Empty seats

From my perspective in the student section, I thought it was pretty full and the students were engaged in the game. I did see some people leave once the game was in control and the weather turned. We also walked down 2 or 3 times during the game.

A lot of it is just the overhang on the back wall. I thought that at first two but when you look closely it was maybe just a row or two. I think everyone just moves up and fills in. I thought it was the loudest it's been in ten years Saturday and a great environment.

The students have always "compressed" to the front.  Only recently have we seen empty rows up top, so they are behaving differently than students of the past with regard to attendance at games.  I'm not going to worry about it.   They didn't show up in the 60s and early 70s either.  Start winning again and the stadium will be full.
 

We have 3 season tickets which cost enough but once a year we have a family day which usually means buying about another 6 after market.  This year it's the BYU game and it isn't cheap.  Take into account parking, tailgating, MDen, concessions and it's always well over a $1,000 day for us in addition to what we've already paid for the season tix.  For my wife who is alumni, I, a lifelong fan and our family it's worth it.  To many it's understandably not.  Just as easy and often more comfortable watching at home or your favourite bar.  

As for changing times, several of my wife's family are alumni and we know several current students and the student mindset about game day has changed.

Those empty seats will slowly start filling as we become a more relevant program.

Go Blue

It does seem like the students pack in a bit more and stand, but for really big games the whole section is full so I'm not 100% sure why it was empty Saturday.

I don't know why people ask this question every year..
1.
Students Pregame before a game and do not end up making it.
2. Not everyone buys student tickets
3. Some kids need to study... (I don't know why on a Saturday)

Damn kids these days. You're meaning to tell me after a Friday night of staying out at Skeep's and Rick's that they aren't in any shape to show up to a noon game? You mean to tell me that drinking off their hangover these kids don't want to stand and watch our team?

It's hard out there for a college kid these days...

Was available this year, $240 for four seats, hot dogs and beverages. We've talked about in previous threads cheap parking so it seems like there are definitely options available. Sure, for the more marquee games maybe it's more expensive, but if you're bringing family out for the first time this game seemed like a great opportunity

When we were students. We were there for kickoff and stayed to the end. Its was great watching all the extras getting into the game for playing time. I look at this as a privilege. Never understood the late arrivals and early departs. This approach continues to this day and never miss a game ... good times or infrequent bad times.

Disappointing. When I was a student, all of 13 years ago, we were never late. And, as an adult with 2 kids 3 years old, a 55hr/week job, a wife who works as much, I can make it on time. Why can't an 18 year old with none of those responsibilities?

when I used to go to home games, there were countless adults near me who would leave at halftime or when the game was out of hand. I always wondered why people who paid good money for tickets would only be there for half of the game.

It's not so unusual for an early fall game against an underwhelming opponent to attract a less than capacity crowd.  Even back in the early 2000's, you could always count on having some space to stretch out when Eastern Michigan or Miami, OH came to town.  I imagine the student section will look more full in the future when student ticket sales climb back to the historical highs, which they're bound to do once Harbaugh is fully implemented.

It's those damn kids with their fax machines, dial-up internets and CD players. Too busy watching music videos on MTV, than to go to a Michigan football game.

leaves 5-10 rows light. not something new.

I've had a theory for a few years that as U-M has enrolled more and more out of state students over the last decade or so, it's become more socially acceptable to arrive late and leave early. Put another way, the party that surrounds the game is the action and the game itself is a bonus, especially the way the last few seasons have gone.

When I was a student, my buddies and I all were Michigan natives and lifelong fans so it was unthinkable for us to miss out on any of the game or the pageantry. We might forget that there is now a significant chunk of the student body who didn't grow up that way, and for whom M is just the college they ended up going to. Doesn't make it right, but hopefully some of them will become great fans someday.

...empty seats.

The so called "empty" seats in the student section are in part due to students with seats at the top not sitting in their seats and cramming down lower into the bowl.  In other words, lot of the so called empty seats sold tickets with the student ticket owner actually in attendance, but crammed down into rows lower in the bowl.

The Big House seating was reduced by about 2,000 this year for some reason.

Fact:  students on average take up less space on bleacher benches than older folks (who have gained a few pounds on average).

Solution:  Make more seating in the NW corner (student section) by reducing the inches per seat a bit and, thereby, add a few seats to each bleacher row.

This will (1) discourge/reduce students cramming down into the lower bowl (at least before some students leave to go party), and (2) recoup the seating capacity lost this year.

IIRC, the seats in the entire stadium were re-numbered a few years ago to add a few inches to each seat.  They did not need to do that for the student seats.

Part of the issue with student ticket sales is that with Michigan becomming more and more of a national/world university, you end up with a larger percentage of students who didn't grow up with Michigan football, or, in the case of foreign students, perhaps didn't grow up with football at all. It's not like at regional schools like MSU where 85% of the student body comes from Michigan/the midwest and thus has had familiarity with MSU football from a young age. 

The students have not come, come late, leave early for a while now. Sell more tickets to alumni and get rid of the top of the student section people who text the entire game. While Brandon was wrong about the way he went about it, he was right about student attendance sucking. It's sad to see the apathy towards the game from these students when they go to one of college football's greatest programs.