Something not mentioned yet: Students being on time
I haven't seen anyone mention this yet, but for the most part the student section was mostly full at kickoff. A nice sight to see.
Did they change anything? I know they got rid of the GA but did they do anything else?
Could it be that the ones that showed up on time are ones that are actually there for the game and shrinking the student section cut out some ''deadweight'' (ones that show up late because they want to keep tailgating)?
August 31st, 2014 at 6:25 PM ^
No problem. It wasn't very publicized so I had a feeling not many students knew. The short version is 6 points for being 30+ minutes early and 3 points for showing up at all. AD counts your 6 highest scored games and that is what determines seating order for next season.
August 31st, 2014 at 8:01 PM ^
attendance at other athletic events also added to the point total for students. That's the info I got from a friend of mine whose son is just starting his sophomore year at U of M; he told me his son went to as many basketball, hockey, baseball, softball, and other sports events as possible whenever he could squeeze one in between class and studying. The reward for doing so was pretty good---row 16, just to the left of the Marching Band. (And kept his grades up, too!)
August 31st, 2014 at 8:23 PM ^
That very well may be true, I'll have to look into that
August 31st, 2014 at 4:53 PM ^
You can tailgate and show up to the game early.
August 31st, 2014 at 6:32 PM ^
I was walking down Hoover from State toward the stadium at 11:20am. The street was a sea of students clad in maize. I commented to my companion that it was a surprisingly large flow for that early. I also heard others comment on how big the crowd moving toward the stadium was at that time.
I think they showed up early and well.
August 31st, 2014 at 8:33 PM ^
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August 31st, 2014 at 8:52 PM ^
Many of those students may be among those who opted not to get tix. If the reduction in student ticket purchases results in an increase in the percentage of students in seats at kickoff and has no negative effect on party attendance even after kickoff...win win.
August 31st, 2014 at 6:35 PM ^
I was happy with the turnout. Hopefully it continues.
The one complaint I have on this topic is that they've now reserved the whole northeast entrance (the most popular one) for the students. I don't think that's necessary. For non-students it's an extra hike around the side to get in.
September 1st, 2014 at 2:04 AM ^
August 31st, 2014 at 7:20 PM ^
has been decreased? How much was the decrease?
August 31st, 2014 at 9:04 PM ^
Allotted isn't the right word. The AD still let any student buy a ticket that wanted one. But 2,000 less than normal chose not to buy a ticket. Those tickets are getting pushed to general public.
August 31st, 2014 at 10:36 PM ^
Technically, part of a section was reallocated from student ticket to regular ticket sales (presumably in anticipation of expected lower student ticket sales). And the number of student season ticket sales actually dropped by about 6,000 this year.
See quote below from MLive article New seating policy gets mixed reviews from University of Michigan students
This year’s adjustment was made in an attempt to counteract a nearly 10-percent drop in student season ticket sales from the 22,000 sold in 2012 to about 19,000 in 2013.
The student seating areas Saturday appeared relatively full, although officials said earlier they had expected ticket sales to students to drop to roughly 13,000 for this year. Also, a part of section 32, formerly reserved for students has been given over to regular ticket sales.
August 31st, 2014 at 9:10 PM ^
Logsitics likely played a large role in the appearance of the student section. Last year was the worst I've ever seen and that can be explained 100% by Dave Brandon's amazingly stupid seating policy.
When you have to funnel ticket holders through multiple checkpoints, and then squeze them, seat by seat into numerically ordered rows...it's going to look empty in the higher rows that aren't yet full.
On the flip side, if you don't treat students like dogshit and let them sit where they want (or where tickets indicate), you end up with students fairly spread out over the rows. I sit on the visitors ~20 and the student section looked good, but I'm sure that there was plenty of space (just like in my section). It's just a matter of having 30 completely empty rows (easy to see on TV) vs random empty seats all over the place (difficult to notice on TV). Too bad Brandon didn't have someone in his crew explain the basics of event production last year; we wouldn't have lost so many future season ticket holders.