Prior to Saturday’s Michigan State-Youngstown State game, a skywriter scrolled “Go Blue” high above Spartan Stadium.
What was thought to be the lame stunt by a Michigan fan, was actually paid for by the Michigan athletic department.
According to MLive.com, the university paid “thousands of dollars” for the service.
Suzanne Asbury-Oliver, who runs Oregon Aero SkyDancer skywriting with her husband Steve, told MLive the Wolverines’ athletic department hired her business to put Michigan slogans into the air above Ann Arbor then East Lansing on Saturday.
Michigan athletic department spokesperson Dave Ablauf acknowledged his department paid for Saturday's skywriting but said no specific locations were targeted.
"We hired the skywriters to canvas southeast Michigan with slogans and numbers prior to our game last Saturday,” he said in a statement. "There were no locations targeted..."
Asbury-Oliver told MLive.com this was the fourth time the Michigan athletic department had hired her company to skywrite Michigan-centric messages, but that this was the first time they’d ever been asked to do it in East Lansing where Michigan State is located.
Is writing “Go Blue” above your rival’s stadium prior to a meaningless game against Youngstown State the ultimate in college athletics trolling?
It‘s right up there and a definite waste of funds. The MLive.com story did note the skywriting was not paid for with taxpayer money, so there’s that.
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