving that I normally wouldn't.

ATX Wolverine

October 30th, 2009 at 9:23 AM ^

"Now I know Miami and U of M are both small schools"

Um...Michigan has north of 41K students. I don't think you could describe that as a small school. The campus definitely empties out for long weekends (especially Thanksgiving), but I'm sure there won't be any problem filling up the stadium for OSU. It's still OSU.

befuggled

October 30th, 2009 at 9:31 AM ^

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but past OSU games have fallen on Thanksgiving weekend. For instance, I believe the 1995 game was played after Thanksgiving. I remember because we had Thanksgiving with my dad, who couldn't make the game and wound up giving his tickets away.

The 1985 game might have been after Thanksgiving as well. I was going to Miami at the time but was home in 1985 to go to the OSU game.

CriticalFan

October 30th, 2009 at 9:44 AM ^

because of that. Everyone in the thread has said that they never had a shortage of takers for Ohio State games. Every year it's the most well-attended home game of the season, despite the temperatures/occasional non-competitiveness. And when it is competitive and means something extra (1997, 2006) it's even harder to get a ticket.

TheIcon34

October 30th, 2009 at 9:45 AM ^

They played on thanksgiving night traditionally and moved to the day after for a while. Now, I think the game is back to thanksgiving nights for the 2nd year now. The game will always be a sell out, even if both teams have lost all games.

The Michigan and Ohio game will be the same way, they will always sell out regardless of the date and time. If they played at 3 am on Christmas day, a week long after all the students have left and forced out of their dorms, the game will still sell out.

All-N-4-Michigan

October 30th, 2009 at 9:48 AM ^

So I will likely have to work for every Michigan/OSU game on the Saturday following Black Friday. I am going to have to break down and fork over the extra $10/month for the DVR receiver. Oh, and probably no more parties like I am used to as well.

Such is life......

Brodie

October 30th, 2009 at 9:55 AM ^

It may well ruin my traditional Thanksgiving plans every other year, but attendance is never an issue. There are a long list of season ticket holders who have never been to an OSU game because they can fund next years purchase plus by selling them.

TrppWlbrnID

October 30th, 2009 at 10:05 AM ^

i live out of town and coming back to family in michigan and for thanksgiving on back to back weekends is virtually impossible. this will be a great new tradition.

michigan football + eating for two straight hours = nirvana.

pz

October 30th, 2009 at 10:29 AM ^

In my opinion, this would be an EXCELLENT option.

While there is a risk that it could be bad weather (in my mind, that is actually a plus), you can ensure that students can all be there, AND you can build in a bye week over Thanksgiving to build hype / get players healthy, etc, etc.

This should be formally proposed somehow.

HeismanPose

October 30th, 2009 at 10:51 AM ^

Absolutely agree. Schools should not play home games when students are on break. This makes no sense to me.

I've mentioned this before, but I'm from NY (as are thousands of other UM students) and I would have never be able to see the UM-OSU game if it was played Thanksgiving weekend when I was at Michigan. That's a travesty.

I also think the players from out of town (and there are many of them, too) should have the opportunity to travel home to see their families for Thanksgiving. They're just kids, many of them away from home for the first time in their lives. I realize this is a bit naive, though.

Edit: but it won't effect ticket sales or attendance at all. There will just be a lot more locals.

brendandavis22

October 30th, 2009 at 10:32 AM ^

i don't think pushing a game back 7 days is really going to increase the chance of bad weather that much. is nov. 21st really that much nicer of a day than nov. 28th? i think this is great b/c it keeps the big ten as a whole on the radar that last week of the season. now if we could just add a 12th team (Pitt!) and a conf. championship game we'd actually be in the 2000's!

pz

October 30th, 2009 at 10:27 AM ^

I was an out-of-state freshman in 2001 when the season was pushed back a week - I traveled back to make it up to the game, but many many other friends could not make it back, which is really unfortunate.

I know that students should know better, make every effort to attend, blah, blah, blah (I went back, and always would, but there are those who wouldn't or couldn't), but I think that scheduling a game just after Thanksgiving really sucks for non-local students. For many of those students, Thanksgiving is the only opportunity for them to see family prior to winter break. I'm opposed to the shift because it limits the # of students who can make it to the game.

However, I am more opposed to the shift for another reason...

The student section for the game in 2001 was absolutely TERRIBLE. By far the worst of my career as a student and of many returns to the student section since graduating. It was PACKED with buckeye fans who had picked up student tickets for next to nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 30-40% OSU fans.

That said, it was before ticket validation and all that, which could reduce the negative impact, but anyway, the student section WILL be negatively affected by moving the game back.

MGoPacquiao

October 30th, 2009 at 3:21 PM ^

Obviously that was a weird year. Probably more people stayed home with family than normally would if there was a game Saturday after Thanksgiving. And our somewhat mediocre team, with Navarre at his worst, was not much to get excited about.

Yostal

October 30th, 2009 at 10:27 AM ^

Because of how the home schedules set up, this means that in odd numbered years, you will have the killer double header of Michigan/OSU at noon and Michigan/Wisconsin in the College Hockey Showcase at 8:05(ish) (unless they decide to move that game to Sunday, which could happen if BTN got involved.)

will

October 30th, 2009 at 10:39 AM ^

From my experience (which has not included a game yet this year) the student section was one of the only loud sections.

Do you guys think who replaces the students who do not attend because they went home for vacation will likely be more of the older alumni who dont stand or cheer unless their knees hurt from sitting too long, or your average fan who may actually make some noise - or worse yet, OSU fans buying up tickets from students just looking to make a buck?

OMG Shirtless

October 30th, 2009 at 10:43 AM ^

A few things that may help the situation: (Most have been touched on in some way)

Everyone knows well in advance that the game will be Thanksgiving weekend. In 2001 I don't remember exactly when they announced how the schedule would change but obviously it wasn't until mid September making changing plane reservations more difficult.

The students have fall break now. So there is an additional 4 day weekend students can use to go home, making it more likely that people just take a quick Wed-Friday trip home the week of Thanksgiving. Or skip it all together. I know every family treats Thanksgiving differently, but during college it seemed like there was always at least one group of friends that tried to create their own Thanksgiving dinner so they could be like "Friends" the TV show.

As you already mentioned ticket validation will cut down on those fucking buckeyes in the section.

turbo cool

October 30th, 2009 at 10:49 AM ^

The big house will still be packed to the brim but there will be less students. At least a 1/4 of them are only going to the games because it's what you do on a Saturday without knowing anything about the team. I can see a lot of those kids just going home.

Alton

October 30th, 2009 at 10:52 AM ^

Michigan played Ohio State on Thanksgiving Weekend in 1918, 1939, 1940, 1944, 1945, 1950, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1989, 1990, 1995 and 2001.

Three of those years--1918, 1963 and 2001--the game was postponed from earlier for reasons beyond the schools' control. The other 16 were scheduled that way.

I don't think there was much "impact" on the game in any of those years, except maybe 1950.

schaubbie

October 30th, 2009 at 12:11 PM ^

Watching my Detroit Lions get whipped on Thursday while I slip into a tryptophan-induced food coma, then waking up on Saturday morning to get ready for the ultimate party of the year? Beautiful! Better than Christmas morning!
Do it... Do it.