Petition From the Maize Rage's Current Superfan on Expansion
This is noteworthy as talks reaching current players is a pretty big development for the Maize Rage. Jace tweeting it out is great. A past Superfan on UMHoops.com's paywalled forum expressed that some traction is actually being made with administration too. It feels like a pretty important time to make your voice heard if you're passionate about hoops and want a better atmosphere. I would gladly lose my seats to get a better home court advantage.
For those confused, the Superfan is basically the leader of the student section.
Don't know why you're getting negged. Good information and context.
Let's expand the section - we are finally at the point where our team has had enough sustained success and there is enough interest to cement Crisler as one of the tougher B1G environments to play in
Let's do it
I hope they do. In all fairness I have not attended a game since they put in the maize rage, but it does seem dead on TV outside of the student section. They are loud and deserve to be close to the court. I would like to see it wrap awound the opponents second half basket. Lower level, no upper level stuff.
With the success the basketball team has had, the lack of a vocal home court advantage is disappointing.
Signed.
Probably alone in this regard but I can't stand the name "Maize Rage"
This needs to happen.
Disclaimer: I'm not a season ticket holder and haven't attended a game in years, so it would be accurate to say I don't have any skin in the game. Guilty as charged.
That said, even though I'm an old fart, I still believe that students should have priority in seats close to the court, and that season ticket holders who want a more sedate experience should be seated farther away from the court where they can clap politely while remaining on their derrieres. It's college basketball, not a fucking golf tournament.
I hope they expand it and make it better but god I can't get past how super cringey literally everything about the maize rage is and its been that way since at least a decade ago when I was going to games
100% support this. It will create an advantage for the team, it will create better experience and energy in the arena, and it will make U of M look better for the TV audience and future students.
I'd like to see a full MGoBlog article about this and other ideas to improve Michigan athletics for students. It's an interesting topic and could bring further athletic department attention to the issue.
The fact that players (including on the current roster) are supporting the petition really shows this is an issue. These guys play in other venues with louder crowds and want that same environment more consistently.
Seems very short-sighted to keep things the way they are now. Selling out games is becoming increasingly hard in sports as the at-home experience gets better. Yes, you want the $$$ that your older alumni bring now, but you want students to become season ticket holders after they graduate. Are they more likely to do that if they were members of the Maize Rage for 4-5 years or if they only went to the occasional game and sat in the upper bowl because tickets were cheap?
And with technology now, there's no reason it has to be an all or nothing type thing. Have a different package for "weekend only" season ticket holders. Those sections can be expanded to be part of the maize rage for empty weekday games.
These are games played by students. So it is safe to say that students should have the first priority to cheer on their fellow students.
Almost feel general admission is a good idea for most games. It allows students or fans to show up and get in if there are open seats.
Beyond expanding the Maize Rage, for the millionth time, Michigan needs to fix the absolutely broken re-sale market for basketball tickets.
Except for 8 or so games, there are frequently copious amount of empty seats on the lower level, which makes for a poor atmosphere, looks terrible on TV, and misses a golden opportunity to give younger and/or less rich fans a chance to take in a game in a good seat. Yet when to mgoblue or the big ticket re-sellers, there are few tickets available on the lower level and the ones there typically are a poor cost to value ratio; it's not much better up top.
We figured it out long ago for football -- I have no idea why we can't do it for basketball thru either a points system and/or use it (most of the time) or lose it policy.
I'm all for it. Time to push back all these no-show blue seat holders to the back. Further, I'd love to see the AD track people who routinely don't show up or sell their seats to others, and push them back toward the upper rows come renewal time.
The current situation is an embarrassment. The current situation--at least, the lack of noise and behinds in seats--has been current for a very long time.
Absolutely support it. They don't even need it to wrap around the whole lower bowl. Both ends and the current side would be great.
Upper bowl season ticket holder. The lower bowl is almost never full. Fully support bringing the weird pizza wedge portion of the maize rage that extends to the upper bowl down to the lower bowl so that we can get some energy near the court.
My Michigan dental school dad, for reasons I never figured out, hated going to football games but absolutely LOVED going to the basketball games. So from about 1970 to about 1990 he sat in upper deck, near the top corner for every game until the climb was too much for him. These might've been the worst seats in the place but god-love-him, he never asked to move. I sincerely wonder if at any time during those 20 years he ever actually yelled or made any noise at all. He was there to watch the game and watch it he did.
When I was in school (78-81) the student section was directly behind the basket and went from the floor to the upper deck. The rich alums had all the choice seats so if you think it's quiet now - imagine what it was back then.
They should absolutely expand the maize rage if there's a demand for tickets. Students should ALWAYS come first IMO - get as many of them as close to the floor as possible. That's the only way to turn Crisler into a place where other teams dont want to play.
This is Yost-ification of the Maize Rage and I'm here for it!!
Strong agree. I bought a seat in Section 106 (opposite the student section) for the Iowa game and I was one of three people in my entire row for a good portion of it. These seats can be put to better use than being listed on Stubhub.
Rob Pollard is spot on.
I am a season ticket holder and give away tickets before I see them empty.
The U can keep the money from the no-shows and, as RP, says, create an online clearing house for, preferably, students to get them FREE.
Suitable penalty scale for not using them or posting them culminating in denying renewal.
There will be no revenue loss as there are folks who will pay up for the lower bowl to buy the cancelled renewals
The U has the data as every ticket is scanned.
I was in Columbus for the game Sunday and was impressed at how loud the arena was. The student section behind the benches and in front of the band was very loud - at least when things were going there way. The PA guy even announces the section before the game to get the crowd fired up. No reason why Crisler can't be just as loud
Signed!
12 years ago was in a focus group as a student with some admin about expanding MR.
They don't want camping. Fine. They're also worried about those seats going empty for games.... get over it. The program is at a new place. The lower bowl student seats have pretty universally been full and if you make it easier for a student to be in the actual student section (not upper level, not the separated pizza wedge), then they will be even more likely to attend.
But they have no balls and are unwilling to make donors upset by moving them out of their seats. The problem with the lower bowl is that the people with those tickets are, majority, big donors that got those tickets who knows how long ago. They hold on to them, even though they might attend only a few games a year. They are not basketball fans, they are football donors. They are not incentivized to fill the seats when they don't use them. The University doesn't want to ruffle their feathers.
I've had season tickets for 17 years now. Currently in upper bowl. There's plenty of upper bowl people that actually attend the games that would love those seats. There's students that would love the seats. It's up to the administration to have the balls to make change... they haven't for decades and honestly I don't know what changes that outside an AD willing to lose some donors.
EDIT: Adding on.... Crisler is LOUD and rocks like the best of them when it is full and there's a big game. It's a matter of getting the tickets in the hands of the people (students and non-students alike) that want to be there. Also, the Maize Rage has gotten kinda weak in these past 10 years. They don't even popcorn anymore. Remember the H-Bombs? The player-specific chants? The "GO! BLUE!" alternating chant with the other side of the arena? What does the maize rage do anymore? I ask as someone that goes to every game and spent 5 years in the MR.
All for expanding the Maize Rage... also for not having the 9:15 PM Tuesday night tipoff.
In support of the cause, but honestly that's a poorly written petition. Too long and way too much focus on whether people stand or not.
The main point could be made much more clearly and succinctly:
1) Michigan should emphasize creating a loud, energetic environment at Crisler.
2) The most loyal, loudest, dedicated fans are currently relegated to second rate seats, with the "premium" seats often left empty for non-marquee games
3) This is out of step with most other schools, where student fans pack the lower stands (or at least a much larger portion of them
4) Therefore, expand the Maize Rage section in the lower bowl to allow more students to participate in this experience, simultaneously creating a better home crowd environment for the student-athletes, who have already indicated their support.
And move the visiting parents out the the students section!
It looks so stupid to watch on TV, maize and then a small patch of a different color.
Signed! I couldn't agree more. We attend 3 or 4 games a year. We sat in the upper bowl for the MSU game. It was packed all around up there, but even that game we looked across at the season ticket lower area, and it was still at least 1/3 empty. Expand the student section, and completely revamp the season ticket area policies.