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The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come- How Greed Killed College Football

Have you heard the good news?

The Michigan Wolverine Football Program made $61.6 MILLION in 2011-12.

For most organizations it would be cause for celebration. In Ann Arbor it was time to raise prices.

Yes, despite record profits the Michigan Athletic Department announced that is raising taxes on football season ticket holders…err increasing the amount of preferred seat donations for those who wish to keep their season tickets.

psd_ad
The AD can’t even type Seat Donation with a straight face

The move will help pad the bottom line of the Athletic Department and help to fuel another wave of buildings on the athletic campus.

But the move intensifies the debate of how  skyrocketing ticket prices impact the sustainability of the athletic department profit model.

The ranks of basketball and hockey season ticket holders have been thinned by years of price increases and student season ticket holder numbers have likewise fluctuated.

With huge pockets of empty seats in the student section in Michigan Stadium this past season, it appears that even football isn’t immune to the impact of high ticket prices. Many season ticket holders began attending games as students, transitioning to public season ticket holders after graduation. The Athletic Department risks losing these fans as they graduate.

Many current football season tickets holders are selling a portion of their season tickets to help subsidize their costs. This latest increase have caused some to question the true value of their season tickets. With a waiting list for football season ticket holders, the athletic department seems to be immune to people not renewing their season tickets.

If the athletic department could weather the RichRod era with its losing record and NCAA scandal, a few lost season ticket holders doesn’t seem like a big deal. But with every long time fan who gives up their football, hockey, or basketball season tickets the athletic department gets in return a customer with little or no loyalty to Michigan Athletics.

As the Big Ten expands to include such powerhouses as Maryland and Rutgers, season ticket holders are questioning what kind of games they’ll be seeing in the Big House in future seasons. While the future impact of expansion and tickets prices are unknown, the people making the current decisions won’t be around to face the long term ramifications of these recent developments.

I’m sure we haven’t seen the end of the money grab. Big Ten expansion will only drive revenues so far. Online viewing will start to erode the stranglehold of cable television and then the Big Ten Network will need to some other source cash. That’s why within the next 5 years we’ll see major event games follow the pay-per-view model. It’s the next logical step in the evolution of greed.

The conference will win, the schools will win, and college football will be headed down the road to being about as relevant as boxing.

It’s a bleak future when the people running your athletic program care more about dollars than fans. But more and more it seems that the short sighted greed of a few will lead to the death of college football as we know it.

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Nothing But ‘Net – Week #09 – 12/24/2012 – Three Down, One To Go

The (#2) University of Michigan men’s basketball team only played one game last week, and they won it handily. On Thursday (12/20/2012), they beat Eastern Michigan 93-54 in Crisler Arena. The win raises UM’s record to 12-0, which is their second best start to a season ever.

So, what does “three down, one to go” mean? It means that for the first time in a long time, Michigan is playing all four of the in-state “directional” schools: Northern Michigan (exhibition – 11/01/2012), Western Michigan (12/04/2012), Eastern Michigan (12/20/2012), and Central Michigan (12/29/2012). They’ve won three of these games, with one left to play. They should win that one as well.

While Michigan has to take every opponent seriously, not all opponents are created equal. EMU doesn’t have the personnel to challenge an elite team like Michigan, but strange things can happen when the game starts. So far, Michigan has played well enough every game to avoid any upsets, and they have played like a Top-5 team against many of the “cupcakes” on their schedule. This game was another example of that. EMU has a decent MAC team, and they did beat Purdue earlier this season, but they don’t have the firepower to stay with Michigan. Eastern opened up an early 6-2 lead, then UM went on a 20-0 run to put the game away before the 12:00 media timeout. The rest of the game was just a controlled scrimmage.

The stats are impressive: UM shot 50.7% (35-for-69) overall, 50.0% (12-for-24) from 3-point range, and 91.7% (11-for-12) from the free-throw line. They crushed EMU on the boards (44-30), and they won the turnover battle (11-18). Those are the numbers you expect to see in a 39-point blowout.

Individually, 5 players hit double figures:

That’s 4 of the 5 starters, and one bench player (McGary). The lone starter who didn’t hit double figures was Jordan Morgan, with 8 points.

Since the game was a blowout, Coach Beilein emptied the bench:

This Week

With finals and the holidays, Michigan has nine days off between games, and only has one game again this week. On Saturday (12/29/2012, 7:00 p.m., BTN), Michigan plays Central Michigan, in Crisler Arena. This is UM’s last non-conference game, and they stand a good chance of being one of the few Michigan men’s basketball teams to go undefeated in non-conference play. CMU is about the same as EMU. Their current record is 6-5, with no impressive wins, and losses to Bradley (who Michigan beat) and two Big Ten schools (Iowa and Nebraska). Once again, I expect this game to be a lot like the WMU and EMU games: tense for a while, then a blowout win for Michigan.

Check back next week to see what happened, and why. Also, it will be time for mid-term grades and a look ahead at the Big Ten season.

Go Blue! (and Merry Christmas)

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Preferred Seat Donation Letter from David Brandon (First Draft)

After a few glasses of Cristal (compliments of adidas), Michigan Athletic David Brandon put down his thoughts on the preferred seat donation program…

Dear Bryan,

Hey buddy!  How are things in your neck of the woods?  Well, I have to say things are pretty swell here!  I mean, apart from that 8-4 football season (who would have known that all those away games would have been so darn difficult) and the hockey team taking a dive.  But hey, have you SEEN that basketball team?  WOW!

psd_adYou and all of your other fellow pals in the end zones are great people.  Really you are!  You’re loud, wild, crazy, and you throw some really cool tailgate parties.  I know they’re not as fancy as the ones in the Crisler parking lot, but a hot dog is a hot dog, and you guys know how to cook them just how I like them.  The problem is that I’ve made a lot of promises lately. Crazy promises. We’ve got about 600 or something other sports programs (I forget them all – I can’t remember everything), and face it, this one and basketball are the only ones that are paying the university’s bills right now.  I know in 2004 that the message was sent that you wouldn’t have to pay anything for a seat donation where you sit.  Sure, we’ve tripled our revenue from bowl games proceeds and we’re rolling in cash from that Big Ten Network revenue and all of these luxury boxes.  I also know that your ticket stub for the MSU game this year at $95 is a little different then that stub you may have saved from the 1995 MSU game that read $35….but our new tickets are really shiny now!

Basically, we’re strapped.  I’m counting on you pal!  And don’t think you’re alone.  We made sure to stick it to those rich folks that sit everywhere else (yeah, those jerks).  We have to get some money, and fast! We just got a deal that we couldn’t pass up.  We met this guy at a Legitimate Businessmen’s Social Club meeting and he told us that if we build 10 buildings with his company, he’ll throw the 11th and 12th structures in for free!  How can you pass that up?  Plus, with the price of gas so high and my recent addiction to candy cigarettes, $800,000 a year is just not going to cut it as a salary.

Anyway, we need to get this done quickly and it costs a lot of money.  We figured an extra $10 million a year in perpetuity should just about cover it.  And the good news is, we aren’t raising ticket prices this year.  Not one cent!!  I know you were expecting it, but I’m just that kind of guy. It’s just like a tax cut!  We accept cash, check or Diner’s Club cards only.  Make sure you get this in quickly, or we’re going to give your tickets to some random Ohio State fan….and we really don’t want that happening.  Could you live with the fact that YOU let that happen?

Anyway, we’ll be expecting your $75 soon.  The heated yellow brick road in front of Crisler has already broken ground and I had to front my 11th Bentley as collateral.  Those builders are relentless!

Maybe I’ll see you some Saturday…..

Dave

P.S. I’ve enclosed a picture showing how dire the situation is here at the Athletic Department. Send help quick!

scrooge-mcduck

Special Thanks to Bryan Smitt for passing this along!

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Nothing But ‘Net – Week #08 – 12/17/2012 – The Kings Of New York City

The (#2) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games last week, and they won both of them. On Tuesday (12/11/2012), they beat Binghamton 67-39 in Crisler Arena, then on Saturday (12/15/2012), they beat West Virginia 81-66 in the Barclays Center, in New York City, which is the new home of the Brooklyn Nets (formerly the New Jersey Nets) of the NBA. The two wins raise UM’s record to 11-0.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve seen that Michigan’s ranking has slowly but steadily moved up all season. They started the year ranked #5, and as teams ahead of them have lost, they’ve moved up to #4 and #3, and this week to #2. All season long, Indiana has been ranked #1, and for several weeks now, Duke has been #2, with UM at #3. Well, Indiana lost to Butler in overtime on Saturday, so Duke moved up to #1, and Michigan is now #2. This is the highest ranking that Michigan has had in a long time, and the 11-0 start is the best start UM has had since that magical season (1988-1989) when they won the National Championship. These are exciting times.

So, why are the Wolverines “the Kings of New York City”? Well, over Thanksgiving weekend they won the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament in Madison Square Garden, and this weekend they won their game in the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival in Brooklyn. They’re doing pretty well in NYC.

The Binghamton game was just a joke. It was more like a controlled scrimmage. Binghamton stood no chance, and the only interesting aspect was seeing how sharp (or not) Michigan would look against an overmatched opponent. The answer: meh. They took care of business, but didn’t look fabulous. The WVU game was a much better test. Even though West Virginia doesn’t have a very good record this season (now 4-5), they were scrappy and relentless, and they gave Michigan a good run for their money. Even though the final margin of victory (15 points) looks pretty convincing, WVU made the game interesting a couple times in both halves. Michigan had to play hard and well to beat them.

Stats time! First, the Binghamton scrimmage: Michigan didn’t shoot particularly well overall (27-for-61 = 44.3%), and they didn’t very well from 3-point range (10-for-30 = 33.3%). They didn’t get to the free-throw line much, and they didn’t shoot very well when they got there (3-for-5 = 60.0%). They did win the rebounding battle (39-28) and the turnover battle (7-16). They won the game with all those extra possessions.

The stats for the WVU game are a little better: Michigan shot better overall (26-for-50 = 56.0%), and OK from 3-point range (7-for-21 = 33.3%). There were a lot of fouls in the game, and WVU shot a sizzling 83.3% (20-for-24) from the free-throw line, but UM didn’t do quite as well (18-for-27 = 66.7%). Michigan did win the rebounding battle (32-29), but they lost the turnover battle (14-13). They won the game because they held WVU to 38.5% (20-for-52) overall shooting.

Individually, two players hit double figures in both games:

  • Trey Burke (19 vs. Binghamton and 27 vs. WVU). Trey has hit double figures in every game this season. He’s averaging 18.0 points/game.
  • Nik Stauskas (12 and 10). Nik has hit double figures in every game this season except the opener (Slippery Rock). He’s averaging 13.2 points/game.

One other player came close to double figures in both games:

  • Tim Hardaway Jr. (9 and 25). Tim did a lot better shooting from 3-point range this week: 2-for-9 and 4-for-8.

The other two starters did OK this week:

Besides the starters (and McGary), the bench chipped in a little scoring:

A few other bench players played in at least one game last week, but didn’t score:

Josh Bartelstein is still out due to his ankle surgery, and Max Bielfeldt missed both games due to an ankle sprain. Bielfeldt is just about ready to return to action.

This Week

Michigan only has one game this week. On Thursday (12/20/2012, 8:30 p.m., BTN), Michigan plays Eastern Michigan, in Crisler Arena. EMU is currently 6-3 on the season, but their only impressive win is over Purdue. I expect this game to be a lot like the Western Michigan game a few weeks ago: tense for a while, then a blowout win for Michigan.

Check back next week to see what happened, and why.

Go Blue!

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An SEC Fan’s Impression of the Big House- Nice People but Wearing Red Might Have Been a Bad Choice

We flew into Detroit on Thursday and drove to East Lansing to tour the MSU campus (got to watch the hockey team practice in Munn Arena) before returning to Brighton where we stayed for the long weekend.

We spent Friday in Ann Arbor, mostly on the Michigan campus. Main Street in Ann Arbor is very much like Broad Street in Athens. We were really impressed with the Michigan campus. Of all the campuses we have visited, I would say Cal-Berkeley comes about as close as matching the UM campus as any we have seen.

Had lunch at the University Club, climbed to the top of the Tower, and watched the Michigan intrasquad baseball game before attending the hockey match at Yost Friday night. This was one of the highlights of visit. Yost Ice Arena reminds me so much of the Palestra in Philadelphia and somewhat of Cameron Inddoor Stadium at Duke. The students and pep band were a hoot! Every bit as entertaining as the Wisconsin students at their hockey matches. Several of the students came over to our seats (we were in the area behind the goal nearest the student section) between periods when they saw our UGA coats and were probably the nicest of so many nice people we met during our trip.

On Saturday we parked on the golf course and walked to the practice field to watch the Michigan band rehearse. Might have made one mistake on Saturday. We both wore our UGA coats and sweaters and several Michigan fans mistook the red for OSU – got cursed out a couple of times but most people were very nice and very curious as to why we were so far north of UGA on gameday.

Went back to the car and a number of people asked us to join them in tailgating on the golf course. Lots of good conversation and friendly people.

Went into the stadium early so that we could walk the perimenter. Really impressed with the architectual features of the original structure. Took our seats among friendly UM folks (and a few MSU fans as well). Both bands played the other school’s fight song. That’s pretty unique. Cannot imagine that happening at an SEC game. As a matter of fact, many SEC bands deliberately play right through the Alma Mater of the other school. The atmosphere at this game was so much more friendly than at SEC games. There are places like LSU and Alabama where, if we win, we don’t leave their ball yards for a long time after the game because of the venom spewed. At our ball yard, when the PA announcer gives scores of other games, he never includes Georgia Tech, Auburn or Florida unless they are losing! The opposing team at Sanford Stadium enters the field through a tunnel next to the student section. It’s not a pretty sight for the opposing team. It was hard to realize that there were about 20,000 more people in Michigan Stadium than our sold out Sanford Stadium could hold. Great game with real defense played. I wonder when was the last time Michigan defeated MSU without scoring a tourchdown.

Quite a weekend. No doubt we chose right this year. I would love to return for weekend when the basketball and hockey team are both playing at home. Next year we have decided to go to either the Texas-Oklahoma game in the Cotton Bowl or a home game at Notre Dame. Maybe the Washington-Washington State game in Pullman.