Dissappointed with fan experience

[Jerry the Jacket]

I was amazed that I had to pay $25 to park at the Tech hotel. The lot was pretty full so I guess they feel justified in charging that much but damn that's a lot of money to park your car. Then I go inside and have to pay $4 for a hot dog and $4 more for a Coke. My son and I got two cokes a hot dog and a popcorn and it was $17. So I have shelled out $42 before I even take my seat.

I guess that's just the way it is now a days, but I think a lot of these vendors and the school could still make a nice profit and not gouge the pure T hell out of their so called customers.

Just one angry old man's view of the situation.

Go Jackets!

 

[Southpaw13]

I parked on the side of the road since it was a night game and the meters expire at 10 pm, I paid $7, not even 2 blocks from the Varsity.

I got nachos from Twisted Taco and they were $8, but worth every penny. I'd pay at least $7 for the same thing if I went in their restaurant. The coke was expensive, but that's always been true.

Just some perspective from another fan who had a different experience.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

I'll park over by the vortex on juniper for 5 bucks and walk. You're paying for convenience.

Eat beforehand and you don't have to pay 4 bucks for a hot dog...

 

[JacketFromUGA]

Ate beforehand and rode Marta. $5 round trip and not using gas.

If you're complaining about Tech's prices let me advise you to not go to a Falcons game this year...

 

[Golden Balaam]

Interesting difference in fanbases. GT complains about cost and level of profit and struggles to fill the stadium.

Other schools we want to compete with have fanbases waiting in line to pay and fill up even bigger stadiums.

I understand the mentality but you can't expect us to compete with the big boys with this type of mentality. I get you don't like it but does it deserve a post? It makes everything people say about us appear true. Remember this when we wonder why big bowls or playoffs find others attractive. Fair or not it is about money and out fan base complains about it a lot more than the people we compare ourselves to.

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

Yeah I have been to Braves and Falcons games and know they rip their so called customers off even more than Tech does but that does not make it right. As long as people are willing to pay the price they will charge it. Free enterprise and all. I just think it will ultimately lead to folks staying home. HD is a lot cheaper and just about as enjoyable as being there.

I worry about safety with the cheap parking but may have to go that route just to enjoy my season tickets this year. I'm thinking this might be the last year I go down there to watch my beloved Jackets in person.

Go Jackets!

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

Interesting difference in fanbases. GT complains about cost and level of profit and struggles to fill the stadium.

Other schools we want to compete with have fanbases waiting in line to pay and fill up even bigger stadiums.

I understand the mentality but you can't expect us to compete with the big boys with this type of mentality. I get you don't like it but does it deserve a post? It makes everything people say about us appear true. Remember this when we wonder why big bowls or playoffs find others attractive. Fair or not it is about money and out fan base complains about it a lot more than the people we compare ourselves to.

If you live in Spartanburg working at the Home Depot and it ain't deer season, you have very little competition for your recreational dollars except Clemson football. The state fair happens only wunst a year, and the Tigers play six times at Death Valley.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

Also isn't the hotel parking lot the most expensive on campus?

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

I hope it is the most expensive. It was $10 last year.

Go Jackets!

 

[Golden Balaam]

If you live in Spartanburg working at the Home Depot and it ain't deer season, you have very little competition for your recreational dollars except Clemson football. The state fair happens only wunst a year, and the Tigers play six times at Death Valley.

To some degree I get your point but in Columbus Ohio there are plenty of options but the reality is there is no competition for the Ohio State football games with their fans. GT has great fans but they are also more logical than most. That makes marketing our program more difficult. Passion is the key to the success of my big programs and that passion drives dollars without a logical thought.

I don't disagree that the prices are too hight for a game. The question is it just a game or does the GT experience have a greater value than to simply evaluate the price of a drink for that drink. I can have a coke anywhere, but a coke at Grant field while watching the Jackets that is worth more than just any ordinary coke.

 

[Animal02]

To some degree I get your point but in Columbus Ohio there are plenty of options but the reality is there is no competition for the Ohio State football games with their fans. GT has great fans but they are also more logical than most. That makes marketing our program more difficult. Passion is the key to the success of my big programs and that passion drives dollars without a logical thought.

I don't disagree that the prices are too hight for a game. The question is it just a game or does the GT experience have a greater value than to simply evaluate the price of a drink for that drink. I can have a coke anywhere, but a coke at Grant field while watching the Jackets that is worth more than just any ordinary coke.

OSU has something like 57k students.....Tech has 22k
The alumni numbers / fan base grows at far different rates.

 

[thocut]

You can park and eat for dirt cheap or at least get your money's worth if you look around a little. If you take Marta then your parking options grow exponentially, and there's great food for all prices all over the place. Here's a Reddit post with some places people have recommended: https://www.reddit.com/r/Atlanta/co...r_favorite_cheap_eats_places_in_the/?sort=hot

 

[RLR]

I like everyone's responses to the OG post, but I think Jerry raised a legitimate concern & there's 0 willingness to address it.

Issue 1: Terrible in-game concession options.

• The proposed solution (eat at a private, off-campus establishment) yields $0 to GT's coffers. If anything, it might actually be a cost detriment to GT. Universities are major marketplaces with respect to consumers. By not satisfying the demand for food on campus, GT is driving consumption to nearby restaurants thereby making the real estate around GT's perimeter more expensive. How does that hurt GT? Well, we need to expand our campus. we got lucky buying up Spring Street (North Ave. - 5th) during the Great Recession. Absent another real estate crash, how much will we overpay to acquire the land west of campus for the new biomed hub? But for those few restaurants, "Midtown West" would be indistinguishable from Bankhead. And I'd hate to pay for the premium for the Midtown West brand.

• This above example is analogous (I assume) to the Home Park situation. By not addressing demand for student housing, GT funneled students off campus. The value of Home Park's location makes it cost prohibitive for a developer to buy en mass b/c of the classic holdout problem (I assume again). So, we have a neighborhood with an awesome location, separating GT from Atlantic Station, & it's filled with disgusting, barely livable housing, lacks street lights or any infrastructure to promote safety/commuting. Home Park locks GT's Northern expansion, the east is designated for GT-Emory, the South is no man's land (downtown), and the West is our future biomed industry hub. Where do students turn to for housing? $1,500 for a midtown condo? $600 for a rat-infested, unsafe shack with 3 roommates in Home Park? Or an $800 - $1,000 apartment 5 - 10 miles away from campus (hurts campus community and increases parking demand). I think GT made the right decision to invest in the university's future research impact rather than housing and campus dining. But this is nonetheless a huge opportunity cost that most people don't even think about. You hear people talk about the student loan bubble and rising cost of college education. Yes, it's true that tuition & books have risen at an astronomical rate. But what about student housing and student cost of living? If you allow the private market to be the solution, students are going to either pay an inflated market price (due to high student renter demand) for unkempt housing [terrible hotdog] or pay more than most working people can afford to rent a nice condo [buy food at a midtown bar]. The gov't will and does loan the student all the money they want ("COA"). Which option do you think students are choosing? maybe not all. maybe not most. but enough students that this whole game of charging a high interest rate [high price per hotdog] to subsidize the people who are defaulting [buying private food] won't last much longer. Deflation - the new, new normal. Nickle and Diming for bad products won't work in the new, new, normal. "innovation" is our only out. We need to offer a better product that more people will buy [like the awesome new (private?) student housing that's being built across from the cheetah].

• Does GT even operate the concession stands at the game? it seems like it's local community organizations who staff the concessions. I'm all for supporting the community, but I'd like to know the distribution of profits & why the food options have to be so awful and overpriced. The falcons stadium is a different beast than GT's in terms of revenue allocations from concession stands, let's not even go there.

Issue 2: You don't compete with the "big boys" by trying to maximize revenue of a bad product [cough, get rid of R, cough]. Instead, differentiate your product from the competitors, add value for the customer, and develop a brand that's worth more than a $5 box of popcorn.

• Ya'll talk about how Atlanta is a major selling point in recruiting. Well, one of Atlanta's attractions is its food scene. Why don't we incorporate any of Atlanta's awesome, unique, "innovative", pro-entrepenurship restaurants into GT's gameday experience? Inside or outside the stadium. Why must we settle for history and tradition when our history and tradition is the varsity (THE FOOD ISN"T GOOD. The atmosphere must have died off b/c NO ONE @GT goes there anymore) and $5 dollar off-brand hotdogs that are left over from the high school game on friday? I spare Coke from my criticism because Coke is ATL, although it would be nice if Coke reminded the people outside Atlanta of that every once and a while.

• Parking is awful, unless you know what you're doing (i.e. have spent 4, 5, 6+ years on campus). So, to complain about a half empty stadium and then defend gauging people on parking, you're basically building a barrier to entry that will prevent you from attracting new attendees. I get that parking is scarce at GT. This is a much bigger problem than GT football. Honestly, we need tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment to solve this problem that's been kicked down the road for 1/2 a century. Until then, GT should do a much better job about generating "innovative" partnerships with nearby parking hubs (atlantic station, 14th & peachtree, BOA, etc.). I don't have anything in mind, but I could think of 100 ideas that would be a marginal improvement over our current don't do anything approach.

Ending on a positive: A few of the many things that we're doing right & I love about GT gameday

• Band making "Put On" a staple song during games (also, who can forget the Turnt Up game)
• ^ + not eroding our awesome traditions like the yellowwww - jacketsss, Budweiser song, etc.
• I like the new field-level ads and in-game ads from local companies that hire hard at GT. Airwatch comes to mind from a few season back. it helps build GT's brand value while generating game day ad revenue.
• KS1. I love how lax GT games are. perhaps others will disagree. I just haven't had a bad experience at Bobby Dodd. I think that's b/c our fan base is so respectable. Let people have a good time, so long as they don't make it toxic for others.
• Tailgating - 5th street bridge & Frats are the best tailgate experiences I've had. Seems like other people enjoy other parts of campus too. beautiful green space + lazie faire policing + city landscape = GT on the come up

 

[SocialCircleGTFan]

Just be glad you didn't stay the night there like i did thinking parking was included and having to pay on the way out the next day... Overall, the hotel was nice and everyone was accommodating and polite unlike some of the reviews i read. I'd probably stay there again...

 

[John]

The Centergy lot is not too far from the hotel, if you order the parking online prior to the game, should be $10: https://4te.ch/parking

 

[JorgeJonas]

I park on Ethel Street by Antico for free and walk a mile. Saves money and I never get caught in traffic. Win/win. Alternatively you could park over by the LA Fitness and tell them you're going to the gym and not pay five cents.

I never buy food because my stomach's in knots.

 

[Skeptic]

I parked on the side of the road since it was a night game and the meters expire at 10 pm, I paid $7, not even 2 blocks from the Varsity.

I got nachos from Twisted Taco and they were $8, but worth every penny. I'd pay at least $7 for the same thing if I went in their restaurant. The coke was expensive, but that's always been true.

Just some perspective from another fan who had a different experience.

As a guy who has drawn some concession stand duties (LL) here is the gist of what I learned: make the popcorn salty. They drink more cokes. Put lots of ice in cup. More ice -- ice is cheap -- means less coke. Bump prices on both. Just because it is LL and who's gonna complain and if they do, throw patriotism at them: support your local little cute kids.

 

[DC Bee]

I guess that's just the way it is now a days

Yes, Jerry, it is. Everywhere you go. Let's just be glad we're not mandated to pay Coke-slingers $15/hr for now.

I don't disagree that the prices are too hight for a game. The question is it just a game or does the GT experience have a greater value than to simply evaluate the price of a drink for that drink. I can have a coke anywhere, but a coke at Grant field while watching the Jackets that is worth more than just any ordinary coke.

Agreed. Once you accept what things cost and either get over it or just choose not to buy it, you can be happier. Living in DC, I can't wait to drop some money in Hooville to see our beloved Jackets! THWG!

 

[MonroeJacket]

I pay $13 to park in Tech Square. I look to my left the other night and my dad is eating his own food that he brought in himself (does this everywhere he goes, games, concerts, etc. never gets caught). And this guy behind had a 6 pack of 24 oz Colt 45s. DIY.

 

[RamblinCharger]

Yeah I never eat when I go to games. It's usually too hot to eat in Atlanta anyway, unless it's a late October or November game. I eat at the varsity or Jalisco's before the game and buy 1-2 cokes. I usually park anywhere that I can find a spot on the street that is legal, or I'll park in a $10 lot. I have a great time at tech games, and our tickets, drinks, and parking are a lot cheaper than my friends pay to go to their SEC games.