Fanbase Size

[Vanillalite]

There is also a 3rd part of the fanbase that IMO gets overlooked to a degree. You got the people that went here, and you got the sidewalk fans. The other area you can push into though if you can attract the Family of kids going here.

Maybe Jay Smith isn’t a GT fan, but his daughter Jade Smith just got into Tech and plans to attend. A greater push to include Jade’s parents into a larger GT family both inside and outside of athletics could be way better by the university.

 

[AUFC]

I would turn Bobby Dodd Stadium into a shaded outdoor bar with a football game going on if there’s any interest in lowering the average attendee age below 60.

I’d probably do something similar behind the east basket in McCamish with “safe standing” a la Exploria Stadium and a tiered bar serving drinks in the middle.

The Tech alums my age are not sports fans. They will attend while in school as the thing to do and tune in especially when the team is good but GTAA should focus more on selling it as a social outing.

 

[cpf2001]

One should always strive to be authentic.

Personally, I made the decision to apply to Tech for the reason that it WAS hard. I wanted to be challenged. And I was. I will also say, I have never met a problem that I would not attempt to solve. Tech builds confidence.

Look, Tech is NOT for everyone. You can go to any grocery store in Alabama and buy swag in between the chicken fingers and the chitlins. And most of those buying it have never been to the University and probably couldn't spell Alabama 2 out of 3 times. IIWII.

Tech, by it's nature, will always be a small fanbase. I'm fine with that.

Why should Tech fans be ok with UGA being more attractive to "couldn't make it into the school academically" fans than GT is? That's a big competitive disadvantage. I don't want to be proud about admissions standards on Saturdays, I want to win.

 

[Vanillalite]

FYI the whole couldn’t make it in academically thing is vastly overstated these days given what you need to get into UGA now do to a crap ton of different factors.

Gone are the days of if you got a 3 point with an 1150 GT won’t take you, but you can slide into UGA just fine.

 

[roadkill]

One should always strive to be authentic.

Personally, I made the decision to apply to Tech for the reason that it WAS hard. I wanted to be challenged. And I was. I will also say, I have never met a problem that I would not attempt to solve. Tech builds confidence.

Look, Tech is NOT for everyone. You can go to any grocery store in Alabama and buy swag in between the chicken fingers and the chitlins. And most of those buying it have never been to the University and probably couldn't spell Alabama 2 out of 3 times. IIWII.

Tech, by it's nature, will always be a small fanbase. I'm fine with that.

This may be one of those "agree to disagree" points, but I'm having trouble understanding why anyone who accepts that we need to increase our attendance and donations would not want to grow our fanbase. Large fanbases are a competitive advantage.

 

[yeti92]

FYI the whole couldn’t make it in academically thing is vastly overstated these days given what you need to get into UGA now do to a crap ton of different factors.

Gone are the days of if you got a 3 point with an 1150 GT won’t take you, but you can slide into UGA just fine.

Getting out is what matters, not getting in. And getting out of Tech is still significantly harder than UGA.

 

[Richard7125]

Getting out is what matters, not getting in. And getting out of Tech is still significantly harder than UGA.

Hmmm. I think you are operating off of historical bias. GT's graduation rate is 87%. UGA's graduation rate is 85%. FYI, i got out 89 with an IE degree. I didn't think Tech was very hard.

 

[roadkill]

Hmmm. I think you are operating off of historical bias. GT's graduation rate is 87%. UGA's graduation rate is 85%. FYI, i got out 89 with an IE degree. I didn't think Tech was very hard.

Yeah, I agree that it ain't like it used to be due to the current emphasis on grad rates.

 

[SteamWhistle]

Yea as a Sidewalk fan you always feel like you are walking on egg shells around alumni and it’s like you can’t even show excitement or passion at the game.

 

[AUFC]

Did profs hand out practice exams in the pre-Internet days? Almost all my profs uploaded past semester exams with solutions to their websites and allowed a cheat sheet or index card. You could basically walk into the room with an 8.5x11 sheet with every type of question and answer procedure you would see that day. I usually learned the material even better by taking a pass at solving the problems before looking at answers in my study sessions and would draw up the cheat sheet the night before.

Exam time basically consisted of looking at the problems you were presented, hunting them down on your cheat sheet, and copying the work procedures onto the answer sheet with the question’s numbers substituted.

 

[SteamWhistle]

Also the elitist attitude that only a Tech degree matters or is meaningful is so lame. If you aren’t an engineer why would you go to Tech over UGA, or any other SEC school? We gotta stop with that crap it shows a little insecurity.

 

[yeti92]

Hmmm. I think you are operating off of historical bias. GT's graduation rate is 87%. UGA's graduation rate is 85%. FYI, i got out 89 with an IE degree. I didn't think Tech was very hard.

Every person I know that has degrees from both said Tech was much more difficult.

 

[roadkill]

Did profs hand out practice exams in the pre-Internet days? Almost all my profs uploaded past semester exams with solutions to their websites and allowed a cheat sheet or index card. You could basically walk into the room with an 8.5x11 sheet with every type of question and answer procedure you would see that day. I usually learned the material even better by taking a pass at solving the problems before looking at answers in my study sessions and would draw up the cheat sheet the night before.

Exam time basically consisted of looking at the problems you were presented, hunting them down on your cheat sheet, and copying the work procedures onto the answer sheet with the question’s numbers substituted.

Haha no. At least not in my admittedly ancient experience during the "weed-out" era. Some exams allowed a one-page cheat sheet. But then the exam would inexplicably have questions that weren't covered in class but instead related to textbook chapters that we had not gotten to yet.

 

[roadkill]

Every person I know that has degrees from both said Tech was much more difficult.

Hmmm. I think you are operating off of historical bias. GT's graduation rate is 87%. UGA's graduation rate is 85%. FYI, i got out 89 with an IE degree. I didn't think Tech was very hard.

Both things can be true. I think that Tech is rightfully regarded as offering an "elite" education, at least in their stem degrees. The issue I have from a fan perspective is that our flaunting this eliteness doesn't help capture more sidewalk fans. We can be regarded as an elite school and have that be part of our identity, without disrespecting the average citizen, especially in-state.

 

[MWBATL]

FYI the whole couldn’t make it in academically thing is vastly overstated these days given what you need to get into UGA now do to a crap ton of different factors.

Gone are the days of if you got a 3 point with an 1150 GT won’t take you, but you can slide into UGA just fine.

True, and yet not true. Standards for admissions at both schools have risen dramatically BUT GT is still significantly above UGa .

 

[SteamWhistle]

True, and yet not true. Standards for admissions at both schools have risen dramatically BUT GT is still significantly above UGa .

Only if you want to be an engineer

 

[forensicbuzz]

Only if you want to be an engineer

Um, no.

 

[Vespidae]

This may be one of those "agree to disagree" points, but I'm having trouble understanding why anyone who accepts that we need to increase our attendance and donations would not want to grow our fanbase. Large fanbases are a competitive advantage.

Georgia Tech is not a land grant school, it's a specialty school. It will always have a smaller fanbase due to its very nature. GT has 166,000 alumni, UGA has nearly 350,000. That ... is a huge constraint and you can either accept that we will always be small, or you can terminally frustrated.

 

[Lexjacket]

When, I became a Tech fan in 1961 you could not beg, borrow or steal a ticket to a Georgia Tech football game. I know that was a different time and a very different Atlanta. But when I see UGA packing in 90,000 at their games, they can't be all alumni. I would bet 50-60,000 are sidewalk fans. Tech can pack BDS, they just need to win and make Tech games a special event like they used to be. Tech needs families, they need young boys to be inspired to play for the Jackets and become engineers and computer scientists and astronauts, and all the things that Tech offers. The NFL is exciting but it's a flash in pan compared to the career opportunities Georgia Tech offers.

 

[Richard7125]

True, and yet not true. Standards for admissions at both schools have risen dramatically BUT GT is still significantly above UGa .

I don't know how you define significantly. The metro area is ripe with stories of how their 4.0 kid with multiple AP classes, 32 ACT scores, 1300+ SAT scores are not getting into UGA. Yes, Tech is still harder to get into, but the kids getting into UGA are very accomplished kids. No one is saying they are the same. You can hate US News, but the latest ranking has Tech at 43 and UGA at 49. Significant isn't a word i would use to describe the difference.