Event Reminder: We have a tailgate tomorrow morning at 1300 S. State Streetto raise money for Marlin Jackson’s Fight for Life Foundation.
When I describe this organization I start by asking if you’ve seen the third fourth (HT comments) season of The Wire—the one where you get a heartbreakingly realistic picture of what happens to poor, inner city kids. Well my wife the child therapist who works with exactly those kinds of kids for a living looked at Marlin’s programs when we first started doing stuff with him, and was blown away by how it was designed for exactly what they need. If it wasn’t started by a two-time All-American for Michigan it would still be one of the best bang-for-buck charities I’ve ever seen. Marlin lived what these kids go through, and he used his Michigan education to do something about it.
Tailgater Concierge gave us the space and will have satellite TVs set up to watch the noon games, and will be grilling hot dogs and serving. Wolverine State Brewing generously donated three half-barrels of their best beer. And Eat Well Embrace Life is providing a ton of hummus and chips and pop. We’ll also have a raffle, and you can ask Ace about Harambe.
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YESTERDAY’S TRADING:
Penn State came down-down-down as it dawned on more and more fans that it was going to be a slaughter. Cheapest I found was a guy walking from Main Street past Crisler offering $30 each for two seats next to him. That’s a good baseline for Indiana and Maryland, which are still hanging out in the $50s.
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[Hit THE JUMP for how Michigan’s best ticket this year is worth face]
SCONNIE TIX: Sometimes I’m wrong about stuff. Sometimes a team I don’t think is any good will beat Notre Dame and their fans will get super-excited and the ticket prices skyrocket. Last week was not one of those times:
People in the comments argued with me. Let’s check in on those prices now:
This market is still holding higher than they’ll be tomorrow, however. One reason is because Michigan charged more for these (endzone tix are $100 face), so there’s a gravitational pull toward at least getting your money back. Another reason is because this a top ten matchup, despite the line being two scores.
What’s dragging it down right now is weather, which is up in the air. We’re on the top end of a rotation that is sending weather at us from East to West while it moves in the natural West-East direction.
I spoke to two meteorologists today, both of whom think that the public projections are unreasonably optimistic, but the doom from yesterday is unreasonably pessimistic:
There will be isolated showers around, but unlikely to rain all day. Over the course of the 8 hours or so of daylight it probably rains for 30-60 minutes. The best chance for rain looks to be in the morning. Chance for rain is 50-60%. Don't expect much sun on Sunday.
It’s going to rain on and off, with some T-storms and probably a fair amount of wind. For ticket prices this means more wait-and-see people who are likely to not go tomorrow—I bet a bunch hit the market as the morning showers cycle roll through. I’m betting $50 or $40 at the gate, but bring $100.
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THINGS IN THE FUTURE
| Game | July | Aug | 9/16 | Now | Dips | Buy? | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | $115 | $159 | $175 | $99 | $99 | at gate | Weather. |
| @Rutgers | $125 | $139 | $118 | $90 | $90 | wait. | M fans want to go but NJ fans sure as hell won’t. |
| Illinois (HC) | $85 | $85 | $100 | $108 | $95 | wait. | Face right now. |
| @MSU | $225 | $268 | $256 | $234 | $234 | wait. | Dropped $20 for the first loss, Indiana is a pick ‘em |
| Maryland | $65 | $54 | $70 | $57 | $54 | wait | Already under face. |
| @Iowa | $85 | $151 | $195 | $189 | $175 | wait! | Beating Grant-less Rutgers 14-7 is actually worse than losing to a I-AA team. |
| Indiana | $65 | $40 | $55 | $57 | $55 | now. | Beat Staee |
| @OSU | $250 | $282 | $275 | $311 | $300 | wait. | Will only be this high if neither team loses. Which… |
Ohio State is priced already like it’ll be two undefeated teams, so don’t bother now—football is cruel and Michigan has a top 10 team this week and two still-tough road games.
Illinois will be $50 despite Homecoming unless it’s a gorgeous day and Illinois starts upsetting people. They’ll lose to Nebraska this week and then the price will start to go up for 2 weeks as they face Purdue and Rutgers and their fans start to think about making the trip for the big rivalry game, so if you need like 4 together I’d pick those up for $50 each now.
Michigan State, well, I didn’t see a lot of new tickets hit the market after the loss, which means they’re in wait and see mode, but if they lose at Indiana look for the wheels to fall off. Basketball should start around the time those drop back to the $150 range, and then the world should right itself. Please.
CHEAP TIP
When I was wandering past tailgates I overheard several conversations of “Hey we still have two extra tickets.” One tailgate I hung out at for awhile gave a ticket to the neighboring tailgate for some of their cups. If you’re looking to offload late and don’t want to leave your tailgate, try the barter system.
BEST DEAL RIGHT NOW (that I can find on the sponsor's site because let's support people who support us okay?)
Err…
I do this section for Ticket IQ because they support us and I can usually find something worthwhile. This time, um, I would still wait to buy, but here are two tix on the 10 yard line and in a row relatively close to the exit, which is at Row 72.
These seats do illustrate something though: down is not necessarily good. Last week I went with my nephew (4) and niece (almost 2), and we sat in Row 20 of the End Zone. When they inevitably needed to go, it was a long march back to an exit behind a halftime’s worth of people. My brother and sister-in-law got them out at halftime and didn’t bother to come back. Sitting high of the aisle is a bit on the further away side, but I’ve found I usually end up sliding down to almost the front row of that section by the end of the game. It’s a great spot as the clock is winding down to yell “WHO’S GOT IT BETTER THAN US?”
The real best deal is to download their app and retweet this for them:
Sponsors giving away 2 free tix for Wis if you download the @Ticket_IQ app: https://t.co/al2aIwXbXx and RT.
We'll announce a winner Fri.
— Seth M. Fisher (@Misopogon) September 28, 2016
Because right now the six people who’ve done so have a 1/6 chance of free tix. We’ll announce a winner tonight—Ralph this is on you—but if you don’t win and still want to get in I’d check the app tomorrow morning. Also I’m sure some people at our tailgate will have extras to sell.