Students guaranteed full-season tickets

Cheers and marshmallows will continue to spring forth from the Northwest corner of the Michigan Stadium this upcoming football season.

On April 22, the Athletic Department approved recommendations from the Task Force on Ticket Policy/Stadium Student Seating, which guarantee all students will receive full-season tickets, after complaints last fall over split-season tickets for incoming first-year students.

Senior Associate Athletic Director Keith Molin said one suggestion called for moving students from the Northwest corner of the stadium to the Northeast corner. Molin described such a move as not "practical or necessary."

For the upcoming season, Molin proposed reserving sections 25-30 for sale to students and saving section 31 as a "cushion." Tickets remaining in section 31 after student season ticket sales would be sold to the general public on a game-by-game basis.

"We will be able to ensure accessibility of stadium seating along with safety and security," Molin said.

Athletic Director Tom Goss said the main objective of the task force was to make sure students received priority seating. Goss said the department will not sell any of the seats from section 31 until the demand for student tickets is known.

"The commitment was to make sure students had priority," Goss said. "We can sell that whole section (31), but then, we don't know what the freshman class will be."

An additional 1,308 seats from recent stadium renovations have increased seating to 18,345 in sections 25-30. Molin said he expects student ticket sales to reach 17,500 for next fall.

"That effectively could leave all of section 31 as a game-day, visiting section," Molin said.

Regular-season ticket holders above row 60 in sections 25 and 26 will have the option of moving to the lower end of section 24, where 700 seats were used last fall to accommodate the unexpectedly high need for student seating, Molin said. He added the changes will create a more unified student section.

"The dislocations are minor," Molin said. "The seating is not diminished for anyone."

Ticket holders in sections now assigned to students will also be eligible for comparable seats in sections 19 and 20. Molin said those ticket holders who had been sitting in the student section will benefit by not having students standing in front of them.

"Their frustration is resolved," Molin said. "It permits us to meet all the criteria."

In addition, Molin said the task force is considering other changes, including moving 100 visiting team seats, mandated by the NCAA, to the Southeast corner.

"We have a little flexibility," Molin said. "We propose to put the 100 seats closer to the end zone and visitor band teams."

Molin also discussed the possibility of encouraging corporations who hold blocks of seats in sections 1, 2, 42 and 44 to move to other areas in the stadium.

"Those tickets, when we play a Notre Dame game, are used by fighting Irish Fans," Molin said. "Those seats we're going after."

LSA junior Dan Grace said he was excited about next fall's football season.

"I was really worried about seating," Grace said. "I was worried my younger brother, who is going to be a freshman, would not receive a full season."

Goss said dealing with the student seating configuration was difficult and commended Molin for his hard work in resolving that problem.

Goss said Molin, who recently retired, "has really contributed and agreed to do some of the skeleton work in the future."

"All of his wisdom has really contributed in a big way before I got here and since I have been here," Goss said.

- Daily Staff Reporter Jennifer Yachnin contributed to this report.

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