BDS Attendance

[RonJohn]

Actually, what we need to do is perform a statistical analysis of how much noon kickoffs impact attendance. If we can determine a dollar figure for lost gate revenue due to unappealing noon kickoffs, we might have a basis for demanding compensation.

If the networks want to claim "revenue issues" as the basis for placing a particular matchup in a lousy time slot, fine. But if that's the case, then they should have to pay the full revenue cost for their decision, by compensating the teams whose gate revenues have been suppressed in the process.

The broadcasters have already paid for the ability to decide when the games will be played. The ACC has already accepted the money. If any team wants to claim damage and get extra compensation, the ACC would be the only place to get that from.

 

[SolicitorJacket]

Thank goodness no one at the ticket office would give away a seat or two in the name of customer service. We will be sold out every week in no time.

 

[RonJohn]

This picture was take almost 2 hours before kickoff.

The clock says 7:55 before the game, and I am already in my seat in that picture. I got to my seat about 40 minutes before kickoff.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

The reasons we do not have huge GT-fan attendance are legion, and the point of this thread.

The nooners probably contribute to this and many of the reasons that are stated in this thread. Many of those reasons are not unique to GT. There is no doubt that the TV people make decisions based on what pleases them, rather than what pleases a ticket holder.

One thing that I would disagree with is the fact that CPJ's opinion does not matter. If GT - at CPJ's insistence - does not request non-nooners, then we should not be surprised when GT gets nooners.

As evidence for this opinion, I offer this list of game times of a fellow ACC team in 2016:

Friday 7:00 PM (H) vs Tulane
Saturday 3:30 PM (A) vs Duke
Saturday 6:30 PM (H) vs Delaware
Saturday 3:30 PM (A) vs Indiana
Saturday 3:30 PM (A) vs NCS
Saturday 7:00PM (H) vs Syracuse
Saturday 3:30 PM (A) vs F$U
Saturday 3:30PM (H) vs Army
Saturday 3:00 PM (H) vs UVA
Saturday 7:00 PM (A) vs Louisville
Saturday 7:00 PM (H) vs Clemson
Saturday 3:00 PM (H) vs BC

Who is this football powerhouse that gets an entire season without nooners?

Wake Forest.

One of those games is a non-nooner, by design and three were against teams that were media darlings last season. The rest were meh games, matching up meh teams having meh seasons (Wake finished 7-6, 3-5 in 2016). What lead to this 2016 schedule? In 2015 Wake was 3-9, 1-7 - they did however have four nooners in 2015, three were at home.

In fact, the mighty Deacons were waiting for 3:30 PM to roll around to take on the Mountaineers of App State at App State while GT was playing a conference game at home at noon. The good news is that the Deacons eked out a win by blocking a last second field goal. ACC, ACC, ACC.


While this is not proof-positive that CPJ's opinion has influence on the matter of nooners, I believe that there is evidence here to indicate that CPJ's game-time preference - hence GT's - probably has something to do with it. That or the Tobacco Road Mafia really, really hates GT or there are way more Wake Forest football fans watching across the country that I give them credit for.

BTW, Wake's earliest start so far this season was a 1:00 PM game at BC, next week they play F$U at home at 3:30 PM. Then they play Clemson. Wakes first nooner this season might be against . . . GT.

Yes, CPJ has expressed a preference for noon games, and yes, I'm sure the ACC and TV people have seen that, but the unknown is whether he has actually requested such starts or been in any way at all involved in that process. It would seem to me that the AD's would handle that kind of thing. So the question then arises as to whether first MBob and now TStan have offered any input to the ACC or TV people one way or another. I would think that, based alone on all the comments posted on here, TStan would begin, if he has not already started, to come to some kind of mutually agreeable solution.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Actually, what we need to do is perform a statistical analysis of how much noon kickoffs impact attendance. If we can determine a dollar figure for lost gate revenue due to unappealing noon kickoffs, we might have a basis for demanding compensation.

If the networks want to claim "revenue issues" as the basis for placing a particular matchup in a lousy time slot, fine. But if that's the case, then they should have to pay the full revenue cost for their decision, by compensating the teams whose gate revenues have been suppressed in the process.

Since we have so few non-noon games to use for comparison, I don't think the data is there to do such an analysis. The only thing anyone can possibly go by is opinions.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

A quick glance at the attendance of 40,2011 and its 18% lower than BDS long-term average of 48,835.

Ugh.

Give unused tickets to the military, GA State Patrol, Delta employees, etc. just make sure they are used!

The problem there is you don't know which tickets are unused until game time, other than those unsold. I agree though that we should give the unsold ones away to such organizations.

 

[Vespidae]

It would seem to me that the AD's would handle that kind of thing.

I think it's easier than that. If you are winning AND playing quality opponents, you are playing at 3:30.

If you are +3 against University of South Central Nameless ... it's a noon start.

 

[jacob]

Yes, CPJ has expressed a preference for noon games, and yes, I'm sure the ACC and TV people have seen that, but the unknown is whether he has actually requested such starts or been in any way at all involved in that process. It would seem to me that the AD's would handle that kind of thing. So the question then arises as to whether first MBob and now TStan have offered any input to the ACC or TV people one way or another. I would think that, based alone on all the comments posted on here, TStan would begin, if he has not already started, to come to some kind of mutually agreeable solution.

Have you emailed Tstan?

 

[Vespidae]

The problem there is you don't know which tickets are unused until game time, other than those unsold. I agree though that we should give the unsold ones away to such organizations.

We are a technology school. Surely we can write an app for that!

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Have you emailed Tstan?

No, I have not. I emailed him prior to the start of the season about a totally unrelated (though, I thought, significant issue), and he not only responded overnight but resolved the issue the following day. I was very impressed both with his rapid response and the fact that he took action on it. But I don't want to be perceived as an alum who emails him all the time about all kinds of issues, no matter how important I think they are. In other words, I don't want to come across as a pest. I am hoping that someone else (or others) will do that. I would certainly be more than happy to add my name to a list, however. I wish someone either in attendance tomorrow night, or by phone call or twitter, would ask Johnson about it on his call-in show.

 

[SteamWhistle]

The time of the Kickoff should not matter. That's the lamest excuse ever. Georgia could play a game at 7 am and they would sell it out.
How come no one talks about how Our stadium is poorly designed, why do the endzone seats only connect to the away side? Who in the world thought the Upper-North was a good idea? Why do we have the best seats on the away side of the field? I wish we would redesign the whole stadium back into a Horse Shoe look with fold down chairs and only seat 48-50k.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I think it's easier than that. If you are winning AND playing quality opponents, you are playing at 3:30.

If you are +3 against University of South Central Nameless ... it's a noon start.

Then explain Wake Forest.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

The time of the Kickoff should not matter. That's the lamest excuse ever. Georgia could play a game at 7 am and they would sell it out.
How come no one talks about how Our stadium is poorly designed, why do the endzone seats only connect to the away side? Who in the world thought the Upper-North was a good idea? Why do we have the best seats on the away side of the field? I wish we would redesign the whole stadium back into a Horse Shoe look with fold down chairs and only seat 48-50k.

Whether it SHOULD matter or not, it apparently DOES matter.

 

[jacob]

No, I have not. I emailed him prior to the start of the season about a totally unrelated (though, I thought, significant issue), and he not only responded overnight but resolved the issue the following day. I was very impressed both with his rapid response and the fact that he took action on it. But I don't want to be perceived as an alum who emails him all the time about all kinds of issues, no matter how important I think they are. In other words, I don't want to come across as a pest. I am hoping that someone else (or others) will do that. I would certainly be more than happy to add my name to a list, however. I wish someone either in attendance tomorrow night, or by phone call or twitter, would ask Johnson about it on his call-in show.

You should definetely email him.

 

[Animal02]

The time of the Kickoff should not matter. That's the lamest excuse ever. Georgia could play a game at 7 am and they would sell it out.
How come no one talks about how Our stadium is poorly designed, why do the endzone seats only connect to the away side? Who in the world thought the Upper-North was a good idea? Why do we have the best seats on the away side of the field? I wish we would redesign the whole stadium back into a Horse Shoe look with fold down chairs and only seat 48-50k.

Kick off time does matter......especially when they are not announced until a week or so prior to the game. If I knew the kick off was going to be 3:30 at the beginning of the season, it would easy to pick up cheap airline tickets, fly in and fly out the same day. As it is now, you pretty much have to plan on staying two nights since the game could start anywhere from 12 to 8, or you wait to the last minute to buy tickets to fly and pay through the nose.

 

[GTpdm]

Since we have so few non-noon games to use for comparison, I don't think the data is there to do such an analysis. The only thing anyone can possibly go by is opinions.

I was actually thinking about looking at all attendance data across all FBS teams, over the past decade or so. I'd wager the statistics are plentiful enough there to make a meaningful comparison; how many noon games are there in a season? 50?

 

[RonJohn]

I was actually thinking about looking at all attendance data across all FBS teams, over the past decade or so. I'd wager the statistics are plentiful enough there to make a meaningful comparison; how many noon games are there in a season? 50?

There are 9 next week. Across 13 weeks, that would be 117. Don't know that it is exactly the same every week, but about 120 should be close enough.

 

[Vespidae]

Then explain Wake Forest.

Can anyone ever really explain Wake Forest?

 

[Vespidae]

Kick off time does matter......especially when they are not announced until a week or so prior to the game. If I knew the kick off was going to be 3:30 at the beginning of the season, it would easy to pick up cheap airline tickets, fly in and fly out the same day.

I think this does explain it. One key factor driving attendance is a low student to citizen ratio. Schools with high citizen to student ratios suggest an alumni that can't regularly attend games. Tech falls into this category.

 

[GTpdm]

The broadcasters have already paid for the ability to decide when the games will be played. The ACC has already accepted the money. If any team wants to claim damage and get extra compensation, the ACC would be the only place to get that from.

True enough. The point is, teams that get screwed (in attendance revenue) by repeated noon games are not getting compensated for the sacrifice they are making being forced to make for the sake of league coverage, while the folks dictating the time slots are not held accountable for the financial impact of their choices on individual teams. So maybe we should sue the ACC for a greater share of their TV revenues, since we are taking a disproportionate ding in our ticket sales. Surely someone who is making money off this venture should appropriately compensate the teams who are taking it on the chin in order for them to rake in the cash.

Sure, its not a big deal (revenue-wise) to the primary beneficiaries (league/networks), but do the math: if a noon game costs us 5k in attendance, at (guessing an average) $40 per seat, that's $200k per game, and if we have 5 noon home games, that's $1M in annual revenue. I'm sure we could find something to do with that much income--money that we are not getting solely because of our crappy start times.

If we are going to complain (to the league, to the networks, I don't care), that's the point we should make: their choices cost our program revenue outside the flat television income stream, so that stream should factor the cost we bear into our compensation--not on a league level, but on a team level.