Ticket Procurement Advice

Submitted by Blue2000 on

I'm heading to Ann Arbor this week to (hopefully) take my 6 and 3-year old boys to their first Michigan game on Saturday.  We don't yet have tickets.  We're also bringing with us some friends who have their own 6-year old, and so we're looking for 9-10 tickets.  I've been told by a few people that have more recent game-going experience than I that I should be able to scalp tickets on either the day before or the day of.  So a few questions:

 

1.  Any thoughts on whether that is correct, and waiting until the day of is my best bet?  (As opposed to say, buying them early via the UM ticket office, SeatGeek, etc.)

2.  Assuming that it is, will I be able to get 10 tickets together via that method?

3.  Assuming that it is, is there a particular location at which I'll have the best luck shopping?  Back when I was a student, I recall the front of the Union being very active.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

 

evenyoubrutus

August 25th, 2014 at 9:55 AM ^

Yes I am sure you will. If there is a cut-off I can't imagine it is over the age of 2.

One way to gauge it is if your younger son is able to watch an entire movie without getting up?  I took my 4 year old to the practice last Saturday and he was more enthused by playing hide and seek under the benches than watching what was going on on the field.  He actually wanted to go after about 20 minutes.  

1blockradius

August 25th, 2014 at 12:47 PM ^

I consider myself a pretty die hard UofM football fan.  I went to the breakfast / practice thing they had on Saturday as well and even I couldn't sit through the whole thing!   Not that it would make a difference to a kid, but pretty boring and it's not like the crowd had any type of reactions to anything to get you back involved.

An Angelo's Addict

August 25th, 2014 at 9:37 AM ^

You can definitely scalp some tickets on game day around the stadium but I don't think there is any likely scenario that you will be able to scalp 10 together. You may be able to scalp 2-3 seats next to each other but 10 would be near impossible.

CRISPed in the DIAG

August 25th, 2014 at 9:53 AM ^

I took my kids to plenty of football, baseball and hockey games dating back to when they barely walk.  They don't remember the games.  My advice would be to find a sitter for this weekend and wait until they are 8 or 9 years old.

MGoSoCal

August 25th, 2014 at 10:40 AM ^

My pregnant wife and I took our 18-month old daughter to the B Dubs Bowl and she really enjoyed watching the band, fireworks, music, and everything. She crashed near the end of the 3rd quarter though.

With that being said, just my wife and I will be going to a game in September. My parents will be watching both of our kids. I think I'm going to take both of my kids to the Utah game next year. I'll just take a long weekend off from work and we'll drive up to Salt Lake City from San Diego.

I can appreciate your advice but I just can't bring myself to wait to bring my kids to Michigan games for another 7 or so years....

CRISPed in the DIAG

August 25th, 2014 at 1:48 PM ^

Michigan Stadium is a difficult place to manage a 2-6 year-old child, IMHO.  There's little room to spread out when they start to fidget.  And the aisles are long climbs to get out to the concourse, etc.  I'm pretty we all had a good time at other venues.  And it is satisfying to know, for example, that I took both of my daughters to Tiger Stadium during its last year.  But all things equal, the experiences didn't likely have the impact or the memories compared to the games we now are able to attend.  

bartman

August 25th, 2014 at 10:08 AM ^

You will not be able to get 10 tix together. You will pay a premium if you are able to find more than 4 seats together, whether it is from stubhub(or any website) or a scalper. Your best bet is to get tix on Saturday, but be prepared to be separated from the others in your group.

MGoSoCal

August 25th, 2014 at 10:17 AM ^

I'll be taking my wife to her first game at the Big House in September. I took a bullet and went on StubHub and bought a pair of tickets for about $300 to the Minnesota game. We'll be sitting in Sideline 22, Row 21. I did a little searching on the Google and read over some old threads on MGoBlog about the best seats in the House. Seemed like there wasn't a whole lot of agreement on where newbies should sit for the first time.

MGoBlue didn't give us very many options for purchasing tickets and I didn't want to gamble with ticket scalpers on game day.

On a side note, her first game was the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl last year and I'm hoping the Minnesota game will leave a different taste in her mouth for live football games. While the result of the game was unfortunate, I'm glad that we can look back and say that we watched Lewan and Gallon play in their last game in addition to watching Morris start his first game.

HartAttack20

August 25th, 2014 at 10:18 AM ^

In my experience the majority of scalpers have sets of two together, and sometimes you can find people selling 3 or 4. That's about it. I can't imagine finding 10 together from a scalper would even be possible. It seems like it'd be pretty hectic with that many people together anyway. I'd recommend just having each person scalp individually, but if sitting together is that important go on stubhub.

maizemama

August 25th, 2014 at 10:24 AM ^

My family buys all of our tickets together and we have 8 together. I usually sell them in pairs or 4s, but I have sold all 8 together before. I wish I could help you, but we're actually all going together this weekend! Try StubHub, I think waiting until game day is too dicey for that many people. Also, you could try Craigslist.

Hoke is the ne…

August 25th, 2014 at 10:32 AM ^

Call DB, rumor has it he is looking for ticket buyers.  

 

But seriously, obtaining 10 tickets together is highly unlikely via scalping and you will have to split up the seats.  However, you will probably get better pricing if you split it up.  As for favorable locations, depends on how close to kickoff you want to cut it.  Earlier in the day/morning, go to the Union/State Street area.  If closer to kickoff (within an hour) go towards the stadium.  

Good luck.