I wasn’t sure where to put this so apologies if it doesn’t warrant it’s own topic. I do think it may be beneficial to have a thread like this going though. So in my time as Superfan the Maize Rage board would meet with the athletic department at the start of every year. And in those meetings we would discuss anything that we thought would help attendance/atmosphere. The biggest thing we always brought up was expanding/redistributing the student section. There wasn’t a year it didn’t get shut down immediately.
I spoke to Zach Linfield last night, who is the current Superfan and someone I have close ties with. He has been meeting with various players, coaches, and staff in the athletic department and he is actually making some traction. I know the Maize Rage gets flack on here for the atmosphere in the Crisler, but I can tell you unequivocally that the students in charge of leading the student section are putting in work every game. It’s difficult to get noise levels where they are in a lot of other arenas because for the majority of the game you’re working with one side of the court. It’s an acoustics issue for the most part, and just having more students near the court would increase the noise level dramatically.
So anyways, please everyone sign this petition. And also, I will always have a direct line to the Maize Rage so if people ever have suggestions for chants/themes/anything they think would make the Maize Rage better please pass them
along in here.
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I fully support the Maize Rage in this endeavor. The administration needs to listen and make a concerted effort in improving the atmosphere at Crisler. They are doing the program a major disservice when tv cameras capture a half empty stadium and they have to have a ‘Blue out’ vs Ohio State to hide their shame.
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The maize rage should absolutely wrap around the entire court. Given the power that rich donors have in the Michigan athletic department, I’d be shocked if this happens. Definitely in full support though, good luck!!!
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Jace has been super helpful and proactive in all of this from what Zach told me so that’s really great. Getting players/coaches on board is huge because every time we ever brought this up it was basically students vs rich donors and I think we know who wins that battle 
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Signed. The Maize Rage being so small and poorly placed was one of my biggest gripes as a student, love to see an attempt to get this fixed
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As a season ticket holder it is a bit disappointing to see the student sections in the upper deck completely empty.
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They’re no more empty than the lower bowl season ticket holder seats
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Putting more students closer to the court is a great way to increase overall student attendance as well. Casual fans would be a lot more inclined to come if they didn’t have to go straight to the upper deck if they weren’t one of the first 300 students.
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Maybe (probably not), but it looks worse because with first come first serve, the sections are COMPLETELY empty
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Yep I think the students that are so far away from the court probably don’t actually feel like a part of the maize rage so they have less incentive to regularly attend the games. I’d hope having everyone on the court would make it more fun for the students and increase demand.
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Don’t know if the Athletic Department would consider this but different prices and packages for weekday v. weekend games might help attendance.
When I had season tix, I would see so many families leave early during weekday games because they were with their kids. Maybe expand the student section during the week and more family friendly packages on the weekend.
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I’m not convinced that expanding the Maize Rage will 100% work to improve the environment since student interest is not insanely high, but it’s worth a shot at this point. Attendance is just so bad.
I think I’ve mentioned this on the board before, but has the Maize Rage considered expanding the organization itself and recruiting people to be “cheer leaders” throughout different parts of the section? Just placing fans in the middle of 130 or in various parts of the upper bowl who will be as rowdy as front row fans will probably do some work to create an expectation for everyone in the section to actually cheer throughout the game
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So there’s generally 3 other cheer leaders aside from the Superfan (who sits directly at half court). 2 people in the main student section and 1 in 130. I believe they may have added a 4th since I’ve been gone but I don’t think they sit in the upper bowl. That’s definitely an idea that’s been tossed around but the problem is finding someone who would sign up for that. If there was some kind of incentive I could see it working but as of now it’s difficult to get someone who normally would show up early so they can sit close to the court to move up to the upper bowl.
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This paragraph exemplifies the problem
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Jace quite literally turns around after nearly every made basket to try to get the fans to stand up and make noise. Like 20+ times per game. The dude cares about atmosphere.
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They definitely are, I’ve put some really NSFW pictures of the upper deck student section this year in game threads. However, I think the idea is that it wouldn’t be like that if they weren’t, well, upper deck sections.
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I signed the petition.
As someone who occasionally sits on the other side - and cheers very loudly the whole game – the signs blaming the other side are not constructive.
For the few fans like me who are cheering on that side, its deflating. For others, its only antagonizing.
A better approach on that point is needed.
– I also note that sometimes its hard to tell what the maize rage is chanting so the other side doesn’t automatically get it.
The counting during Kofi’s free throw routine was a great, creative approach that I noticed bothered him at first.
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I’m a season ticket holder in the lower bowl. I think it’s quite clear that there is no approach that will make the type of people that occupy most of the non-student lower bowl seats turn into rabid fans. It’s just not in them and no matter what the Maize Rage does it won’t change that. At the very least, the student section should wrap around both baskets so there are students behind both not just one.
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Signed. An uphill battle against wealthy apathy, but it has to start somewhere.
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