Bobby Dodd grass

[TooTall]

This is such a weird promo. Not only is he pretending to mow turf, the field isn’t painted for it to even look nice. If they wanted him to “mow” why not go to the practice field? Or Russ Chandler since baseball season is coming up? And if they insisted on doing it at BDS why didn’t they at least put a fresh coat of paint down?

GT marketing is so dumb

If you're going to complain about GT athletics marketing, just hit on the fact of how long it would take to mow the field using an electric push mower and how many back up batteries would be needed.

 

[awbuzz]

Fake ice engine noise being used for an electric mower?
... and I wouldn't wear $100 plus sneakers to mow my yard and have them turn green.

 

[stinger78]

Fake ice engine noise being used for an electric mower?
... and I wouldn't wear $100 plus sneakers to mow my yard and have them turn green.

They don’t turn green on Shaw Turf. C’mon man!

 

[awbuzz]

... of course not, if I had shaw turf, I wouldn't have to mow

 

[takethepoints]

Let me make myself perfectly clear: all forms of artificial "grass", "turf", or whatever euphemism they've come up with lately for various artificial products to put on football fields suck and suck big time. The only surface to play football on is grass. Period. Full Stop. And, in case any of the younger set get confused, that is natural grass; you know, the stuff you have in your yard. I've played on both and there is no comparison. True, you sometimes have the occasional mud problem, but that only adds to the fun and tests the players's ability. Besides, there's nothing that makes you look and feel tougher then to come to the sidelines with turf stuck in your face guard and grass stains on your uniform.

So, yes, let's hope that Tech is going back to grass. And the sooner the better.

 

[TampaBuzz]

If you're going to complain about GT athletics marketing, just hit on the fact of how long it would take to mow the field using an electric push mower and how many back up batteries would be needed.

My dad figured four of his sons pushing gas powered (20-in) mowers in echelon formation could mow an area larger than Grant Field in about an hour. He tested his theory on a weekly basis while he sampled his PBR.

 

[seanfloyd18]

This is such a weird promo. Not only is he pretending to mow turf, the field isn’t painted for it to even look nice. If they wanted him to “mow” why not go to the practice field? Or Russ Chandler since baseball season is coming up? And if they insisted on doing it at BDS why didn’t they at least put a fresh coat of paint down?

GT marketing is so dumb

Adidas is responsible for this one. Solely Adidas.

 

[Jacket05]

I don't think the ad means anything but IIRC Key has mentioned before that he prefers grass and I bet Batt would back him on a change. With that I think the timing is only a matter of priority over other improvements/financial obligations.

 

[FlatsLander]

As much as I would love to go back to grass, there's no way they're ripping out the turf they just paid to install like 2 years ago. It'll be here a while.

 

[stinger78]

As much as I would love to go back to grass, there's no way they're ripping out the turf they just paid to install like 2 years ago. It'll be here a while.

I would have to agree with this. Unless Shaw somehow paid for it, I’d be a bit ticked if they did that, and if Shaw paid for it I imagine they’d be ticked. Seems I remember that AUFC footed a chunk of the money for it? Amiright?

 

[LongforDodd]

I found this site as one that made it through our firewall on the costs of turf vs grass fields. Just basic information and data

The Average Cost for an Artificial Turf Football Field - Turf Factory

If you’re considering a turf football field, cost is probably one of the considerations. At Turf Factory Direct, we don’t just sell high quality turf for sports fields and indoor facilities, we have the resources to help you plan a … Continued

turffactorydirect.com

 

[g0lftime]

As much as I would love to go back to grass, there's no way they're ripping out the turf they just paid to install like 2 years ago. It'll be here a while.

I totally agree. We are in big time debt. Why would we make another expensive change so soon. It's not like we are rolling in money. Another personal complaint is why are we replacing the Edge center with so much debt still on the books. Whoever is or has been running the AA has no business sense and lacks fiscal responsibility. We need to get the debt under control.

 

[TechPhi97]

I totally agree. We are in big time debt. Why would we make another expensive change so soon. It's not like we are rolling in money. Another personal complaint is why are we replacing the Edge center with so much debt still on the books. Whoever is or has been running the AA has no business sense and lacks fiscal responsibility. We need to get the debt under control.

I was just referencing our debt in this post in a different thread. My contention is that we're doing just fine on debt, if you look a little bit deeper into how we've structured it. You can see that the top-line number is 6th or 7th highest of the P5 conference teams that report numbers (leaves out the private schools), but we're middle of the road on our ratio of debt service / debt. And if you look at our financial reports it feels like we've got the commitments to easily manage that debt.

 

[FlatsLander]

I totally agree. We are in big time debt. Why would we make another expensive change so soon. It's not like we are rolling in money. Another personal complaint is why are we replacing the Edge center with so much debt still on the books. Whoever is or has been running the AA has no business sense and lacks fiscal responsibility. We need to get the debt under control.

I thought the Edge Center rebuild was funded by donations. Wasn't it the AI 2020 drive?

 

[TooTall]

I thought the Edge Center rebuild was funded by donations. Wasn't it the AI 2020 drive?

Correct, but that was 4 years ago....

What I can't figure out is how the debt works. Georgia Institute of Technology owns and operates HF@HBDS, so, therefore, shouldn't all stadium debt be on the school and not the GTAA? And if the GTAA does own the stadium and carries the debt, why not sell it to the school, and rent it for a nominal fee, or purchase it back with a better financial terms?

 

[forensicbuzz]

Correct, but that was 4 years ago....

What I can't figure out is how the debt works. Georgia Institute of Technology owns and operates HF@HBDS, so, therefore, shouldn't all stadium debt be on the school and not the GTAA? And if the GTAA does own the stadium and carries the debt, why not sell it to the school, and rent it for a nominal fee, or purchase it back with a better financial terms?

I'm pretty sure GT does not own any of the property or buildings. There's a separate state organization that owns the real estate.

 

[TechPhi97]

Correct, but that was 4 years ago....

What I can't figure out is how the debt works. Georgia Institute of Technology owns and operates HF@HBDS, so, therefore, shouldn't all stadium debt be on the school and not the GTAA? And if the GTAA does own the stadium and carries the debt, why not sell it to the school, and rent it for a nominal fee, or purchase it back with a better financial terms?

The Athletic Association is not completely independent of GT - the finance department at GT still publishes their financial statements. I'm sure there are reasons for whatever financial structure they have put in place. If you look at FSU, they basically have three different entities that report all of this info. One of them is solely for capital projects and is the entity that holds the assets and debt.

 

[roadkill]

I totally agree. We are in big time debt. Why would we make another expensive change so soon. It's not like we are rolling in money. Another personal complaint is why are we replacing the Edge center with so much debt still on the books. Whoever is or has been running the AA has no business sense and lacks fiscal responsibility. We need to get the debt under control.

I was just referencing our debt in this post in a different thread. My contention is that we're doing just fine on debt, if you look a little bit deeper into how we've structured it. You can see that the top-line number is 6th or 7th highest of the P5 conference teams that report numbers (leaves out the private schools), but we're middle of the road on our ratio of debt service / debt. And if you look at our financial reports it feels like we've got the commitments to easily manage that debt.

Seconding @TechPhi97's post was this post in that thread:

I don't see the absolute amount of debt as being as important as the annual debt service payments when discussing it in the context of the AA's total annual income, or income from media. Also, I am interested to see where it lands when the 2023 numbers are available. 2022 payments ($13M) dropped from 2021 ($14M) which is a good trend. And while the 2020 Covid year numbers were an anomaly, 2019 was even higher at $15M. Someone is managing our debt payments to be less impactful.

 

[GTLorenzo]

I totally agree. We are in big time debt. Why would we make another expensive change so soon. It's not like we are rolling in money. Another personal complaint is why are we replacing the Edge center with so much debt still on the books. Whoever is or has been running the AA has no business sense and lacks fiscal responsibility. We need to get the debt under control.

"We........uhhhhhh..........ummmmmmm........well..........we......uhhhhh.....I'm from Canada, eh........and so......uhhhhhh......we don't use the.....ummmmmm.......American dollar, so......uhhhhhhhh......ummmmmm.......but we pay all of our debts......ummmmm......unless they're owed to Oregen State and then......uhhhhh.....we don't pay them back.......Go Pack!" - signed - Former GT AD

 

[stinger78]

"We........uhhhhhh..........ummmmmmm........well..........we......uhhhhh.....I'm from Canada, eh........and so......uhhhhhh......we don't use the.....ummmmmm.......American dollar, so......uhhhhhhhh......ummmmmm.......but we pay all of our debts......ummmmm......unless they're owed to Oregen State and then......uhhhhh.....we don't pay them back.......Go Pack!" - signed - Former GT AD

We raised over $175M for the 2020 initiative. It is entirely feasible that the GTAA could obtain permission for some of that money to be redirected toward debt retirement. If the decision makers conclude that debt retirement is more efficient than leveraging that money in very payable debt service, then it may make sense.