Why the Surge in Player & Athletic Department Urging Fan Attendance this Weekend? I Don't Think It's The Boycott
With all the talk on the board right now regarding players statements either directly requesting fan support (Jack Miller) or via the Michigan Facebook page featuring a Dennis Norfleet's quote I wondered if they were responding to the boycott or something else. So I went on StubHub and looked just now to see how many tickets were available this for each of this Saturday's B1G games. Here's what I found:
Illinois at Wisconsin- 778
Indiana at Iowa - 804
Northwestern at Minnesota - 804 (yup same number available as Indiana v Iowa)
MSU at Purdue - 906
Rutgers at OSU - 1636
Penn State at Michigan - 3904
I also just went on Mgoblue.com and requested 10 seats together and was able to secure the order meaning there are a LOT of unsold seats right now. There were also smaller quantities available all through the endzone and corner sections but the fact I could get 10 together for the marque home night game a mere three days before kick-off is not good.
I think that's why there's been a recent surge in player and athletic department urging for fan support this week. Not because of the threat of a boycott IMO - it's because they have a shit-ton of seats to sell by next Saturday night and they're competing with the current ticket holders who don't want to go the game to sell them.
October 7th, 2014 at 11:56 PM ^
with record pitchfork sales in the Ann Arbor area.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:16 AM ^
This surge also coincides with the return of the soft drink Surge. Coincidence? Or another carbonated beverage that can be used to give away football tickets?
October 8th, 2014 at 12:17 AM ^
The soft drink owned by Coca Cola. It all makes sense!
October 8th, 2014 at 12:33 AM ^
I know this is off topic, but anybody else notice Dave Brandon had a bottle of Coke Zero behind him in one of those interviews lol.
October 8th, 2014 at 2:08 AM ^
David Brandon wants to save his job. He knows a successful boycott will make the fecal strom that is deservedly raining down upon him even worse.
I can't wait until the worst AD in Michigan history is gone.
October 8th, 2014 at 9:17 AM ^
He isn't going to be gone without massive student and alumni encouragement. Look at the Regents' delaying their meeting. They are trying to push this issue off the table in support of the "Michigan Men" at the helm of this sinking ship. I suspect that they want to give Hoke another year and are happy with the performance of the rest of Michigan athletics. Plus, Brandon has money pouring in from the big donors. THAT is what the Regents care about.
October 8th, 2014 at 9:22 AM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 9:31 AM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
If only we had dynamic pricing so that the athletic department could respond to a lower demand and, thus, lower the prices of those tickets so all were sold. If only.
October 7th, 2014 at 11:58 PM ^
You don't think the availability of tickets could have anything to do with a boycott?
Edit: Obviously not the boycott the kickoff only one, but there was talk of people not going to anymore games, period, until Brandon is gone.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:26 AM ^
You mean people who stopped buying tickets to watch a terrible football team.
October 8th, 2014 at 4:10 AM ^
Umm, I'm no rocket surgeon, but my educated guess is that the Athletic Department is urging fan attendance (moreso than they might otherwise be) because of the uncharacteristically large number of available seats, which in turn is related to the boycott, the losing record, and the semi-independent disdain for the Athletic Director (and for some folks the coach too).
The boycott seems most directly related to disdain for the AD, though plenty of folks aren't formally boycotting but are tuning out due to apathy or not wanting to spend money to get punched in the dong again. If we just had a losing record with an AD we trusted and/or a coach we still had faith in we wouldn't have a boycott, nor so many empty seats. I'd say there's some shared variance among those factors, but also some degree of orthogonality.
October 8th, 2014 at 8:05 AM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 10:00 AM ^
+1 for use of "rocket surgeon." Oh and that other stuff you said too.
October 8th, 2014 at 10:26 AM ^
"Orthogonality"?
October 8th, 2014 at 12:49 PM ^
It's a statistical term meaning that independent variables have independent rather than overlapping/redundant effects on the dependent variable.
October 8th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
But will we see Rocket Man duirng the pre-game show?
October 8th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
But will we see Rocket Man duirng the pre-game show?
October 7th, 2014 at 11:57 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 1:45 AM ^
that is't what Hoke said, he said we can still win a championship. We did practice hard you know. So that has to mean something.
/s
October 8th, 2014 at 2:08 PM ^
Championships are just a statistic
October 8th, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^
He said they had to coach better too, so I'm assuming if he's a good coach, he will follow through with that plan.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:47 AM ^
All our goals are still in front of us. We can still win the LOL.
October 8th, 2014 at 8:38 AM ^
Are you implying that the stupid W-L "statistic" actually MEANS something in the context of the B1G Championship?
October 8th, 2014 at 12:03 AM ^
There's only one reason and one reason only I'm kind of looking forward to this impending debacle-
October 8th, 2014 at 12:05 AM ^
I didnt like those at first but they have started to grow on me a bit. I had completely forgotten about these uni's until you posted a reminder earlier today in another thread. Those are kinda cool.
October 8th, 2014 at 1:49 AM ^
I think you've been hypnotized.
+1 for the OP.
October 8th, 2014 at 7:28 AM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 8:43 AM ^
At first, I didn't like the uniform either, but the blue pants do look pretty cool. I do NOT like the lined numbers, though.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:18 AM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 4:13 AM ^
Why are the numbers all stripey? Aside from my disdain for messing with the best uniforms in football (especially for a home game), I don't hate these except for the prominently featured weird/ugly stripes.
October 8th, 2014 at 9:18 AM ^
I thought the striped numbers were supposed to make it easier to see them?
I am excited to buy this jersey, I think they look great. I prefer them to the other night game jerseys.
October 8th, 2014 at 5:37 AM ^
and the socks, get them some high-top black cleats, and i could watch those run around. but the scrolling numbers look like somebody vandalized the jersey. yech.
October 8th, 2014 at 8:43 AM ^
High top cleats? Are we back in the 90s now?
October 8th, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^
when i retired. they are the best.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:31 PM ^
That was soooo long ago, I wasn't even in high school yet. His point still stands.
October 8th, 2014 at 9:22 AM ^
Can't even bring myself to care about the uniforms anymore. Hell, it's not like anyone besides WD is going to buy jerseys during this tire fire of a season anyways. We'll never have to see them again. What IS the point of these travesties? Honestly. To get the players hyped up for the game because Hoke can't?
October 8th, 2014 at 10:16 AM ^
the Zubas-inspired background? Trying to take the eye away from the dreckery in the middle?
October 8th, 2014 at 11:31 AM ^
They make Michigan less recognizable. Maybe I'll finally be able to convince myself that I'm watching a different team play this poorly.
October 8th, 2014 at 12:12 AM ^
Anyone still want to keep Brandon??
October 8th, 2014 at 5:39 AM ^
over which, we shall pave' like a doctor suess book, does that still count?
October 8th, 2014 at 8:36 AM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 9:04 AM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 9:39 AM ^
October 8th, 2014 at 11:02 AM ^
in need of a shave?
October 8th, 2014 at 11:32 AM ^
for treating fans like slaves
his job won't be saved
after the admin caves
to say good by to hoke and dave
October 8th, 2014 at 12:13 AM ^
I was hanging out tonight with a friend who grew up in a PSU family. He was talking about looking at ticket prices for this weekend, and decided even though we're talking about 40 bucks to get in the game, he wasn't remotely interested. The entire discussion turned into "my team sucks more."
At the end of the day, who cares what time it kicks off? You can dress this up with as many goofy uniformz and stupid gimmicks you want. At the end of the day, if both teams blow, who gives a shit? I'm getting on a bus at 5AM to get to this game, and right now, I'm really wondering why I'm going to even bother. The whole system is broken. At this point, who cares?