How to know if a fanbase is happy with their team? One number is enough. That’s ticket sales. A few days back, it was the UCF Knights that took to the headlines for their ticket sales. As Brett McMurphy tweeted, “UCF sells out its season ticket allotment (more than 27,000) for 5th consecutive season & 6th time since 2019.” This came off after a minor 2.2% dip in ticket sales in the 2024 season. This time, it’s Sherrone Moore’s Michigan Wolverines who turned heads with their ticket sales. 

Talking about fandom, Moore’s Michigan went through a lot of ups and downs. Courtesy? Jim Harbaugh jumping out of the Wolverines’ wagon and taking a job in the NFL. The defending champions are in a transitionary period under Moore. But looks like once a Michigan fan, always a Michigan fan. As the ticket sales hit five-figure digits, they missed a complete sweep by a tiny margin. 

On August 25, Michigan Football tweeted, “We’re ready for a great year in the Big House! A huge thank you to the fans for your continued support and renewing at a 98% season ticket rate.” Moore’s Maize and Blue will open the Big Ten schedule at Nebraska on Sept. 20 in a 3:30 pm affair on CBS. After a bye week, Michigan will return to the field for a Maize Out against Wisconsin on Oct. 4. The homecoming game will kick off at either 12 or 3:30 p.m. from Michigan Stadium.

Last year, this time, Michigan was the most in-demand team. As Brandon Koretz tweeted on August 27, 2024, “Michigan sold more season tickets than the total seating capacity at 127 of the 134 FBS college football stadiums.” This made up to nearly 87% of all seats in the stadium, which has a 107,601 max capacity.

The 2024 defending champions led cumulative ticket sales on the platform as dated August 7, 2024. Back then, the Wolverines came off as the No.9 team on the AP’s Top 25 College Football Poll. This season, Michigan has been pushed to No.14. But the love is still there among the Wolverines fans. And the whopping ticket sales must be a boost of motivation amidst so much chaos.  

Wolverines are still cleaning up the mess from the Connor Stalions fallout

Moore has been handed with a two-game suspension. As James Yoder on the Michigan Football Report podcast shared, “You can’t really do anything to [Jim] Harbaugh…go back and suspend him from the NFL, you can’t do anything to Jesse Minter. You can’t do anything to anybody else really one or two guys has left and one of those is Sherrone Moore…the NCAA is trying to, maybe, pin him as a repeat offender given that he was already suspended in the 2023 season for improper contact with a recruit during the COVID safety era of 2020 and into 2021.” Turns out that the Connor Stalions’ drama did not drop the axe only on Moore. 

As per the latest reports, the Wolverines will forfeit postseason revenue from the upcoming two seasons, which is expected to cost them at least $20 million. Not just this, Moore’s squad is indebted to pay a penalty worth $50,000 fine plus 10% of the program’s operating budget. On top of that, they’ll lose all anticipated postseason competition revenue sharing for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 football seasons. Adding further to the blow is another penalty equal to 10% of the scholarships awarded in Michigan’s football program for the 2025-26 academic year.

Taking all these combined, the fines exceed $30 million. Yet, there’s still something keeping Michigan fans firmly in the fold. Before the 2025 season unwrapped, they got reason to keep loving the Wolverines even more. Thanks to Bryce Underwood’s breaking of a 146-year-old record. As Koretz tweeted, “Bryce Underwood (18 years, 11 days) will become the youngest starting quarterback in the 146-year history of Michigan football when he takes the field next Saturday. The youngest before him was Rick Leach in 1975, who was an All-American in both football and baseball.” Let us see if 2025 will be the year Michigan rewards its fans by coming back to its glory days.