Thoughts related to no advertising in the Big House

Submitted by Moonlight Graham on

Of my top five reasons for being a Michigan fan, Michigan Stadium is near the top and especially the fact that there is no advertising allowed. Often not talked about is the fact that this is the "largest crowd watching a football game in America today" and they do not leverage it. I attended the MSU-Furman game and the visual and often audio noise caused by advertising and promotions like those stupid jumbotron shell-games played to The Curly Shuffle is ghastly. 

Some of the advertising in Spartan Stadium includes Nike, which got me thinking about the discussions we've had here about the size of our Nike contract and how it has been eclipsed by Texas and Ohio State. Wouldn't the "ban" on stadium advertising factor into that a bit? Just a thought. 

The best way I can put it is that Michigan Stadium is the August National of college football and our games are like The Masters. Sponsor advertising is forbidden as a matter of tradition, potential revenue be damned. 

Last week I told my son that if they ever started advertising in the Big House and Harbaugh threatened to leave as a result, I would rather watch coach walk than the place become Spartan Stadium. Of course that would never happen, but...

This week I brought a friend to the game and mentioned that only Michigan Stadium and Notre Dame Stadium were advertising-free. Then that evening while watching the MSU game I noticed that they're now using the State Farm goal post nets in South Bend ... interesting. 

I've done some Google searching and checked MGoBlue, WH and Wikipedia and can't find much informaton about origins of the no-advertising tradition. Was it a legendary coach like Yost or Crisler, or an AD like Canham? Any links to such information would be appreciated, as well as any of your thoughts or insights on this aspect of the game day experience. 

GO BLUE

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Wolverine Devotee

September 19th, 2016 at 1:57 PM ^

We actually did have advertising inside the stadium proper once. "Buy War Bonds!" signs at The Game in 1945. Not sure if they were there all year long, but from the film I saw they were there.

Anyways......keep Michigan Stadium clean forever.



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oriental andrew

September 19th, 2016 at 4:44 PM ^

The noodle traveled the country, from Philadelphia to Ann Arbor to Chicago (in front of Wrigley Field) to San Francisco (Pier 39) and points in between. 

EDIT: Google also says Boston, Cincy (King's Island), Santa Monica Pier. There is also one in front of the Kraft plant in Champaign, IL. So they were all over.

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MGoStretch

September 19th, 2016 at 8:11 PM ^

There might not be a better encapsulation of this idea than a golden noodle that asserts "you know you love it".  I can imagine the pitch went something like...

Kraft: We'd love to advertise mac and cheese in the Big House. We'll pay you money.

DB: I love money, sounds good.

Minion: But I don't think our customers, errr, fans will like that.

DB:  That's nice, you're fired. Kraft, just tell them they love it.

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smcdani

September 19th, 2016 at 2:07 PM ^

A nike swoosh, jumpman or coke ad on scoreboard would be fine with me.  Bring in $ and I would say 90% of fans wouldn't care.  Its a fake outrage amongst fans for no reason.

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1WhoStayed

September 19th, 2016 at 4:41 PM ^

A simple logo wouldn't bother me. But full on advertising would.

I remember being in the Colorado stadium in 1996 and they had an ATT (?) commercial over the PA system. I thought "WTF?" when this load phone started ringing over the PA.

At that time I thought "Oh God, please never let this happen at UM stadium...".

So far, so good!

PS - Michigan won the game on the "Fail Mary" as the local papers called it. Took a little bit of the '94 taste out of my mouth.

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dmuk

September 19th, 2016 at 2:28 PM ^

Bring in $ for what? The AD is not supposed to be about making a larger profit. We just need enough money to run the athletic department. I remember Bill Martin saying that the suites and club seats would make us enough money to be competitive with any school around the country. And that was before all the TV money came pouring in.

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treetown

September 19th, 2016 at 2:08 PM ^

Is there advertising at the Big House.

Yes, of course, but it is limited and of a practical nature - the Coca Cola symbols on the fountain pulls and sportswear logos on the sportswear. We don't have the billboards and signage for car washes, used car lots, (nothing against cars), etc that usually line a minor league ball park.

What would it be worth?

Right, now there is at least 100,000 people there who seem happy with the product. Is it necessary to try to "sell" them harder? Does every place have to look like the strip mall development? Does every sports jersey have to be covered with logo patches or sponsor names so prominent that honestly I thought the two biggest teams in the English Premier League were Emirates Airline and AIG Insurance.

 

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Ronnie Kaye

September 19th, 2016 at 2:10 PM ^

I find it interesting that no one has an issue with advertising in Crisler or Yost. The exception would make one think fans regard Michigan Stadium as some kind of church while the other places are just sports venues.

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