We are not alone - Ohio Ticket Problems
A good friend of mine sent me the following. It appears that the gloating down south about Michigan's apparent problems selling tickets is a bit premature. The difference is that Ohio is taking steps to disguise their problem a bit better than we did. The following is a letter that went out to OSU faculty and staff:
Dear Ohio State University Faculty and Staff:
I am extraordinarily grateful to the Ohio State faculty and staff who work every day to make our university great. Together we have accomplished many significant successes that are a direct reflection of your dedication and teamwork. For that, I would like to personally thank you. To recognize your valuable contributions, President Michael V. Drake, MD, recently announced Ohio State’s inaugural faculty and staff appreciation Buckeye Football Game. A large number of faculty and staff have an opportunity to be randomly selected to receive four complimentary tickets to the Ohio State vs. Kent State football game on Saturday, Sept. 13. Kick-off is at noon.
In order to participate, faculty and staff must follow the link below and select the opt-in box on the landing page.* By selecting the box to opt-in, you’ll enter your name into consideration for the tickets. If you are selected, tickets will be mailed to the home address listed in Employee Self Service.
Thank you again for all that you do for Ohio State. We’re excited to recognize your achievements by offering you the opportunity to cheer on the Buckeyes with your fellow faculty, staff and friends.
Sincerely,
Andraea (AJ) Douglass
They can't move the Kent State tickets so they are giving them to faculty and staff real quiet like. Can't let them hit the secondary market b/c that will just lower the prestige (and pricing) of attending the sell out. Even if you have a top 10 or even top 5 program you can out price your market. OSU is on the bubble right now. So all those fans making fun of UM's ticket deals will only have to wait to see their own team's ads all over Columbus TV. Greed, greed, greed. John Bacon needs to point this out and shame Gene Smith and the moneygrabbers down there.
I don't think a lackluster program is as big an issue for attendance compared to overpriced tickets, weak schedules and the fact that we are blessed with HD TV's now.
Alabama was having attendance problems the last few years desipte Nick Saban being able to buy a national championship whenever he wants.
FYI - Stubhub is solely a secondhand marketplace - teams can't sell their unsold tickets on the site; every ticket listed is a ticket that someone else has already purchased.
Ohio State went 24-0 in the last two regular seasons. Michigan went 15-9. There's your difference in stubhub prices that you keep bringing up as if it's evidence this is all the AD's fault for not answering your emails.
Some will argue "but we weren't having trouble in the RR years when we sucked." Well prices have gone up since then. I agree it's a problem - prices are too high across college football, and most every team is feeling the pinch. But in addtion to that, back in 2008 we were just two years dated from a pass interference penalty potenitally blocking us from the National Championship game. Fast forward to today and back to back 8-4 and 7-5 seasons, especially after last year's grim result, and it's been much harder to keep the faith.
I'm astonished that smart posters on this board can knowingly dismiss this basic concept in their blind run to hang the AD. Didn't the HTTV experience of almost not getting funded - where Brian said it was the brutal season that dampened demand - convince enough that it's the performance on the field that's hurting demand? Or is someone willing to make the ridiculous claim that Brandon's rawk music and fireworks somehow negatively affect HTTV sales?
It's the losing. It's not the AD (for many he's not helping things, for most they don't give a shit). Go 24-0 the past two years and your stubhub prices are equivalent.
Where, in anything I posted in this thread, do you see ANY mention of DB? I was pointing out the fallacy in the OP's point that we and OSU are in the same boat because of what they are doing for one game. DB never entered into my thinking or posting here.
Hey - I AGREE with what you wrote other than that sidetrip into something I didnt say.
That makes me feel better
My daughter, a current student at UM, received an e-mail a few days ago from the Ath. Dept. informing her that since she is a student season ticket holder, she has the opportunity to buy 2 additional tickets to every home game this year. $20 for App st. and $40.00 for all the other home games. They can be transferred to anyone without validation fees. So basically you can get 2 season tickets for a total of $520.00! ($20 x 2 + $40 x 6) x 2= $520.00. The only issue is that they are not always in the same sections, but they are 2 together for each game. I had to take advantage of that opportunity.
I had not heard of this before. If true then there a LOT of unsold seats right now cause that means that 13,000 students just got offered the opportunity to buy two additional seats for every game at a reduced rate.
Congrats, that's a pretty good deal.
That is amazing if true and more than damning as to the ticket sales. If they're doing that, they're basically giving away tickets to games, which is disappointing to even think about not only for the school, but for those that already bought tickets.
Michigan's ticket problems are self inflicted by the AD, nothing more. People will only put up with so much.
I wouldn't rush to peg the AD with poor ticket sales as much as I would winning/schedule. Winning does wonders for ticket sales and overall morale of the program. Sure the AD has had some less than desireable ideas (gameday experience) to get butts in the seats, but win and get me an attractive home schedule, and I'll keep my season seats another 15 years.
It all falls on DB's shoulders. He "fixed" too many things that weren't broken. The fact that Michigan isn't winning also falls on DB for mandating manball. I llike Brady Hoke, but imagine what would have happened if DB had told Hoke to find an assistant who can run the spread instead of insisting that he re-install a 20th century offense while everyone else is going 21st century.
This is a critical year for Michigan. We are going to see if the talent level of all the great recruits Hoke has brought in is enough to compete with an outdated offense. The only reason Bama's offense works so well is that their boosters buy the best players in the country at nearly every position on the field. Michigan doens't have that option but Brady Hoke has done a great job of recruiting.
I am keeping an open mind, but I still think 9-3 is the best we can hope for. Will that count as "winning" in Ann Arbor? It did for the LC years.
One of the futhest reaches of the anti-DB offensive. All offenses can work, all can fail. It's execution and players. Alabama, Stanford, MSU, Wisconsin, LSU, Iowa (before the last several years), Florida State all run conventional pro-style offenses and have success and national championships. There are too many examples of teams running spreads that fail to list. You know this, why you choose to ignore is obvious - you haterz on DB.
which is of our own making mostly. When you raise ticket prices and implement PSD's, PLUS alienate the student ticket buyers, PLUS have an extremely large stadium to fill, PLUS have mediocre results on the field for two years, PLUS a weak state economy, PLUS a very efficient 2nd market source for buying/selling tickets, this year's unsold ticket glut is what you get. If the team returns to regular 10+ win seasons, it will probably eliminate most of the unsold tickets, but not completely. StubHub will continue to be a way for people to save a lot of money.
Yeah. We say this every year about how there are going to be emty seats but they're full or nearly full. It's not a problem until they're actually empty. At this point in time Michigan doesn't have a problem selling out.