BDS Attendance

[dressedcheeseside]

OK, I couldn't wait and was mostly done anyway. In this installment, I compare Tech's performance to all FBS conferences. In general, Tech has been solid in it's attendance, having only one down year. By "down year", I'm looking at the number of years that a school was below it's average attendance for the period 2011-2016.

Here's the kicker: Of all FBS schools, only the SEC is on a positive attendance trend. The ACC can be called neutral by the same measure. All other conferences are either lagging their average or on a downward trend.

Now, to be completely transparent, I need to go back and look at the number of times a conference has exceeded or lagged its upper and lower control limits to statistically look at the trend, but my initial read is ... if you are not in the ACC or the SEC, things aren't looking too good.

Where's the data? Graphs? Charts? Diagrams? Come on man, we dig this sh**!

 

[Vespidae]

Where's the data? Graphs? Charts? Diagrams? Come on man, we dig this sh**!

I believe in good spreadsheet hygiene.

 

[SolicitorJacket]

I believe in good spreadsheet hygiene.

The only 100% effective spreadsheet hygiene is total abstinence.

 

[Vespidae]

The only 100% effective spreadsheet hygiene is total abstinence.

LOL. Totally agree. But sometimes, you just can't resist the attraction of a nice curve.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I believe in good spreadsheet hygiene.

Whatever happened to a picture is worth 1000 words?

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I want to see a graph of each conference's attendance Juxtaposed to a graph of each Conference's success on the field.

 

[Vespidae]

My little thought experiment on BDS has convinced me of one thing. BDS is not doing nearly as bad as we make it out to be. Attendance overall is pretty stable, remarkably stable if you think about the FBS as a whole and many of the conferences. Tech in fact, beats FBS attendance stats and along with the ACC is holding its own. Almost every other conference is trending negative.

Tech should give up on any dreams of being a Sanford Stadium and filling 70K+ seats. We're really good at 50,000 ... and so let's build (or refurbish) an on-campus stadium that can deliver a great game day experience.

V

 

[Techster]

Also, remember that Atlanta United "filled" Bobby Dodd solely because they closed off the Upper North stands....their attendance there was 46,318. So, let's not beat ourselves up and marvel at how great thing were for Atlanta United. What WAS great then was the enthusiasm and energy of the fans. The chanting and cheering was far superior to the average GT game. The sis due in part to the age of the crowd, and in part (imho) to the way the crowd is handled. Piped in music (imho) causes the crowd to sit on their hands more, and GT has gone more and more to the pro style piped in music. AU games are led by their fan base and cheerleaders....just as GT crowds should be led by our band and cheerleaders. Plus, and GT fan who yells "sit down" should be banned for the stadium! (OK, that's just my own emotion talking, but some of you guys should really get into it more!)

FYI. Upper North was closed to construction. Had it been open for extra ticket sales, ATL United would have EASILY sold out that section as well. Ticket demand for Atl United is incredible as evidenced by them selling out every home game in that franchise's existence. Heck, they pulled in 20K just to watch them practice in the new stadium. We don't pull in half of that for Spring Scrimmages.

I mentioned it in another thread, but soccer fanaticism is on a whole other level. Atlanta was primed for a professional soccer team because soccer fans are very tribal. Atlanta is home to one of the largest soccer fan bases on the East Coast. There are so many fans of European/South American/Mexican club teams here, and you can see it by the amount of bars and restaurants that open at 6am Saturday/Sunday mornings that cater to them. Those places are PACKED out that early in the morning. Now that Atlanta United is around, there is ONE team for all those fans to rally around and support...and it's really quite beautiful to behold. On top of that, Atlanta United marketing just gets it. They probably have the best marketing team of any Atlanta college or professional sports team...and that includes UGA.

If Atlanta United wanted to open the upper deck areas of the Benze, Atl United would probably easily average between 60k-65K fans per game, if not sellout altogether.

 

[grandpa jacket]

My little thought experiment on BDS has convinced me of one thing. BDS is not doing nearly as bad as we make it out to be. Attendance overall is pretty stable, remarkably stable if you think about the FBS as a whole and many of the conferences. Tech in fact, beats FBS attendance stats and along with the ACC is holding its own. Almost every other conference is trending negative.

Tech should give up on any dreams of being a Sanford Stadium and filling 70K+ seats. We're really good at 50,000 ... and so let's build (or refurbish) an on-campus stadium that can deliver a great game day experience.

V

Sanford and Son has more seats than 70k

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Soccer = snooze fest and pretty boys flopping when touched

 

[Sideways]

Agreed. Add Oglethorpe to the mix as well. After growing up with Tech season tickets (my dad was a GT grad) and getting a nice scholarship offer from GT, I ultimately chose to go to Oglethorpe - primarily because I wanted more of a liberal arts education. My 4 years on OU campus were very much "in the bubble" - I didn't go to one GT game during that time.

While I'm not sure how much uptake there would be from OU students (it's tough to move the needle with an entire student body of <2000), it would go a long way to generating sidewalk fan interest (& building bridges that would continue over time). Every little bit helps.

I went to LaGrange back in the day. I would come home on the bus every weekend just to go to the Tech games in both football and basketball (well, to eat my mother's home cooking too). My parents sat in the west stands with the Old Guard and I sat in the north stands. Attendance in that era was still pretty good especially if we were playing Clemson, UGA, Auburn or Tennessee which we did back then on a regular basis. Brother, let me tell you the football was pretty mediocre at best. Tech has never been at a lower point in both football and basketball than in those dark days of the late 1970s and early 1980s. We just did not have the players to compete and the facilities were probably the worst in division I. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was usually exciting and we had some very memorable wins in spite of all the problems. I enjoyed it .

 

[Nate Anderson]

Frozen lemonades got bumped up from 5 to 6 dollars. Killing attendance it's unacceptable

 

[GTRX7]

Soccer = snooze fest and pretty boys flopping when touched

Good thing that doesn't happen in American football! lol

 

[Techster]

Good thing that doesn't happen in American football! lol

Well, in fairness to Cheese...he may not find football players "pretty".

 

[MWBATL]

If Atlanta United wanted to open the upper deck areas of the Benze, Atl United would probably easily average between 60k-65K fans per game, if not sellout altogether.

Just curious....if AU is so great why would they deliberately leave seats unsold? (not trying to be snarky or critical, just honestly curious)

Personally not convinced they would average that high a number and certainly will be curious to see if the soccer craze lasts beyond the inaugural season. I lived in Jacksonville when the Jaguars first played and they were a crazy success...for a year or two. Now the stadium is tomb-like.

 

[GTRX7]

Just curious....if AU is so great why would they deliberately leave seats unsold? (not trying to be snarky or critical, just honestly curious)

Personally not convinced they would average that high a number and certainly will be curious to see if the soccer craze lasts beyond the inaugural season. I lived in Jacksonville when the Jaguars first played and they were a crazy success...for a year or two. Now the stadium is tomb-like.

Fair points. Certainly they will need to maintain success on the field to maintain high attendance (as with most professional sports teams). I don't think they could average 60-65k per game, but do think they could get around 55k. That said, I would MUCH rather have a sold out 45k stadium with the upper deck partitioned off than 55k with 20k empty seats at the top.

Same reason I think Tech needs to downsize. There is something to be said for creating ticket demand.

 

[Techster]

Just curious....if AU is so great why would they deliberately leave seats unsold? (not trying to be snarky or critical, just honestly curious)

Personally not convinced they would average that high a number and certainly will be curious to see if the soccer craze lasts beyond the inaugural season. I lived in Jacksonville when the Jaguars first played and they were a crazy success...for a year or two. Now the stadium is tomb-like.

You'll have to ask management. I know the opener was blocked off in the upper stands, and the demand for tickets was beyond what they sold as the entire area surrounding the Benz was full of ATLU fans tailgating and partying even after the game started. I was hit up many times for my tickets.

The following home game against Orlando they opened up the upper stands and it was sold out. Same story...tons of fans were still outside tailgating and partying. Will be interesting to see what they do here on out knowing that demand is there.

From what I've read, management wanted to insure the optics of having a full stadium on TV was more important than selling an extra 5K-10K seat. Whether or not that passes the smell test, I'll let you decide. Either way, Atlanta United is shattering attendance records for the MLS, and they actually have better attendance than 90+% of professional teams in MLB, NBA, and Hockey. They average almost 47K fans per game and have sold out every single game.

As to your last comment about the inaugural season success, I've made this point before. Soccer fans are a different beasts from most other sports fans. Extremely tribal, and they pride themselves in showing up whether the team is doing well, rain or shine. Look at the attendance for ATLU game that was delayed by lightening at BDS. That game was sold out, but some fans did end up going home before the game started, but BDS was still almost full. Do I expect them to remain at the same pace inyears to come? Probably not...they have several factors working in their favor right now. The team is goood, and will make the playoffs. For those that are nuanced on soccer tactics, they play an extremely appealing style of soccer that attacks. They have some of the best young talent in the MLS that will probably be playing for some of Europe's bigger clubs soon. The newness factor you mentioned, one of the best sports marketing departments, and location to one of the biggest soccer fan bases helps.

 

[Techster]

BTW:

http://www.espnfc.com/major-league-...-in-establishing-atlanta-united-fc-traditions

This is also a great read into why AtlU is having such great success:

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ited-mls-soccer-popularity-average-attendance

 

[SolicitorJacket]

I went to LaGrange back in the day. I would come home on the bus every weekend just to go to the Tech games in both football and basketball (well, to eat my mother's home cooking too). My parents sat in the west stands with the Old Guard and I sat in the north stands. Attendance in that era was still pretty good especially if we were playing Clemson, UGA, Auburn or Tennessee which we did back then on a regular basis. Brother, let me tell you the football was pretty mediocre at best. Tech has never been at a lower point in both football and basketball than in those dark days of the late 1970s and early 1980s. We just did not have the players to compete and the facilities were probably the worst in division I. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was usually exciting and we had some very memorable wins in spite of all the problems. I enjoyed it .

According to Wikipedia here was Tech's average attendance the last 10 years of the old and largest configuration of Grant Field (Capacity 58,121).

1976 - 43k
1977 - 44k
1978 - 34k
1979 - 38k
1980 - 35k
1981 - 38k
1982 - 36k
1983 - 37k
1984 - 43k
1985 - 40k

All those years are boosted by visits from a rotating group of old rivals like Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame and Tennessee. In those games there would be a sellout or nearly one. When other teams not on that list would visit I never saw attendance past 40k. Many many games were below 30k with a low of 17k against Navy in 1981.

 

[Sideways]

. According to Wikipedia here was Tech's average attendance the last 10 years of the old and largest configuration of Grant Field (Capacity 58,121).

1976 - 43k
1977 - 44k
1978 - 34k
1979 - 38k
1980 - 35k
1981 - 38k
1982 - 36k
1983 - 37k
1984 - 43k
1985 - 40k

All those years are boosted by visits from a rotating group of old rivals like Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame and Tennessee. In those games there would be a sellout or nearly one. When other teams not on that list would visit I never saw attendance past 40k. Many many games were below 30k with a low of 17k against Navy in 1981.

I stand corrected but we were probably lucky the attendance was that good considering the really poor football during most of those years and the unbridled animosity between Pepper and the Old Guard alumni. My dad could not stand him. People do not realize the rebuilding job facing Homer Rice and Bill Curry. There was even talk of dropping football in some corners. One influential former player at the time realized just how bad things were when we played Memphis State one year and they clearly had superior athletes. Didn't help them that much as I recall we beat them anyway. Depth in those days was nonexistent. This is not to say we were completely devoid of talent. Drew Hill, ELI, Don Bessilieu, Kent Hill, Leo Tierney, David Sims, Freeman Colbert, Reggie Wilkes, and many others were fine football players but there was not nearly enough of them especially on defense.