Clemson Game Sold Out

tmhunter52

Helluva Engineer
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2,466
I'm with you, Lorenzo. This doesn't make any sense. Why not sell the ~30,000 tickets? Not to mention the greater concessions revenues. If the contract doesn't let us get more revenue from more tickets, then why doesn't it? Limiting the orange is worth throwing a couple, two, three million down the toilet? Sounds ridiculous to me.
Where, oh where, could the AA use several extra millions of dollars, especially this fall? Just asking for a friend…
 

Wrecked

Ramblin' Wreck
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590
But even with extra 13,000, we still make more money playing at MBS once a year. Our kickback is set. The sponsor dollars more than make up for any additional seat gains at BDS. And we don't have to worry about gameday staff pay or logistics or anything. Chick fil A gives us money for this game. The game is a home game so we make money there. ESPN and the Falcons cover the gameday operations. Its a win win once a year.
I understand Tech sold the home game to the sponsors so our "revenue" isn't affected. But why would the sponsors who bought the game restrict their revenue by not selling the extra 30,000 tickets? That makes no sense.
 

bobongo

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7,739
I understand Tech sold the home game to the sponsors so our "revenue" isn't affected. But why would the sponsors who bought the game restrict their revenue by not selling the extra 30,000 tickets? That makes no sense.
Tickets intentionally left unsold. Seats intentionally left unfilled. Weird.
 

TooTall

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I understand Tech sold the home game to the sponsors so our "revenue" isn't affected. But why would the sponsors who bought the game restrict their revenue by not selling the extra 30,000 tickets? That makes no sense.
Is there even demand from Clempson fans for the extra 30,000? If they couldn't help us fill up BDS in '18, what makes you think 72,000 is doable? Clempson has a trash qb. They lost the architect of their defense. They are only picked to win the ACC because, who else? It sucks that its not a full house like everyone thought and intended for it to be when the contracts were signed but IIWII.
 

bobongo

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Is there even demand from Clempson fans for the extra 30,000? If they couldn't help us fill up BDS in '18, what makes you think 72,000 is doable? Clempson has a trash qb. They lost the architect of their defense. They are only picked to win the ACC because, who else? It sucks that its not a full house like everyone thought and intended for it to be when the contracts were signed but IIWII.
Well, if they wouldn't buy 30,000, they'd buy some portion of 30,000. So why not sell them? Doesn't make sense.
 

JacketOff

Helluva Engineer
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3,009
I would guess there are diminishing returns to opening the entire stadium. Regardless of whether or not you trust GTAA to make the best decisions, especially monetarily, MBS and Chick Fil A have zero incentive to not try to make as much profit as possible.

In 2018 GT sold 50k tickets to the Clemson game. The reduced capacity setup at MBS has 42k seats. I’m sure MBS, GTAA, CFA, and anyone else involved ran the numbers are saw that the extra 8-15k tickets they may sell would not be worth the operating costs of opening the upper deck.

It also does limit the amount of orange in the crowd, and GT is still turning a larger profit than if the game was played at BDS. At least we’ll have 1 sold out home game this year 🤷🏼‍♂️. Maybe Ole Miss will bring enough folks out of the woodwork to get 2

Also for reference re: the Monday Night Labor Day game; Ole Miss vs. Louisville last year only sold 30k tickets. And that was both teams’ full capacity game since 2019
 
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Richard7125

Jolly Good Fellow
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466
This is a smart move. The primary dollars for playing in MBS is via sponsorship, not ticket revenue. We didn’t sign-up for the games at MBS because we thought all of a sudden we would have 70k in attendance for a home game. And the last thing anyone wants is for Clemson to have a home field advantage in Atlanta at one of Tech's home games. Just see how pissed people were last year about the UGA game at BDS. You think they want to do that again?

Moreover, this is normal for MBS. They close off the top portion for most of the Atlanta United games. It was a well thought out design of the stadium to be able to reduce capacity as needed. I wish we could reduce the capacity at BDS to 42k and charge more per ticket if/when the product gets better.

We are also using this as a recruiting tool. Come play at Tech and you can play in this world-class professional facility. That is enticing to many high school kids.
 

bobongo

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I’m sure MBS, GTAA, CFA, and anyone else involved ran the numbers are saw that the extra 8-15k tickets they may sell would not be worth the operating costs of opening the upper deck.
Maybe, but I find that hard to believe. The increased sales (at a minimum 8,000 - it's been "sold out" for weeks now already) plus concession revenues is less than the cost of a little extra security and cleanup?

The other arguments seem plausible but this one not so much.
 

JacketOff

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Maybe, but I find that hard to believe. The increased sales (at a minimum 8,000 - it's been "sold out" for weeks now already) plus concession revenues is less than the cost of a little extra security and cleanup?

The other arguments seem plausible but this one not so much.
Why is it not plausible? Obviously someone ran the numbers. Atlanta United sells out the lower bowl of MBS pretty often, and could easily get more folks into the upper deck, but they choose not to. One reason is to create a more intimate environment, but there is a cost-benefit element.

To open the upper deck you have to: have more staff at the entrances, more security at the entrances, more ushers, more concession workers, more janitorial services, plus just the cost to run the utilities to an additional part of the stadium which would likely not be close to full.

Like I said, you don’t have to trust GTAA. But why would MBS not try to profit as much as possible?
 

jackets55

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
134
The extra seats won't make anymore $$ for the AA as they are controlled by the Peach Bowl. Tech received about 38000 tickets and Clemson 4300. Tech's payout is fixed.
Here is the link to the 2019 article that explains the difference between the "normal" home game and the Kickoff Classic. 2022 Kickoff Classic Explained

For the normal games we get more $$ for more ticket sales. Not so with the Kickoff Classic.
 

GT flunkout

Jolly Good Fellow
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376
Because it was a neutral game site. This year is a "home" game for us, hence the difference in ticket allotment.

It's not a home game. You guys keep wanting to call it that. It's not.

Straight from the GT TICKET OFFICE after an inquiry about parking:

"Unfortunately, this year will be different than last year since it is a Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game rather than last year as a regular home game for us. This year we have to split all of the allotment with Clemson, meaning there is significantly less space in the Home Depot Lot. The first wave of invites for the lot was only sent out to our suite holders and season ticket holders with over 2,000 priority points."

Once more for those in the back, NOT A HOME GAME.
 

TooTall

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Per this press release "GT will host...."
 

augustabuzz

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It's not a home game. You guys keep wanting to call it that. It's not.

Straight from the GT TICKET OFFICE after an inquiry about parking:

"Unfortunately, this year will be different than last year since it is a Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game rather than last year as a regular home game for us. This year we have to split all of the allotment with Clemson, meaning there is significantly less space in the Home Depot Lot. The first wave of invites for the lot was only sent out to our suite holders and season ticket holders with over 2,000 priority points."

Once more for those in the back, NOT A HOME GAME.
The ACC and Ga. Tech believe it to be our 4th conference home game.
 

Augusta_Jacket

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Staff member
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It's not a home game. You guys keep wanting to call it that. It's not.

Straight from the GT TICKET OFFICE after an inquiry about parking:

"Unfortunately, this year will be different than last year since it is a Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game rather than last year as a regular home game for us. This year we have to split all of the allotment with Clemson, meaning there is significantly less space in the Home Depot Lot. The first wave of invites for the lot was only sent out to our suite holders and season ticket holders with over 2,000 priority points."

Once more for those in the back, NOT A HOME GAME.

From the GT Official site: Home game.

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