John U. Bacon article on decreasing student attendance and game experience at Mich. Stadium

Submitted by BRBLUE on

Thought this was a pretty interesting read, makes some vaild points on why students are frustrated and not showing up and why the game day experience should be more for what the fan pays. What are your thoughts?

http://johnubacon.com/2014/06/the-real-reasons-why-students-and-others-are-bailing-on-michigan-football-tickets/

wolverinemk

June 6th, 2014 at 8:33 AM ^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHf4hYt9Lko (forward video to 4:55)

Actually we had this same problem with the students 20 years ago. 

ST number sold:

1993 - 20,000 

1994 - 18,000

1995 - 16,000

According to the video (student television) lack of home schedule, losing (two straight 8-4 seasons) and ticket prices were the main reasons. So basically the same problems we have now. 

Mr. Yost

June 6th, 2014 at 5:21 PM ^

But at the same time there would be other students ready to come to the games if we were

1. Winning
2. Playing a decent schedule
3. Had a Woodson/Denard type player

...so if you're suggestion that it's out of protest for Dave Brandon, sure...but I call bullshit. For every student that doesn't come because of Brandon...3 more WOULD come because of the factors I just mentioned. It's easy to protest when you're not getting even ONE of those three things. And maybe the same people would continue to boycott, so what, there would be a line of students at the stadium if we were undefeated playing good teams and we had a once in a generation player. 2 of those 3 is generally enough at Michigan.

Mgoscottie

June 6th, 2014 at 5:39 PM ^

ends up at least at a Denard level of popularity.  If they had won the ohio game last year we'd be enamored with the heart he played with all year and the legend of him winning on a broken foot would be legendary.  

I think he might pull something magical out this year.

micheq

June 6th, 2014 at 10:14 AM ^

Fantastic post -- the parallels here are really striking.  The video also notes the national trend in falling sales and the back-to-back final four seasons in Michigan basketball, which is almost identical to the current situation.  And the two-year drop of 4,000 isn't so different from the projected drop from last year of 5,000-6,000. 

ontarioblue

June 6th, 2014 at 7:08 AM ^

There are lots of Michigan fans who are fed up with the ticket prices, the PSL, the crappy schedule and the poor product we have seen on the field. This team has to start winning and keep winning. Mediocracy is what we are and that is unacceptable.

Felix.M.Blue

June 6th, 2014 at 7:20 AM ^

One good / great season in 5 or 6 years isn't going to cut it. 

I was looking back through all-time records and such and Michigan has lost so much ground it's depressing.

In 95 I thought of the breaking of the 100K streak against Purdue but that was because weather conditions. There was no way there were 100K in the stands that day. This year it might be for real.

 

doughboy

June 6th, 2014 at 9:29 AM ^

Probably the worst weather conditions I've watched a Michigan game in.  Rain & Sleet & Snow & Wind throughout the whole game.  My wife set us up with winter gear and the ever-fashionable garbage bags over our coats.  I think the final score was 5-3 good guys.  

French West Indian

June 6th, 2014 at 1:56 PM ^

...not just Michigan.  It's college football that is generating less interest because it's been relentlessly fucked with in the past 10 years or so and a lot of old fans (like me) are just tired of it.

Here's a list of things to blame:

-Conference expansion

-Playoffs (and the shitty BCS before it)

-12 game seasons

-Uniformz

-Games nearly every day of the week

-Revolting scandals like PSU and even the Gibbons/Lewan shenigans closer to home

-And even just the relentless talk of player unions & paid athletes

There's probably more...but clearly the carefree-bit-of-Saturday-afternoon-escapism-with-the-tradition-that-links-generations luster has worn off.

Oh, and factor rising ticket prices (and tuition too) in the face are a relatively stagnant ecomonic environment and, yeah, is it really any surprise that attendence and interest are beginning to suffer?

Mr. Yost

June 6th, 2014 at 5:40 PM ^

But these are not reasons the general public doesn't come to games.

You listed all of these and didn't list one of the main factors...MONEY. Ticket prices and the fact that we have HDTV and can watch every game from home are a huge reason for a decline.

Alabama doesn't do UNIFORMZ and they're just fine...Oregon does do UNIFORMZ and they're just fine.

You've made a personal list of reasons on why YOU have been less interested. Half of those things you mentioned have no significant impact on people attending games. Too many bowl games? That not general opinion. Every league has scandal...if that bothers you then you shouldn't watch sports. There are literally major scandal or issues in every single league right now. Sterling, Hernandez/Irsay, racist Bruins fans, labor issues in Qatar, UNC academics, Sandusky or Union. I mean come on, MLB and NASCAR are the only two where I couldn't think of something off the top of my head.

As a personal list...that's fine, that's you. But the general public doesn't seriously care about most of those. If they did...they wouldn't be issues. Nike doesn't make UNIFORMZ if no one likes or buys them. Or at least dislikes them enough to take action over it. Michigan could be undefeated playing undefeated OSU and we could wear something even worse than the bumblebee uniforms and that stadium would be PACKED.

MGoStrength

June 7th, 2014 at 9:03 AM ^

I was born in AA, but I've never been back since being a young kid and have never been to a game there.  But, I've been to plenty of games at PSU and one thing I remember every time I go to a game.  You know what's going on, but you don't really know how it happened.  Even though the atmosphere, experience, and tailgating is awesome, you don't see much of the actual game.  With how awesome HDTVs are and HD cable you see everything.  You know exactly what happened every minute of the game.  When you go to watch a game in person you don't get that.  Granted, you never will, but I never noticed how big of a difference that was until I had HD cable.  Schools need to do more to overcome this and give gans a better experience and a better price.  I'd pay to go see my favorite team any chance given, but not everyone is as fanatical as we are.

Superjay

June 6th, 2014 at 7:48 AM ^

with this quote:
"Treat your fans like customers long enough, and eventually they’ll start behaving that way, reducing their irrational love for their team to a cool-headed, dollars-and-cents decision to buy tickets or not, with no more emotional investment than deciding whether to go to the movies."

I used to blindly renew season tickets as fast as the info envelope came in the mail. Both as a student, then as a regular fan. Even when PSLs came out, there wasn't much pause for reflection on the decision. But now? Michigan football doesn't love me so much as it loves my money, and while maybe it's always been that way, Dave Brandon's Brand has made that fact painfully obivous. And that is when you finally take a step back. Now, instead of pride and excitement when I give them my money for tickets, I somewhat feel like a sucker. And it's depressing to come to that realization about something you love so much.

Evil Empire

June 6th, 2014 at 8:55 AM ^

The seat cushion stunt last summer is a great example.  Some revenue-maximizing genius decided to prohibit fans bringing in seat cushions (listed on the "safety" exclusions) while allowing fans to "rent" an affixed seat cushion for $6/game, but the price was going up a few days later.  I wrote a scathing email to the athletic department.  It was some of my best work, but I must not have been the only one.  The seat cushion rule was off the website the next day.

 

In my email I recommended that the athletic department stop treating the loyal fans like ATMs.  Pretty much what Bacon and you said.

Njia

June 6th, 2014 at 9:44 AM ^

To borrow MGrowOld's phrase, while Disney has made some "mind-numbingly stupid decisions" (FP+, anyone?) they are very good at understanding what the Disney brand means to people on an emotional level and the associated customer expectations and value proposition of the brand. Every single person working for the entire company is focused on delivering to those expectations. That's precisely the opposite of what Brandon has done.

StephenRKass

June 6th, 2014 at 10:09 AM ^

But we skipped it when in Florida for a week. Our 12 year old twins were thrilled with Universal Studios, Sea World, and days at the beach, swimming, fishing, at the pool. Disney priced themselves out of our market. I remember talking to a Disney chef about how all Disney food is priced 20% above market rates, because they have you captive.

This is about how I feel regarding Michigan football. Between the 5 hour drive drive and the price gouging, for a game with a lousy opponent, with overpriced tickets, where you can't bring in a seat cushion, or sealed bottled water, or a full size camera with a zoom lens, when I can watch the game in comfort, with DVR, so as to start an hour after kickoff and skip through interminable commercials, run to the fridge for a drink, have my legs up, and go to a clean bathroom with no line, it gets less and less attractive to have the "gameday experience."

The gameday experience for me involved the smell of brats on the grill, and buying a half gallon of fresh cider, and the drum line, and walking in to the stands, with the band playing gloriously, and a group of brass roving around after halftime, and the band eating crates of fresh apples, and the smooth sound of the announcers, and seeing scalped tickets ranging from $5 to $50, and cheering some other sports champions or long gone alumni announced for some honor during halftime. Some of those things still happen. But some of it is eclipsed by the glitz and the noise and the corporateness and shininess of it all.

I live in Chicago, and I've never been to a Bears game. I mean, I'll watch them on TV, but I'm not spending what it costs to go. Now, the Bears are starting to look like a comparable value and experience to going to a Michigan game. And I'm not happy about that.

umumum

June 6th, 2014 at 11:55 AM ^

are a real issue.  Food at the stadium has always been unnecessarily limited (a few more options now) and bad.  But now the price gouging has reached levels that I don't even think of buying anything there.  We make sure to eat on the way down or at one of AA's many great restaurants.   With decent food and decently priced food and drinks, people might actually opt to eat (more) at the stadium------and perhaps arrive earlier and enjoy the experience more.

ca_prophet

June 6th, 2014 at 12:54 PM ^

... but to their credit they usually deliver exactly what the customer is expecting if not more, and they have a unique experience to sell. They have done a good job, by and large, over the years of delivering that experience while not charging so much as to get you to reconsider whether it's worth it.

Michigan, judging by our sentiments, has not done that.

Evil Empire

June 6th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^

I have a miserly outlook so I chafe at the DIsney pricing and marketing, especially since I could take or leave their products...no emotional attachment.  The athletic department has the money grab down but they've ruined the attachment I and many others once had.  Squeezing more money, dumping unique traditions in favor of mainstream sporting event activities, all at a time when the economy and the team are struggling all add up to the goose that lays golden eggs not feeling so hot.

tbeindit

June 6th, 2014 at 9:35 AM ^

A few years ago, I would never have imagined me thinking twice about going to games and buying tickets from the athletic department.  I really do feel like I'm being tricked anytime I do it now.  In years past, I think I would have jumped over some of these ticket deals.  Now, I feel like I can just go on Stubhub and get them 50% cheaper.  

So many of these moves make sense on their face, but they really just don't seem to have that long-term view in place.  

wile_e8

June 6th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^

This isn't my idea, someone else mentioned it in another post on this topic. But I think one of the big factors in the decreases demand is the change from season ticket waiting lists to the donation points system. Ten years ago when I graduated, I signed up for the season ticket waiting list even though I was moving across the country. Supposedly the waiting time on the list was 20+ years, and if I waited until I moved back to the area (or could afford to buy tickets just to fly back for the best games) I would never make it to the top of the list. And this rewarded loyalty from ticket buyers - if you made it to the top of the list, you better buy or else you might never get another change. And if you had tickets, renewing got you better seats, and if you didn't renew you might never get another chance to buy them. 

Now the wait list is gone, and season tickets are given out based on donations. If the product is bad you can save money on tickets, and if you ever change your mind you can just put the money you saved towards donations and get your tickets back. Loyalty means jack squat if someone else donates more money. And behold, all customer loyalty has been lost.

And IIRC this change was done under Martin, so this isn't all Brandon's fault. Although he hasn't done anything to make the situation better.

(I don't know if the article goes over this stuff, but the site is crashed and I can't read it yet. But I'm assuming it's similar to all the other arguments that have been on this site before).