Attendance Down Significantly (AJC)

[MWBATL]

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.

My own perception (not backed up by ANY data) is that ticket sales tend to respond to longer term trends than just one winning season. Have 5 or 6 winning seasons in a row with 2 or 3 of those being stellar, and fans will flock to your banner. Have one good year, and you will see a small uptick, but no one trusts a one year aberration. It is a winning tradition that fans will support. It will take Tulane or Rice quite a long time to build ticket sales, for example, because both programs have the perception of being "losers". Under CGC, we run the risk of falling into that category as well.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Alcorn state 39719
Clemson 50595
Bowling Green 40740
Duke 41709
Miami 48217
UVa 37543

Was a crappy Home Schedule Alcorn State, Bowling Green; and Duke

Don’t confuse people with facts.

 

[slugboy]

Here's the trend in graph form:

View attachment 11613

Thank you for almost having a zero-base on the Y axis.

I see an environmental trend (everybody is trending down) and a team trend (our fans are staying home more than most). I don't want to change the topic to investing, but it's like "the stock market is down"--"yeah, but your portfolio is down 35% more than the S&P".

 

[Vespidae]

Thank you for almost having a zero-base on the Y axis.

I see an environmental trend (everybody is trending down) and a team trend (our fans are staying home more than most). I don't want to change the topic to investing, but it's like "the stock market is down"--"yeah, but your portfolio is down 35% more than the S&P".

Not all programs are down. Some are actually up. Like financial results ... your results may vary.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Thank you for almost having a zero-base on the Y axis.

I see an environmental trend (everybody is trending down) and a team trend (our fans are staying home more than most). I don't want to change the topic to investing, but it's like "the stock market is down"--"yeah, but your portfolio is down 35% more than the S&P".

Exactly. If the rich are struggling the poor are decimated.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Here's the trend in graph form:

View attachment 11613

I posted a similar graph a few pages back, but with % capacity vs raw attendance.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

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.

If you look closer, it increases and falls every other year, in line with the uga game. 2015 spiked up because uga and FSU were both sell outs.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

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

The issue is you can't accurately track "butts in seats" but you can track the economic impact of ticket sales. The two correlate pretty well.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

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.

The last few years of CPJs tenure he was bleeding fans as well. 43k average in 2018.

 

[forensicbuzz]

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 was only talking about fans with agendas, which I listed. I know there's a lack of interest. That will change with moving away from COVID and wins. We've always had a fickle fanbase, at least in the last 40 years.

 

[Skeptic]

Not all programs are down. Some are actually up. Like financial results ... your results may vary.

It will be interesting to see if Clemson can pack 82,000 into Death Valley for Wake despite, for them, a lousy season.

 

[GTcanWINagain]

I posted a similar graph a few pages back, but with % capacity vs raw attendance.

Please delete 2020 as it serves no purpose on this specific chart - thanks

 

[GTcanWINagain]

This might be a clue to why our attendance has been down so far these recent years as sounds like TStan & his team “tinkered” with GT FB pricing during that 1st year of Collins as HC…

He is a bit is a riverboat gambler with this as well as his hire of Collins. Changing both the product and its price were bold moves and time is the judge of both:

Georgia Tech changing ticket-sales strategy for UGA game

With an intention to optimize pricing, capture revenue and remove the middle man, Georgia Tech will test a different ticket sales strategy for its home game against Georgia in November.

www.ajc.com

 

[GTcanWINagain]

The last few years of CPJs tenure he was bleeding fans as well. 43k average in 2018.

Augusta - We are down further now, agreed? The steeper decline is here.

GT fans want a winner - especially the “fair weather” “wait & see” types who seem to fence sit until GT FB shows promise. These kind I saw for decades at my large company with hundreds of Tech grads. The #1 question on Monday mornings during FB season “Did you go to the __ game?” so insert ND, Auburn, Clemson, etc. I was at the 2001 Kickoff Classic vs. Syracuse in NYC that few others were.

It does not help when nearby Clemson, Alabama, LSU, FSU, & Auburn are all recent winners of National Championships plus UGA knocking on the door…

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Please delete 2020 as it serves no purpose on this specific chart - thanks

I don't exclude data from charts. 2020 happened. I included the data. How you interpret said data is up to you.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Augusta - We are down further now, agreed? The steeper decline is here.

From 2015 to 2018, GT attendance fell from 92% of capacity to 78%, or 14 points. From 2018-2021 so far we have fallen from 78% to 69% of capacity, a drop of 11 points. The steep decline has been here since 2015.

 

[GTcanWINagain]

I don't exclude data from charts. 2020 happened. I included the data. How you interpret said data is up to you.

Umm… we did not have 100% in 2020. I was actually there and lots of seats were kept empty due to Covid.

 

[GTcanWINagain]

I will let someone else extract the game-level attendance for the Paul Johnson and Geoff Collins years.

While Paul did have some lows in 2012 & 2018, his 2014 success drove a nice rebound about 50K per game in 2015.

Unfortunately, Todd Stansbury has been the GT AD with the worse attendance performance in the last 20+ years without counting COVID of course. I do honestly believe that we have to dump some of our FCS games for other P5 FBS teams what people actually want to go watch and TV will televise!

2002 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dave Braine
HC Chan Gailey
OC Bill O’Brien
DC John Tenuta
Chan Gailey - 1st Season
*Bobby Dodd Stadium Capacity = 43,719
Marquee Early Wins: Beat Vandy 45-3 & BYU 28-19 to open 2002 with 2 home wins at sold-out BDS after narrow 19-24 loss to Clemson on road.
43,719* – 2002 – Vanderbilt
43,719* – 2002 – BYU
43,719* – 2002 – Wake Forest
42,727* – 2002 – UVA
42,719* – 2002 – Florida State
41,335* – 2002 – Duke
——————————————
43,156* – 2002 – AVG. (98.7%)
*2002 Bobby Dodd Capacity = 43,719

2003 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dave Braine
HC Chan Gailey
OC Nix/Geis
DC Tenuta
** 2003+ Bobby Dodd Capacity = 55K
Marquee Early Win: Beat #17 Auburn 14-7 in opener of enlarged 55K-seat Bobby Dodd.
55,000 – 2003 – Auburn
53,189 – 2003 – Clemson
50,113 – 2003 – NC State
51,524 – 2003 – Maryland
52,346 – 2003 – UNC
55,000 – 2003 – UGA
——————————————
55,862** – 2003 – AVG. (96.1%)
** 2003+ Bobby Dodd Capacity = 55K

2004 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dave Braine
HC Chan Gailey
OC Nix
DC Tenuta
Calvin Johnson - Freshman Season
Marquee Early Win: Beat #18 Clemson 14-7 in Game 2 in front of 82K at Death Valley.
43,100 – 2004 – Samford
55,000 – 2004 – Miami
46,856 – 2004 – Duke
48,398 – 2004 – Va. Tech (Thursday)
43,577 – 2004 – UConn
43,971 – 2004 – UVA
——————————————
46,817 – 2004 – AVG. (85.1%)

2005 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dave Braine
HC Chan Gailey
OC Nix
DC Tenuta
Calvin Johnson - Sophomore Season
Marquee Win: Beat Auburn 23-14 in opener in front of 87,451 at Jordan-Hare.
46,459 – 2005 – UNC
48,770 – 2005 – UConn
51,432 – 2005 – NC State
55,000 – 2005 – Clemson
51,571 – 2005 - Wake Forest
56,412 – 2005 – UGA
——————————————
51,607 – 2005 – AVG. (93.8%)

2006 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dan Radakovich
HC Chan Gailey
OC Nix
DC Tenuta
Calvin Johnson - Junior Season (final)
Marquee Early Game: Narrow 10-14 loss to #2 Notre Dame in opener in front of sold-out Bobby Dodd.
56,680 – 2006 – Notre Dame
47,149 – 2006 – Samford
45,637 – 2006 – Troy
51,081 – 2006 – Virginia (Thursday)
51,686 – 2006 – Maryland
55,320 – 2006 – Miami
46,768 – 2006 – Duke
——————————————
50,617 – 2006 – AVG. (92.0%)

2007 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dan Radokovich
HC Chan Gailey
OC John Bond
DC Tenuta
Marquee Early Win: Beat Notre Dame 33-3 in opener in front of 87,451 at South Bend.
43,288 – 2007 – Samford
51,112 – 2007 – Boston College
54,635 – 2007 – Clemson
50,242 – 2007 – Army
52,202 – 2007 – Va Tech
54,990 – 2007 – UGA
——————————————
51,078 – 2007 – AVG. (92.9%)

2008-2012 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dan Radokovich
HC Paul Johnson
47,489 – 2008 – AVG. (86.3%)
51,584 – 2009 – AVG. (93.8%)
46,449 – 2010 – AVG. (84.5%)
48,232 – 2011 – AVG. (87.7%)
43,955 – 2012 – AVG. (79.9%)

2013-2015 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Mike Bobinski
HC Paul Johnson
49,077 – 2013 – AVG. (89.2%)
48,519 – 2014 – AVG. (88.2%)
50,707 – 2015 – AVG. (92.2%)

2016-2018 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Todd Stansbury
HC Paul Johnson
47,503 – 2016 – AVG. (86.4%)
46,885 – 2017 – AVG. (85.2%)
43,087 – 2018 – AVG. (78.3%)

2018-2021 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Todd Stansbury
HC Geoff Collins
44,599 – 2019 – AVG. (81.1%)
N/A - 2020 COVID-19 IMPACTED
34,956*** – 2021 – AVG. (63.6%) ***w/o UGA

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Umm… we did not have 100% in 2020. I was actually there and lots of seats were kept empty due to Covid.

In 2020 max attendance was capped at 11,000, or 20% of the stadium capacity. Each game in 2020 was a sellout. We were at 100% of the 2020 capacity for the stadium. The data is correct.

 

[ibeattetris]

Here's the trend in graph form:

View attachment 11613

This is not just a GT problem.