Though the Athletic Department extended the deadline for students to purchase season football and basketball tickets until tomorrow, officials stressed that the decision had nothing to do with the football team’s 3-9 record last season.
In an e-mail from Marty Bodnar, associate director of ticketing sales, sent last Thursday, the Athletic Department announced the deadline for purchasing 2009 student season football and men’s basketball tickets would be extended to tomorrow, April 14.
Calling the possibility that last year’s abysmal season had anything to do with the extension laughable, Athletic Department Spokesman Bruce Madej highlighted the attendance at this weekend’s annual spring game — more than 50,000 — as a clear sign that fans still support the program.
Madej wrote in an e-mail to The Michigan Daily that Saturday’s attendance was “double what we might have considered our best numbers ever for a spring game in our entire history.”
“If a 3-9 season was going to be bothersome for 2009, I think that might have been visible today,” he wrote.
Madej said the Athletic Department does not know if the current economic climate will have an impact on ticket sales, but that it is concerned and has made adjustments to address the issue.
“That is why our (Athletic Director) Bill Martin made sure single-game ticket prices are lower this season,” he wrote.
In February, Martin announced the price of student season football tickets would be $200 for the 2009 season, a decrease of an average of $1.43 per game. Regular season football tickets also decreased an average of $3.57 per game, and the eight-game package now costs $400.
“It’s a tough economic time and there’s no need to increase ticket prices,” Madej told the Daily in February. “We’re fortunate enough that we can hold the line, and even decrease them.”
Tuesday’s deadline is only for student season tickets, Madej said. The deadline for regular season tickets is still about a month away.
“We wanted to make sure all U-M students know they still can get their tickets,” Madej wrote in the e-mail. “And we also did think the spring game would help remind people too about the deadline.”