Michigan Friday: John U. Bacon Takes Brandon To The Woodshed

By now you know who John U. Bacon is, he was the guy that spent 3 years with Rich Rod and wrote the book Three and Out.   David Brandon loved the book so much he put John U. in the press box penalty seats with the Free Press.   I even had better seats when I attended games in the press box and I'm just a lowly blog guy. 

So there isn't any love lost between David and John U.   That "tug of war" continued as John U. calls out Brandon for the reason for the lower ticket sales this year and the loss of the student body at games.  We have all seen the ticket packs and everything the athletic department is trying to do to sell tickets to bad games this year.   I have never attended a Michigan Football game where the athletic department was selling available tickets.  We have all gone to Michigan Basketball games where you walk up to the window and get tickets in the "gold".  Can you imagine a similar experience at a Michigan Football game?  I sure can't.

Here are some excerpts from John's article:

Athletic Director Dave Brandon has often cited the difficulty of using cell phones at Michigan Stadium as “the biggest challenge we have.”  But when Michigan students were asked in a recent survey to rank seven factors for buying season tickets, they ranked cell phones seventh — dead last.

What did they rank first?  Being able to sit with their friends.

“We know who our competitor is,” Brandon often says.  “Your 60-inch, high-definition TV.”
If that’s true, maybe they shouldn’t have increased seat prices by an average of $100 each since Brandon took over.  Perhaps they should stop charging six bucks for a hot dog, five bucks for popcorn, and four dollars for water.  Maybe they should stop showing ads between plays on the big screens for corporate receptions at Michigan stadium, which start at $9,000.  Fans can get all those things at home for less, including the ads.  They can only get the marching band at the big house.

Brandon said, “We all think of every home Michigan football game like a miniature Super Bowl.”
I don’t know any Michigan fans who think that.  Quite the opposite, they think Michigan football games are the antidote for the artificial excess of the Super Bowl.

After Brandon became Michigan’s 11th athletic director in 2010, he often repeated one of his favorite lines: “If it ain’t broke… break it!”

You have to give him credit: he has delivered on his promise.

Ouch!  That hits home for Michigan's Athletic Director who seems to have lost touch with his clients.   Students are not buying tickets and many season ticket holders haven't renewed.    The advertising, increasing costs and other media outlets are part of the decline.   But the biggest reason people are staying at home is because Michigan has been playing bad football since App. State stunned the #2 ranked Wolverines in Carr's last year.   It was like that team took the magic and tradition from the program in one TKO punch.   Yes, Michigan has had some nice moments since then;  wins over ND, beating Tebow and a BCS Sugar Bowl win but it's hard to find too many other magic moments since that blocked field goal.  

What Brandon is doing is not rare in college football.  The problem is, the product he represents is not good right now and he is selling great home games to Dallas and bringing in bad opponents.    To put it in his terms:  his pizza is terrible, he is advertising on the box, and raising the price of his poor product.   Then he sits back in his office and wonders why people aren't running to buy his pizza?  

If you fix the product, the people will come.   (David if you still don't understand - that means win games.  BTW:  I would like to request a refund for that Wings Bowl that I watched last year, I didn't attend but you still owe me $150 for my time watching that thing, I also want a side of Cinna Stix's)