Warde Manuel aggressively lobbied to keep MSU as a protected rival
According to Austin Meek at The Athletic:
“Michigan is unique in having two games that even if, preference comes into mind, it’s really common sense that they need to be on their schedule every year,” Big Ten chief operation officer Kerry Kenny said. “Ohio State from a historical and competitive perspective, Michigan State from an in-state and historical perspective as well, and (athletic director) Warde (Manuel) was very forthright and vocal during the process that those two games needed to stay on their schedule every year.”
Warde with the own-goal as usual.
How is that an own goal? I would imagine that is the 2nd highest revenue game each season in terms of tickets and TV.
I have never heard the players say that they no longer want to play Sparty every year but maybe I missed that.
I am done with the anti-MSU stuff after the shooting on their campus. My daughter was there the weekend before it happened visiting some friends of hers. Kind of put things in perspective for me. Yeah, I still want to beat their asses on the field / court but it ends there.
According to Seth's podcast commentary, revenue from an MSU game in AA makes more than anyone but OSU, and only Notre Dame comes close. So I'm not surprised...
Besides, Warde has already reprimanded the Tunnel for its bad behavior.
Can we all just admit that Warde is a professional bureaucrat? At an institution that values such behavior from administrative staff just like every large slothful organization. Warde is accomplished at it. By and large the trains run on time. The easy money is identified and collected (like a protected MSU). It’s much easier to get worse at athletic director than better. Warde or Dave Brandon? Or Joe Roberson? Or Tom Goss?
I think he's does a bad job of being a professional bureaucrat.
But in this case I think he's in the right for pushing for msu. Game is big for the city of Ann Arbor, the students and for the state.
Even from a football perspective, it's very important going forward that we keep killing them every year.
From a purely football perspective, I think “cancelling” the series would devastate MSUs program. I mean, Tucker is trying to take care of that for us. But, I think MSUs whole purpose for existing is to play/hurt Michigan. Remove that and they’d just wander
From a "selling parking on my lawn perspective" OSU is #1, MSU is #2.
OSU fans tend to be very polite, some MSU fans can be a PIA.
Checks palm-pilot looks up OSU fans tend to be polite. Lolololol. Whew TGIF.
when they are paying to park on your lawn, i bet they are.....
Parking $20/vehicle with Michigan plates
$50/vehicle with ohio plates.
MSU - $60
OSU - $80
Did he say Palm Pilot?
All the rage in 1998
I heard that the tunnel was very insincere in it's apology as well.
Could be wrong, but I'm thinking the M-USC game would make just as much as M-MSU.
Not a big fan of cringe comedy, I like cringe football even less. Worrying about what MSU might do makes that game rarely fun, so I understand the original post.
At the same time, driving by East Lansing exactly during the shooting, I understand the urge to dial back the animosity
In any case, as you point out—and the guys discussed on yesterday's Roundtable—Michigan-Michigan State a key point of interest for many fans on both sides, so it was never going away.
I've seen two comments referencing the shooting and I feel like they're pitying and bordering on offensive.
A terrible, horrifying, mind-breaking thing happened to those families. Let them rest. Let their families (many of which, I'm sure, have alumni and students from both schools) read MGoBlog without constant reference to it. Let them grieve and heal.
It's not relevant to discussion about a rivalry. I think it's time for MSU and Michigan to go our separate ways. Full stop.
"I've seen two comments referencing the shooting and I feel like...It's not relevant to discussion about a rivalry."
Totally cherry-picked your post, but I think we are feeling similarly.
The incident in which innocent lives were prematurely ended is something I wouldn't wish upon the worst person I have ever met.
Talking about the tunnel incident or the on-field rivalry at the same time is, at the least, unsettling.
I guess the best light-hearted analogy I could make comes from Curly Howard: "Is it warmer in the city than it is in the summer?" Total disconnect.
While you make a good point, for someone urging healing, you seem very angry. And autocratic, as if no one can disagree or risk your wrath.
As terrible as it was, a separate, off-field event having nothing to do with football should have no bearing on scheduling.
M-ND rivalry goes on ice, then they schedule a few games and it picks up where it left off. I'm sure the M-MSU rivalry would survive a short hiatus as well. Honestly, M-PSU interests me far more, would much rather see that, and with the conference expanding there should be other lucrative options as well.
Call me crazy, but I put the health and safety of Michigan football players above money.
Have the players ever expressed this concern? I have never heard one say that they don't want to play MSU anymore.
Maybe I missed it - if someone can give me an example of even one Michigan player saying that they no longer want to play MSU then I will admit I am wrong.
How many players have you interviewed Brent Musburger? I'd particular like to hear McBurrows & Greens take on it. Devin Bush's opinion would be particularly interesting as well among others that have been assaulted, punched, kicked and stepped on with malicious intent.
60 minutes of unnecessary roughness is still their team motto. When you have to schedule a game in daylight due to fans and players safety, that's a red flag to me.
i’m comfortable saying that those three want us to keep playing sparty.
Would any player actually ever go on record to say they don't want to play another school? They would be mocked forever. Maybe anonymously they could be honest. This seems like a bad premise to base your entire opinion on.
Just check the username. Or in classic form. USERNAME CHECKS OUT.
Sparty is like cow scat on the bottom of my boot. Scrape them off and keep walking. It is a hateful ignorant Fanbase from a school that is largely just an extremely large community college. Like Rutgers but with hate toward us, they simply are not worthy to be a rival.
MSU can't be our rival -- at least not in football. While they badly want to beat us and a victory over Michigan means a lot to them, Michigan is more concerned about not losing to MSU. Sure, we get some satisfaction in seeing MSU lose to us, but Michigan beating Michigan State almost never feels like a significant accomplishment - certainly no more (and often less) than beating any of a number of other teams in the conference. Beating Iowa, Wisconsin, or Penn State on the road feels like a bigger victory than beating MSU in East Lansing.
I live in Lansing area. "An extremely large community college." There could not be a more true statement!! I swear half the people with a college degree in this area went to MSU!
Couldn't agree more. I live in near EL and it's a great rivalry They should want us on their schedule. So should we. After the shootings, I've decided I'd rather wish them sell most of the time that celebrate their failings.
Using the shooting as a reason some of you want to keep them on the schedule is.....odd. I understand the money part of this, which is what really matters, but I can't imagine Michigan vs USC every year wouldn't be a pretty large money maker. Especially from a TV stand point.
Nobody is saying that should stay on the schedule because of the shooting. That totally misses the point. The point is to keep sports rivalries in perspective and that should have been a reminder.
This idea of people "hating" each other because of a football game (at least outside of the 3.5 hours on the field) is absurd.
You can do that and not have to play every year. Most those post were not coming off like that. I personally don't care if Michigan ever plays MSU but I don't see that much of a financial gain over USC. But I would say the MSU is a big financial gain for the local economy which is good
But you’re missing the bigger point…the local familiarity of it. MSU will still do big money regardless and probably more than USC. It brings in casual interest(especially locally) surrounding the game that USC wouldn’t.
He could have fought to get Notre Dame in its place. That would have been even more money than State.
Fucks Sparty! When they started swinging helmets at defenseless players this rivalry died for me. I'd be happy to never play them in football again.
Yes, and I'm happy to deprive them of the only relevance they ever have which is playing Michigan.
Spot on! They gain much more from the annual “rivalry” game than we do. Win or lose, but especially if they win.
Warde can be aggressive? That’s good to know.
Right? Didn't think he had it in him! Understanding that by 'aggressive', that Kenny guy probably means Warde asked politely two or three times before backing off...
I'd be okay with not playing MSU anymore. It doesn't help the team strength of schedule and there's an increased risk to the players because MSU is dirty. Plus, their school sucks. Kick them out with Rutgers.
I approve of this message... even though it will never happen.
I approve of this approval and yes it did happen in my dreams.
I've felt this way since Denard's last game in East Lansing. However, you don't have to be a communist to realize that this game would never go away.
Sparty is not going anywhere, but UM would be on a short list of schools that could form a super league. Get rid of the garbage games, no more ridiculous non-con annihilations, no more sharing of revenue with B1G teams that don’t have anywhere near the cachet that Michigan has. It would be a huge revenue boost. That is how to part ways with sparty.
The super league failed miserably in European soccer. Don’t think it would make much sense for College Football.
This isn't that crazy of him. Before the tunnel assault, i think nearly everyone in this board would've agreed. The tunnel changed my view of this game to a bit more indifference, but we all have friends and family on the other side of this rivalry - it really is a sibling rivalry, there is a lot of history here. He probably didn't need to advocate - it wasn't going to disappear - but it's not surprising or controversial that he did
Since it wasn't going to disappear anyway, why lobby so hard for it? Let MSU beg to be vicariously relevant by playing us, and otherwise show them indifference. I harbor no ill will towards the students attending there (we all know some), but after the tunnel incident I am fine with their football team being irrelevant. Give them an annual beat down on the field and let them suffer through their $95M mistake.
This. Along with the fact that it's better on the merits to keep MSU off the schedule, it's a dumb negotiating strategy to expend political capital on something that is going to happen whether you want it or not.
Look the Michigan/MSU rivalry is arguably a top 3-4 rivalry in our conference. People belly-aching about it is just foolish. It wasn’t going away and it will never go away. Live with us beating their asses for the foreseeable future and be happy about it! Sparty tears taste like sugar!!!
I think we’re all very curious every year about where this game sits on the schedule. Although I agree with all of the points made about not playing them, it would likely make the season a little disappointing if we actually didn’t.
it's a dumb negotiating strategy to expend political capital on something that is going to happen whether you want it or not.
If it was going to happen anyway, how was political capital spent?
I’m not arguing in favor of Manuel’s position. The one thing that could change MSU’s behavior is if they (even temporarily) didn’t get to play U-M annually.
But as far as political capital is concerned, just opening your mouth isn’t tantamount to spending it. That isn’t logical—you haven’t asked anything of anyone, at least not necessarily. You spend it when you ask someone to do something that goes against their interests.