Attendance

[JacketOff]

It’s really unbelievable that when every other stadium in the country was expanding, they managed to keep a symmetrical look, but the world renowned engineering institute couldn’t. The fact that Sanford Stadium is such a great looking piece of infrastructure is absolutely disgusting to me. But it doesn’t stop at that community college. Bryant-Denny, Jordan-Hare, Tiger Stadium, Memorial Stadium, Doak Campbell, the Big House, the Horseshoe, and essentially every other stadium in the country. How can all of those places get it right, and GT failed miserably? Even if they wanted to keep the original squared-off and angled look of Grant Field, they couldn’t have at least built it symmetrical?

 

[LargeFO]

I'm not gonna lie, seeing some of those pics y'all have been posting makes me feel 1000x better about our "problem"/look.

 

[iceeater1969]

The SEC is definitely the preferred option, but only from our point of view. They don't want us.

We have plenty of empty seats and they are cheap.
The 65 guy just quit supporting because of uniform color changes.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Inexplicable that when the permanent West & East stands were built all those years ago that not one damn engineer said “Hey, wouldn’t it be better if this was symmetrical?” But hell no.

And they were built long enough ago that the street issue behind the East stands could have been “handled”. But hell no.

With those things done the upper West & East could have been symmetrical, making a North and Upper North stands symmetrical and able to be connected to the East & West.

But Hell No! Idiocy.

Did you see the way it was before they put the club section and lounge in the lower east. Originally the upper east was held up by massive beams placed in the lower east, and if you had seats anywhere behind about row 30, you couldn't even see around them without moving around. It was really, really bad, and SO POORLY DESIGNED !!!

 

[Buzztheirazz]

I was told by GTAA staff Thurs night that beer garden is penciled in for North end zone

Gotta be south. Man that area would be so damn POPULAR. Sold out for sure.

 

[Bogey]

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[Bogey]

Agreed! I live within 4 hours of Atlanta and I am once again a contributor, season ticket holder and attend every home game because I presently like the flavor of our program. If the flavor becomes once again distasteful to me, what I do with my money is my business not anyone else's.

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[Bogey]

I hesitate to comment. I am not sure we can fix this problem. As others have stated, attendance is down everywhere. We have a very small fanbase - many of our grads could care less about college football, and that is not changing, Engineers go where the best jobs are, and that ain't always within an easy drive to the ATL. Being in the city, with the traffic and parking and some other things that make downtown not a lot of fun, it is not like the experience, when we are losing, is worth the trouble. Look at the Braves - they moved out of downtown. I don't have a lot of answers, but I do agree that we need to think out of the box. It would help if the academics at our school thought football brought worth to our Institute. Most do not.

I realize the gold seat folks provide a LOT of $$ for GT, but their unwillingness to be in their seats, at least for the start of the game and the start of the 2nd half baffles me. I will shut up now.

I am not promoting this idea but just throwing this out there. To renovate BDS into a really nice stadium with seat backs, aisles with hand rails and treads to meet present codes, up date restrooms, etc., will take bookoos of money we don't have. What if we approached Mr. Blank and the city and explored the possibility of using MBS as our stadium like the Steelers and Pitt? If we went this way, we instantly have a state of the art stadium with no capital outlay, attract more fans, significantly and increase our recruiting appeal. BDS could be converted to a green space for students and tail-gating experience during our season with shuttles to the stadium. Not sure I like this idea but think it is one we should examine.

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[GTFLETCH]

There were 38k at UVA last year. Does that make Paul a bad coach? Im not asking you to like CGC, just be consistent with your reasoning.

38K under CPJ is because fans wanted more than 7 win seasons.... Now under CGC 3 win season are ok... On side note I was there and there were less than 38k... But whatever... This is going to be interesting to watch over the next two years..

 

[GTFLETCH]

I am not promoting this idea but just throwing this out there. To renovate BDS into a really nice stadium with seat backs, aisles with hand rails and treads to meet present codes, up date restrooms, etc., will take bookoos of money we don't have. What if we approached Mr. Blank and the city and explored the possibility of using MBS as our stadium like the Steelers and Pitt? If we went this way, we instantly have a state of the art stadium with no capital outlay, attract more fans, significantly and increase our recruiting appeal. BDS could be converted to a green space for students and tail-gating experience during our season with shuttles to the stadium. Not sure I like this idea but think it is one we should examine.

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Agree

 

[4shotB]

I am not promoting this idea but just throwing this out there. To renovate BDS into a really nice stadium with seat backs, aisles with hand rails and treads to meet present codes, up date restrooms, etc., will take bookoos of money we don't have. What if we approached Mr. Blank and the city and explored the possibility of using MBS as our stadium like the Steelers and Pitt? If we went this way, we instantly have a state of the art stadium with no capital outlay, attract more fans, significantly and increase our recruiting appeal. BDS could be converted to a green space for students and tail-gating experience during our season with shuttles to the stadium. Not sure I like this idea but think it is one we should examine.

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My initial reaction to this is "No" because I just can't think of a program anywhere that plays off campus that has solid fan support and attendance. Maybe Miami in the Orange Bowl back in the day when they were competing for NC's. Can you think of any others?

 

[Oakland]

First, Georgia Tech is not leaving the ACC. It would cost us a fortune to leave, plus the SEC does not want or need us. Second, the MBS idea could grow legs if the games held there are successful. BDS is old and if we start to have structural issues with the stadium, MBS could be an option. Problem; all of the seats in MBS are red due to the Falcons and United, but since colors don't seem to be an issue with the GTAA that may not be a problem. It would be interesting to see a comparison of the costs to maintain and operate BDS vs MBS. Would we make money by playing there? Moving to MBS would leave us without a true home stadium. We'd have to share it with pro sports, bowl games, and kick off classic type games. I'd like to know how Miami and Pitt fans feel about their stadium situations.
Edit. Here is an interesting article about the old Pitt Stadium.
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/pitts-lost-love-pitt-stadium

 

[wvGT11]

South endzone student section may as well be eliminated and only used as a student section for over flow purposes. I've rarely seen it full in the last 6 or so years and looks horrible on tv empty. What happened to swarm down there ?


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[LibertyTurns]

South endzone student section may as well be eliminated and only used as a student section for over flow purposes. I've rarely seen it full in the last 6 or so years and looks horrible on tv empty. What happened to swarm down there ?


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I’m all for doing something with Upper & Lower North & the Beer Garden seems ripe for the picking. I’m an oldtimer & even I understand the younger crowd wants a more dynamic experience. I also am at the age where sitting on top of someone is not desirable. Give me a bigger seat at double the price for my big fat *** & I’ll gladly pay like I do now. I’m sure I’m not alone.

South endzone is prime for suite expansion and there’s already waitlists in Wardlaw to fill it up. Yes we have sections with waitlists folks. I’m guessing you could get 2 levels of suites in the south, some party decks in the corners & move the Wardlaw even closer to the field.

Damn there’s so many ideas that could make a difference. Sitting here & watching GT getting kicked in the nutsack by the competition year after year without changing a damn thing is not the answer. It’s not just the bag man holding us back.

 

[FrostedOrange]

North endzone?? Or south?

They pointed to North when they said it

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Anyone else notice the Fluke game at Wake last night? Maybe 4000 people there. I've seen more at local HS games.

Point being, attendance is a problem almost everywhere. So we shouldn't be expanding the stadium but making it better for those who go. And is that reduces the capacity, good. Less supply can lead to higher demand. Which is what Stansbury seems to be doing.

 

[MWBATL]

There are about 27,000 students at Tech. If they all came to games, that would fill up half of BDS...

Npe, misguided thinking.

The graduate student population at GT is heavily foreign (about 50%) , older, more interested in studies than sports and much more focused no the business of getting their degree. That nearly half of your total.

The undergraduate student population makes up most of the student section at virtually every school, and that is 15,573.

 

[GT flunkout]

1) student attendance bad. Grateful for the two lower North sections that are active but otherwise they're not showing up. Don't sugarcoat it by saying they are.

2) South End Zone used to be full and active. It can be again.

3) the Swarm has degraded over the last several years. What happened to all the gold shirts in their designated section?

4) "attendance is down everywhere" is really overstated and overblown. No, Alabama does not have a problem with attendance, just shut up already.

5) those of you in love with "symmetry" I just don't get it. Bobby Dodd is classic and shoehorned into a small Urban space. All those symmetrical stadiums look so cookie cutter. No charm at all. BDS just needs to be filled up.

6) I've long advocated tarping off the top half of the upper North for low demand games. Restrict about 4k up there for opposing fans only, displace fans up there to the corners of UW and UE.

7) game day experience is horrible. Our traditions have been watered down instead of built-up, lighting, PA, music is Bush League. Very sad. Look to UGA. Hire their people as consultants. They are doing it right and at an extremely high level. We aren't even trying.

8) interior and exterior of stadium is badly maintained and neglected. Rust, faded banners, cheap. Screams that we just don't care. Coke sign above scoreboard has been broken half of the season. How we present ourselves just isn't a priority. The powers that be see this everyday and have blinders obviously. HOF names on UE look so dated and cheap. Replace with ribbon boards. So focused on big changes (new Edge building, beer gardens), zero attention to details.

 

[MWBATL]

If we were to move to MBS, I would cancel my season tickets. I HATE that stadium.....

 

[gtstinger776]

I never said it was about me. I just said that JacketOff obviously doesn't have a clue what he's talking about when he questions someone's support, unless that someone has specifically said he would not support the team based on certain conditions. I agree that such a person is no true fan. But at the same time, I question "young fans" who base their support on needless things like the uniform of the week. These young fans, and recruits too, need to be educated about the traditions of Tech, including the FACT that both our fight songs, and our alma mater as well, mention the White and Gold, and not the blue and anything. Other schools that actually have traditions emphasize those traditions; Tech seems not to care about them anymore.

Your posture on these threads gives the impression “I’m old, I’ve endured this for long enough, and therefore I’m entitled to see what I want to see.” I think that’s in direct conflict of a fun, inclusive fan base that’s inviting of new ideas and new people.