Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, offered an unusual explanation for the Ann Arbor area’s housing affordability problems this week: college football fans.
According to Breitbart News, El-Sayed made the remarks while fielding questions at a “Students vs. Billionaires” town hall at the University of Michigan, where he was asked about housing issues in and around the campus city.
El-Sayed opened by arguing that more housing is needed, and specifically that the new supply should be “available to people who want to live in it.” The obstacle standing in the way, in his telling, is the surge of visitors that descends on Ann Arbor on Wolverines game days.
“The problem with that is this: we are a tourist destination. You know why we are a tourist destination? Football Saturdays,” he said, per Breitbart’s account of the event.
“So, there’s a lot of folks who have extra capital to spend, who will use a corporation like Airbnb or Vrbo, will buy a housing unit that should have been affordable or available for somebody like you, and then they take it off the market. Which artificially depresses the supply of housing.”
— Abdul El-Sayed, per Breitbart News
A candidate for federal office blaming short-term rental investors for squeezing housing supply is hardly novel. What drew attention was the role El-Sayed assigned to football fandom specifically. Breitbart noted that Michigan typically hosts at most eight home games in a season — sometimes fewer when the program plays a neutral-site series against another school — meaning that, under his framing, out-of-town buyers would be purchasing properties to use on roughly eight Saturdays a year.
A thin theory, critics say
The conservative outlet argued it is a stretch to pin sweeping market consequences on such a seasonal and limited phenomenon, questioning whether enough such purchases exist to move the broader housing market. It also pointed out that El-Sayed did not mention the thousands of jobs the Michigan football program generates for Ann Arbor residents and the surrounding area.
The reaction on X, as described by Breitbart, was swift and largely derisive. One user dismissed the explanation outright, writing that “millions of illegal aliens entering the country” — not football — were responsible. Another questioned the economics: buying a house in Ann Arbor to rent out for only six or seven Saturdays “doesn’t seem like a solid business plan,” though the user conceded it might make sense for an existing owner looking for extra cash. A third asked, “Does he actually think that attacking football, especially college football, is going to make him popular?!”
Among the critiques was the political one: for a candidate trying to win a statewide Senate seat, picking a fight with the most visible cultural institution in the state is an odd move.
Doubts about his fandom
Breitbart tied the town hall comment to an August interview El-Sayed gave on MS NOW, when he expressed enthusiasm for the coming football season. “I’ll tell you what I’m excited about. It’s about the football season. And you mentioned Ohio for some reason in this interview. I can’t wait to beat Ohio,” he said at the time, before pivoting to a political jab about Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio roots and a forthcoming visit to Michigan.
The outlet noted that commenters seized on his phrasing, arguing that a genuine college football follower would not refer to Ohio State simply as “Ohio.” The episode, Breitbart suggested, undercut El-Sayed’s effort to present himself as a real Wolverines supporter — and may explain why he is now taking aim at the team’s fans.
The dispute lands in the middle of a Senate race in which affordability has become a central theme for Democrats nationally, with housing costs a frequent talking point on the campaign trail. Candidates in both parties have increasingly pointed to short-term rental platforms as a contributing factor in tight local markets, though economists typically treat the issue as one variable among many, alongside construction limits, zoning rules, interest rates, and local wage growth.
Whether El-Sayed’s football-specific framing gains traction with Michigan voters, or simply provides ammunition to opponents, remains to be seen. The town hall took place on the University of Michigan campus, where student demand for housing is concentrated and where the university’s athletic calendar reshapes the city’s population and traffic patterns several weekends each fall.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2026/09/24/senate-candidate-abdul-el-sayed-blames-michigan-football-fans-for-depressing-the-housing-market/