Mark Snyder

Detroit Free Press

For much of this season, there has been a lot of talk about the apparent ticket decline at Michigan Stadium.

But as far as tickets sold, the only steep downturn came where the U-M athletic department admitted in the summer: student tickets, which fell from 19,851 in 2013 to just 11,569 in 2014, with many students citing the weak home schedule.

Yet overall season ticket sales were virtually unaffected entering this season, dropping just 1% from last season, down just 724 for a total of 67,751.

In information about football ticket sales obtained by the Free Press through a public records request, the department has covered most of that gap — nearly 58,000 spread over the seven-game season — through other avenues.

Despite finding out about the shortage in the spring and summer when the student ticket renewals came back, U-M utilized far more single tickets and added a group sales component for the first time.

U-M has sold almost 50,000 more single tickets from 107,457 last year to 157,151 this season, plus another 5,171 in the group sales.

The only other disparity is the suites, where all 81 were sold from 2011 to 2013, but only 75 were sold for this season.

The Free Press request examined the past four years.

What does an elite season do for a program in ticket bump? Not much in a stadium that is already full.

General season tickets from 2011 to 2012 increased by about 739, student tickets by 804.

But single tickets dropped by 44,000 that year, mostly due to having six home games instead of seven.

Outside the Michigan vacuum, the numbers provide some perspective.

The 79,320 season tickets sold — before any individuals this year — would be larger than all but the top 20 stadiums in the country. Michigan is the largest stadium with a 109,901 capacity.

Michigan currently ranks third this season in per-game attendance, averaging 105,907 in its five home games, operating at a 96.37% capacity.

■ MEYER HONORED: Michigan basketball assistant coach Jeff Meyer will be inducted into the Taylor University Athletic Hall of Fame tonight in Upland, Ind. Meyer graduated from the school in 1976.

Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder.