Attendance Down Significantly (AJC)

[Vespidae]

but if the Jackets can establish themselves as winners again, attendance will improve markedly.

No. It won't. Winning helps, but it does not drive attendance. Attendance has been extensively studied by the NCAA. In short, attendance is driven by alumni density < 5 miles of the campus, a non-urban campus, and the schedule. Tech does not set up well on either alumni density or non-urban, which is why it has hovered in the mid-40's for decades.

As to schedule, fans do turn out for a great game. Play almost any SEC team, and attendance goes up dramatically. (When I attended Tech , we played Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Notre Dame. All to packed stadiums.) The move to the ACC was great for basketball, for football, not so much. The rivalries don't mean as much to local fans who are much more engaged in SEC matchups.

Look at Auburn. Yes, they have an 85,000 seat stadium that usually sells out. But not when they play cupcakes. Alabama is the same way. Even Saban has complained about poor attendance.

If you want a full stadium, play (and mostly win) meaningful games that matter to local fans. And because it's downtown, Tech should consider developing an entertainment zone much like the Battery to get people into the area. I've long advocated that Peters Park should be leveled and returned to natural state much like the Grove at Ole Miss. (The Grove is so much fun the games are incidental.)

 

[Northeast Stinger]

The good old days, before the games were all on TV, and before the pro teams came to Atlanta. But Tech also had a much better team and a history of winning. Fans aren't going to return overnight, but if the Jackets can establish themselves as winners again, attendance will improve markedly. There is only one way out of our attendance woes, and that is to win.

I long for the day when Tech becomes a consistent winner again. And pregame shows talk of Tech of old and how coach X is returning Tech to it’s former glory days. Kind of like when Dabo returned Clemson to relevance again and we starting hearing of the days when Clemson was coached by “the bashful Barron of Barlow Bend.”

Right now no outsider has any patience with hearing how we used to be nationally relevant.

 

[bobongo]

No. It won't. Winning helps, but it does not drive attendance. Attendance has been extensively studied by the NCAA. In short, attendance is driven by alumni density < 5 miles of the campus, a non-urban campus, and the schedule. Tech does not set up well on either alumni density or non-urban, which is why it has hovered in the mid-40's for decades.

As to schedule, fans do turn out for a great game. Play almost any SEC team, and attendance goes up dramatically. (When I attended Tech , we played Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Notre Dame. All to packed stadiums.) The move to the ACC was great for basketball, for football, not so much. The rivalries don't mean as much to local fans who are much more engaged in SEC matchups.

Look at Auburn. Yes, they have an 85,000 seat stadium that usually sells out. But not when they play cupcakes. Alabama is the same way. Even Saban has complained about poor attendance.

If you want a full stadium, play (and mostly win) meaningful games that matter to local fans. And because it's downtown, Tech should consider developing an entertainment zone much like the Battery to get people into the area. I've long advocated that Peters Park should be leveled and returned to natural state much like the Grove at Ole Miss. (The Grove is so much fun the games are incidental.)

Yeah, play meaningful games and win them. You can add all that circus stuff you want to and it's not going to get the fans back if you're loser.

 

[MWBATL]

As a famous politician once said, "It's the economy, stupid!"

Nope. Consumers have money to burn, as shown by retail sales.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Nope. Consumers have money to burn, as shown by retail sales.

Yep, greatest economic expansion since mid 1980s.

People are just doing different things like remodeling their houses, visiting family and dabbling in crypto currency rather than watching losing teams.

 

[forensicbuzz]

My first Tech football game, Sept. 30, 1961. Every Tech game was sold out,

HD Stock Video Footage - Georgia Tech defeat Rice Owls with final score of 24-0.

View Stan Cann vintage historic HD stock video footage in Atlanta Georgia USA, 1961. Buy HD video and archival still photo images of clip number 65675034212.

www.criticalpast.com

1961

Nationally relevant
NC 9 years earlier
No Braves
No Falcons
No Hawks
No TV games (maybe 1/year)
SEC, playing Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, uga, Florida every year.

Yeah, I could see why every game was sold out.

 

[JacketOff]

The reason it doens't apply to UGA is sheer volume of fans vs availabilty of seats. I'd bet we'd be hard pressed to fill all 55k with alumni that live in range of the stadium, they have more alumni AND more sidewalk fans in the order of millions. But even UGA was seeing non sell out games during kirby's first couple years and the last bit of richt. They've obviously rebounding but i remember a major campaign to keep that from happening in 2017/18

The last game UGA didn’t sell out was in 2012 against Buffalo, when they sold 92,446 of the 92,746 tickets. Not really sure what you’re talking about

 

[slugboy]

1961

Nationally relevant
NC 9 years earlier
No Braves
No Falcons
No Hawks
No TV games (maybe 1/year)
SEC, playing Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, uga, Florida every year.

Yeah, I could see why every game was sold out.

Also
Three TV stations
19” screen with rabbit ears
Smaller stadium
Atlanta was a much smaller town (more like UNC than now)

 

[LibertyTurns]

If you are a GT fan and you have season tickets, you make sure you or another GT fan is sitting in those seats. If you don't like the situation, that's no reason not to support your program.

Not sure I fall into your ****ty fan pile, but I buy 2 more season tickets than I need every year. Up until 2018, no issues getting people to sit in my area. 2019 there were a couple of games where I had a bit of trouble giving them away but someone eventually took them on game day. 2020 was da Rona year. This year, I’ve resorted to walking up to people entering the stadium every game and hooking them up. Nobody is interested at all.

 

[cthenrys]

Not sure I fall into your ****ty fan pile, but I buy 2 more season tickets than I need every year. Up until 2018, no issues getting people to sit in my area. 2019 there were a couple of games where I had a bit of trouble giving them away but someone eventually took them on game day. 2020 was da Rona year. This year, I’ve resorted to walking up to people entering the stadium every game and hooking them up. Nobody is interested at all.

I mean other than just trolls, isn't it a bit of a stretch to say that people who spend their time reading and posting to a GT message board aren't fans ?

 

[LibertyTurns]

I mean other than just trolls, isn't it a bit of a stretch to say that people who spend their time reading and posting to a GT message board aren't fans ?

There’s a couple of mutt posers that like the GT boards, but yeah 99+% on here are GT fans. Not only that they’re fairly rabid GT fans. We’d do anything we could to have GT success in whatever sport we happen to watch or read about, even those we casually or infrequently follow.

 

[cthenrys]

There’s a couple of mutt posers that like the GT boards, but yeah 99+% on here are GT fans. Not only that they’re fairly rabid GT fans. We’d do anything we could to have GT success in whatever sport we happen to watch or read about, even those we casually or infrequently follow.

Yep. Don't like or believe in the HC or most of his staff (and haven't since year 1), but still pull for and watch or listen to every game. If I still lived in Atlanta I would likely be more selective about going to games. I still think I'm a fan as are others of my ilk (as are those who still believe CGC can turn it around). We all want wins for GT.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

We averaged around 42k i think. It wasn't great but we definitely were doing better than now. But my thought on why that was was more about there not being alot of alternatives to watch our games than being there at times.

We averaged 49,945 fan from 2003 to 2008. I started at 2003 because that was the first year of the stadium expansion to 55k. The previous year (2002) max capacity was reduced due to construction.

 

[GT33]

Yep. Don't like or believe in the HC or most of his staff (and haven't since year 1), but still pull for and watch or listen to every game. If I still lived in Atlanta I would likely be more selective about going to games. I still think I'm a fan as are others of my ilk (as are those who still believe CGC can turn it around). We all want wins for GT.

A turnaround is possible, but our chip stack is getting short. I think all the chips are in next year. If we continue to decline, well it's time to hit the eject button. I'm not sure leveling off, stopping our current plummet into the abyss of irrelevancy, is going to cut it. We either improve or it's hit the road Jack. GT just cannot afford a half a decade of incompetence. We don't have the bounce back potential of a factory like UF.

 

[augustabuzz]

The last game UGA didn’t sell out was in 2012 against Buffalo, when they sold 92,446 of the 92,746 tickets. Not really sure what you’re talking about

sellouts, yes. Full stadiums, no.

 

[JacketOff]

sellouts, yes. Full stadiums, no.

The post I was responding to specifically said sell outs, not actual attendance. Besides, there’s always going to be some tickets that get sold that end up empty at any event. We aren’t selling out or filling the stadium. Not even close. Another poster was saying selling 25k tickets to a game next year would be good enough. And justified the amount of empty seats on Saturday by saying we still sold 30k tickets. It’s embarrassing, and I can only imagine it’s even more embarrassing for the players.

 

[Vespidae]

We averaged 49,945 fan from 2003 to 2008. I started at 2003 because that was the first year of the stadium expansion to 55k. The previous year (2002) max capacity was reduced due to construction.

Here's the trend in graph form:

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Here's the trend in graph form:

View attachment 11613

What’s weird, but not weird, is how having a good season does not mean your attendance is good that season. Rather, there is a lag time, usually the season after your best season is the one that has higher attendance.

So, if that is true, it appears that one/loss records in Tech’s current season is the best predictor for ticket sales the following season.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

What’s weird, but not weird, is how having a good season does not mean your attendance is good that season. Rather, there is a lag time, usually the season after your best season is the one that has higher attendance.

So, if that is true, it appears that one/loss records in Tech’s current season is the best predictor for ticket sales the following season.

Notice the 7,000 less tickets sold for 2021. We may only hit 30K-32K for 2022. CPJ was keeping things going for sure averaging almost 50,000. That is a LOT of money the poor job of transitioning is costing us.

 

[jgtengineer]

We averaged 49,945 fan from 2003 to 2008. I started at 2003 because that was the first year of the stadium expansion to 55k. The previous year (2002) max capacity was reduced due to construction.

That's average sales, I'm talking about actual attendance. Butts in seats.