No Record Attendance for MSU?

Submitted by HHW on

Noticed on MGoBlue boxscore that the attendance was listed at 113,065 for Saturday's game.  How is it possible that the game against our in state rival did not top the mark of 113,090 for the dedication game against UCONN?  Are they not counting the press box and everyone with credentials?  I thought it was a no brainer that they would break 114,000.

KevbosLastingLessons

October 11th, 2010 at 3:15 PM ^

the number is an estimate. and by the time they announced it, msu looked like they were gonna hold on and win. they didnt want to give msu the pleasure of winning in front of the largest crowd ever. if michigan was winning by 17 at that point, it would be closer to 114000 i bet. 

jcgary

October 11th, 2010 at 3:30 PM ^

I completely agree with you.  I have a cousin who worked in Notre Dame's ticket office and she told me the same thing.  They take every ticket sold and then also count basically everyone within the gates of the stadium that didn't need a ticket.  However, it is an educated estimate and if it looks like the home team is going to lose then they will not break a record. 

M-Wolverine

October 12th, 2010 at 12:29 AM ^

I can't imagine we didn't beat it. As people have said about the traffic, I can't remember the last time I saw that many people in town for a game.  Going back a long time. And every media member in the State was in the same place, rather than split between two locals.  We had to have more. They had to have fudged it so we didn't have the biggest of all time be an MSU win.

mvp

October 11th, 2010 at 4:34 PM ^

Don't know who negged the above comment or why, but my understanding is that it is correct.  The major factor is tickets sold, not people through turnstiles.  Then, everyone else is counted, then the total is estimated.

Also, pay close attention to the words.  After 2007 they stopped saying "xth consecutive sellout" and changed it to "xth consecutive 100,000+ game."

Nothing wrong with it in my opinion, but there is clearly estimation going on with the numbers.

In reply to by mvp

jmblue

October 11th, 2010 at 8:33 PM ^

I don't think we ever called it a sellout streak.  Some reporters might have called it that, but if so, they were making a mistake.  We've always used the "__th consecutive crowd of over 100,000."   We've had a few games against weak opponents that most likely weren't sold out, and in the '95 Virginia game (which was not part of the season-ticket package) the announced crowd was slightly below-capacity - 101,444.

http://stats.ath.umich.edu/football/gametot.php?gkey=505

mgoblue52

October 11th, 2010 at 3:22 PM ^

Given that our capacity will fall once the widen the aisles, I'm kinda glad that the largest crowd in Michigan Stadium didn't witness an M loss.... either way, the Big Chill will beat all these records because I think some people will be on the field.

mvp

October 11th, 2010 at 4:38 PM ^

It was my worst (non-construction) game-day trip down US-23 ever.  We were about 4 hours before game time, and it took 50 minutes to get the last 8 miles down 23.  Ugh.  Fortunately, apparently all Sparty knows is 23 to 14 to Main Street.  Miller/Maple was not much worse than normal.

NeilGoBlue

October 11th, 2010 at 6:35 PM ^

I think there were a lot more people in the concession areas in the suite and club levels.  Probably double what there was for the MSU game.. Kind of like when you open a restaurant and they are way overstaffed. 

Dan TrueBlue

October 11th, 2010 at 6:42 PM ^

If it's not true that they fudged the numbers down because of the loss (above), then the last minute ticket prices may have had something to do with it.  Often, the prices come down a little in the final week, and even more in the last 24 hours before a game.  For this game, they just kept shooting up and up.  I remember checking StubHub several times and having trouble finding anything for less than $300.