space for Michigan Stadium during football games.
=== Fight songs and chants ===
The Michigan fight song, "The Victors", was written by student Louis Elbel in 1898. The song was declared by John Philip Sousa to be "the greatest college fight song ever written." The song refers to the teams as being "the Champions of the West". At the time, the Big Ten Conference was known as the Western Conference.
Although mainly used at sporting events, the Michigan fight song is often heard at other events as well. U.S. President Gerald Ford had it played by the United States Marine Band as his entrance anthem during his term as president from 1974 to 1977, in preference over the more traditional "Hail to the Chief", and the Michigan Marching Band performed a slow-tempo variation of the fight song at his funeral. The fight song is also sung during graduation commencement ceremonies. The university's alma mater song is "The Yellow and Blue". A common rally cry is "Let's Go Blue!" which has a complementary short musical arrangement …
