Bowl game attendance declining

[Techster]

GT marketing REALLY needs to do a better job of trying to get fans to match the color jersey the team is wearing on game day. Simple social media and email campaign is all it takes, and that's free. Outside the annual "white out" game, I don't remember another coordinated effort to get fans to do that. Personally, I have a GT polo of every school color. All of my GT friends are the same. I don't think it would be too hard to get everyone coordinated.

You watch the top teams and it seems like their fans are always wearing the same color as their teams that day. We need to start doing the same thing.

 

[Foxyg]

I went to the bowl game. Living in the Savannah area, it was actually closer than a home game at Tech for me. Nevertheless, attendance at home games for all but the most elite programs is down across the board too. Every game is on TV. The hassle of parking, sitting next to someone you don't like and getting gouged for every nickel they can squeeze out of you with concessions, seat licenses, etc., takes away from the experience. It gets harder to justify when you have to travel a great distance, you have kids, and your disposable income isn't as much as it once was. This is especially true when you can sit in your own home, eat your own food and go to your own bathroom for no money.

In a lot of respects I view the bowl games as simply live programming paid for by ESPN. With the advent of DVRs, sports programming is the only live TV that people will watch and tolerate the commercials. Consequently advertisers are willing to pony up serious dough. I don't think that assessment is just reserved for college football. Any more, the gait at the actual game is beside the point. Hell, you'll watch premier league games in England and there will be empty seats, but they're rolling in the dough through TV contracts. What will be interesting is whether the ESPNs of the world will continue to pay this much money for the broadcasting rights when they're getting squeezed by DIRECTV and cable subscribers with the advent of Netflix, etc. such that people who don't want to pay for sports programming don't have to through bundling, etc.

 

[SouthernJacket]

There were more UK fans at the game by a noticeable amount. There just were.

We can all wear gold shirts and there will still be less of us. We just don't travel as well or simply don't have the number of fans that other schools have.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

People don't support them and I agree there are too many.

I will add that I would rather watch it on my HD TV, use my restroom, waters aren't $4 and don't have to drive. I think more people are becoming like that as well.
I did go to the SEC game this year and had a blast. I enjoy going to games but passed on tickets to the NC tickets b/c I didn't wanna drive.

As long as I am ABLE to drive to games or fly to some, I will continue to go, but the driving part is getting more and more difficult and/or tedious

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

There were more UK fans at the game by a noticeable amount. There just were.

We can all wear gold shirts and there will still be less of us. We just don't travel as well or simply don't have the number of fans that other schools have.

And yet we took 20,000+ fans to Dublin, far more than BC took.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

GT marketing REALLY needs to do a better job of trying to get fans to match the color jersey the team is wearing on game day. Simple social media and email campaign is all it takes, and that's free. Outside the annual "white out" game, I don't remember another coordinated effort to get fans to do that. Personally, I have a GT polo of every school color. All of my GT friends are the same. I don't think it would be too hard to get everyone coordinated.

You watch the top teams and it seems like their fans are always wearing the same color as their teams that day. We need to start doing the same thing.

GT Marketing needs to do a LOT of things they currently do not do. I sure hope that TStan will address some of this at some point. Of course, he has tons of other issues to deal with too that are probably more important.

 

[heyhellowhatsup]

And yet we took 20,000+ fans to Dublin, far more than BC took.

BC isn't exactly known for being a traveling powerhouse, and I think the 20k + is optimistic. I was under the impression that it was closer to 10-15k.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

BC isn't exactly known for being a traveling powerhouse, and I think the 20k + is optimistic. I was under the impression that it was closer to 10-15k.

I was there. I think 20,000 is not only not just optimistic, I think it may be an understatement. Attendance at the pep rally alone was estimated at 10,000, and pretty much the entire Tech side of the field, upper and lower decks, was filled with Tech fans.

 

[Animal02]

I went to the bowl game. Living in the Savannah area, it was actually closer than a home game at Tech for me. Nevertheless, attendance at home games for all but the most elite programs is down across the board too. Every game is on TV. The hassle of parking, sitting next to someone you don't like and getting gouged for every nickel they can squeeze out of you with concessions, seat licenses, etc., takes away from the experience. It gets harder to justify when you have to travel a great distance, you have kids, and your disposable income isn't as much as it once was. This is especially true when you can sit in your own home, eat your own food and go to your own bathroom for no money.

In a lot of respects I view the bowl games as simply live programming paid for by ESPN. With the advent of DVRs, sports programming is the only live TV that people will watch and tolerate the commercials. Consequently advertisers are willing to pony up serious dough. I don't think that assessment is just reserved for college football. Any more, the gait at the actual game is beside the point. Hell, you'll watch premier league games in England and there will be empty seats, but they're rolling in the dough through TV contracts. What will be interesting is whether the ESPNs of the world will continue to pay this much money for the broadcasting rights when they're getting squeezed by DIRECTV and cable subscribers with the advent of Netflix, etc. such that people who don't want to pay for sports programming don't have to through bundling, etc.

And then there are the 12 pm start times.

 

[SouthernJacket]

And yet we took 20,000+ fans to Dublin, far more than BC took.

BC is probably one of the worst schools as far as travel/large fan numbers. To have more than them is not saying much. We had a good turn out in Dublin. I was there and was surprised. Don't get me wrong I wish we had more people at home games/road games/ bowl games too.

 

[Lexjacket]

I didn't go, because every Tech bowl game I've gone to Tech lost. But I went to the game in Ireland and had a blast. The fact is I'm getting older and am slowing down. My enthusiasm for all things Georgia Tech is still high, but the fact is,' the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak'. You younger ones have to pick up the slack, the student body can fill the gap, but they seem more interested in other things.

 

[LibertyTurns]

If we'd have been up against a decent team I would have gone. The early kickoff time also meant flying out the day before, missed day of work plus extra expenses for hotel, etc. Would have done it for Michigan, Florida, Oklahoma, etc for example but not going to pay extra $$ to go see GT play some third rate SEC team unless it's in a good New Year's Eve location like San Diego where the after party offsets the lack of game.

 

[alagold]

That just points out yet again that there are too many bowls. But one interesting thing I see is that the local citizenry in the cities where these games are played don't support the bowls. The Gator Bowl used to sell out not just because of the fans of the teams playing, but because the people in Jacksonville supported the game and bought tickets to it. The same is true too of the so-called major bowls, except the Rose Bowl. In the past every one of them was always a sellout, but those days are long gone.

To 2nd that comment on no local support, the next morning the ABC station there did not MENTION the game in their sorts part.AMAZING.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

To 2nd that comment on no local support, the next morning the ABC station there did not MENTION the game in their sorts part.AMAZING.

WOW

 

[joeyE]

The Gator Bowl is a shell of what it used to be.
It used to be a matchup of top 25 teams, & very often top 10 teams.

In the last decade, less then half of the competitors were even ranked & only 1 broke the top 20.
7-5 vs 8-4 is fun for the loyal fan, but not as exciting for the casual fan.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

lol I swear I was thinking the whole game, "supersize has a good point.". When it comes down to it, it's on our marketing department. Kentucky Blue is a great color that looks good in Uniform, we need to produce the majority of our apparel in one hade of gold, that's it.

I hear you regarding Gold color, but it is not that important. Until there is a standard (which may NEVER happen) just wear yellow - gold that u can get - cheddar - Vegas gold! From the field the players won't know, and on TV it will pretty much look the same. But it will not matter - the GT fans will be easily spotted. Or for craps sake we could all wear White! Look at what the hell Penn St does with White

We make things so much harder than necessary.

And regardless of anybody else, our Gator ticket sales sucked. People need to step up or we can go 2nd class. Other schools sales I do not care about.

Just remember this game when we get screwed over by a better bowl game next time.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I hear you regarding Gold color, but it is not that important. Until there is a standard (which may NEVER happen) just wear yellow - gold that u can get - cheddar - Vegas gold! From the field the players won't know, and on TV it will pretty much look the same. But it will not matter - the GT fans will be easily spotted. Or for craps sake we could all wear White! Look at what the hell Penn St does with White

We make things so much harder than necessary.

And regardless of anybody else, our Gator ticket sales sucked. People need to step up or we can go 2nd class. Other schools sales I do not care about.

Just remember this game when we get screwed over by a better bowl game next time.

I don't think out ticket sales sucked as much as you are saying; they just sucked in comparison to KY.

 

[awbuzz]

The Gator Bowl is a shell of what it used to be.
It used to be a matchup of top 25 teams, & very often top 10 teams.

In the last decade, less then half of the competitors were even ranked & only 1 broke the top 20.
7-5 vs 8-4 is fun for the loyal fan, but not as exciting for the casual fan.

^^^ this makes a difference for the local yocal to even consider going to the game unless they have a dog in the hunt.

 

[GTFLETCH]

There were more UK fans at the game by a noticeable amount. There just were.

We can all wear gold shirts and there will still be less of us. We just don't travel as well or simply don't have the number of fans that other schools have.

Absolutely Correct!!!!

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Jacksonville locals were probably more drawn to the game before the arrival of the NFL. Too many other choices to put that local money into.

And there are too many bad bowls, too many bad matchups. How many football fans affiliated with other schools watched? What was the Sagarin?

I think an 8 team playoff best preserves the regular season and conference championships. A 16 team playoff would best preserve bowl games. But how many fans from any school will travel across the country twice in two weeks for playoff games? Most will stay home until their team makes the finals and then pony up to go. So I'm sticking with 8.

Bowls and local cities can choose to continue or not. I think some will close up shop but I've thought that for some time and we still have more than ever.