They should be put up there and in the gold seats behind the mums. Stay isolated and feel special while the rest of us make some noise for the boys.
I agree, but I honestly wish the gold seats weren't even there anymore. As someone who was privileged to sit there for 20 years, that section is a small smattering of dedicated fans that will make noise along with a large group of more reserved fans/blue hairs that won't make noise. Grandparents gave their gold seats up in 2017 when the university came around demanding extra donations, which felt like a bit of a slap in the face given the family funds a scholarship on campus and regularly make substantial contributions to building projects like the Jordan Hall of Science when it was built. The season tickets used to be 5 rows from the field right behind the opposing team's bench. When I scoped them out for the Georgia game back in 2017 I was incredibly disappointed to see Georgia fans sitting there. Either the new ticket holders sold out, or the university sold out, but I digress.
The bottom line is the gold seats are right down in the middle of the action and a large portion of our most reserved fans sit in those seats. Sure, it gets rowdier in November when the snow birds head to Florida for the season and give their tickets up to younger family members, but that's not before we play the likes of Michigan which is usually in September, or USC/Stanford in October, or an Oklahoma, etc. Usually the only big game we play in November is the last one against either Stanford or USC and that one is always played in California, so crowd noise is often not as big of a necessity in the final month. One of the best showings I've ever seen from the gold seats was in 2010 for the Utah game. So many fans had packed it in given the direction of the season and gave their tickets up, there were a lot of fresh faces for that game...and they were loud! I honestly think it's one of the reasons Utah was completely rattled in that game and laid an egg when we had no business winning that game.
I don't have illusions that the university will change their practices regarding the gold seats. They love money, so they'll continue to do what they do to bring in that extra revenue. Still, it's a bit disconcerting when you're playing Michigan in a night game in 2012, you're 5 rows behind Michigan's bench and you're being told to sit down. That attitude needs to change.
