I used my prior analysis of the impact of the decline from Chan Gailey attendance levels for games without large, local opponent fan bases like BC @ Grant Field with 51,112 in 2007 to 2021 BC with 31,511.
Here is a larger set of Chan Gailey era details (when GT did not have an option offense, had sound defense, was competitive, went bowling yearly, had star players, and ranked off and on yearly) attendance numbers. As our option days are behind us now - for better or for worse, I do not want a debate of the offense.
Excluding his 1st season when BDS had not yet been expanded to 55K seats, Chan Gailey had 4 of 5 seasons with GT FB home attendance over 50K. In fact, 3 or 5 were over 51K.
Paul Johnson only had 2 of his 11 seasons (2009 & 2015) with over a 50K attendance average. To be fair to Paul, only 2 of his 11 seasons (2012 & 2018) were lower attended on average than Collins’ 1st season.
It must be stated that the QUALITY of both GT’s Opponents scheduled as well as GT’s Competitiveness appear to directly drive the attendance at our games. Also, “Marquee” early games (especially wins or close losses) pay massive dividends to GT attendance - See opening wins of 2003 & 2005 over Auburn win, 2005 over Clemson, 2006 narrow loss to Notre Dame, & 2007 blowout of Notre Dame.
This is also true for Paul Johnson with his amazing 2008 debut season beating Clemson, FSU, Miami, and UGA. The following season, GT FB averaged 51.5K attendance. As our schedule has moved away from playing “traditional power teams early” to scheduling cupcakes, I believe it has definitely hurt attendance.
While I have purchased every year since I moved back to ATL in 1991, it appears that some GT fan have fallen into the habit of only buying season tickets on the years that UGA plays us at Grant Field. This is sad as they are NOT buying basketball season tickets instead.
Even more foreboding, averaging under 35K this season and not having the UGA game to boost sales, 2022 looks to be the lowest attended season in 20+ years - unless we start winning again.
2002 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dave Braine
HC Chan Gailey
OC Bill O’Brien
DC John Tenuta
Chan Gailey - 1st Season
*Bobby Dodd Stadium Capacity = 43,719
Marquee Early Wins: Beat Vandy 45-3 & BYU 28-19 to open 2002 with 2 home wins at sold-out BDS after narrow 19-24 loss to Clemson on road.
43,719* – 2002 – Vanderbilt
43,719* – 2002 – BYU
43,719* – 2002 – Wake Forest
42,727* – 2002 – UVA
42,719* – 2002 – Florida State
41,335* – 2002 – Duke
——————————————
43,156* – 2002 – AVG. (98.7%)
*2002 Bobby Dodd Capacity = 43,719
2003 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dave Braine
HC Chan Gailey
OC Nix/Geis
DC Tenuta
** 2003+ Bobby Dodd Capacity = 55K
Marquee Early Win: Beat #17 Auburn 14-7 in opener of enlarged 55K-seat Bobby Dodd.
55,000 – 2003 – Auburn
53,189 – 2003 – Clemson
50,113 – 2003 – NC State
51,524 – 2003 – Maryland
52,346 – 2003 – UNC
55,000 – 2003 – UGA
——————————————
55,862** – 2003 – AVG. (96.1%)
** 2003+ Bobby Dodd Capacity = 55K
2004 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dave Braine
HC Chan Gailey
OC Nix
DC Tenuta
Calvin Johnson - Freshman Season
Marquee Early Win: Beat #18 Clemson 14-7 in Game 2 in front of 82K at Death Valley.
43,100 – 2004 – Samford
55,000 – 2004 – Miami
46,856 – 2004 – Duke
48,398 – 2004 – Va. Tech (Thursday)
43,577 – 2004 – UConn
43,971 – 2004 – UVA
——————————————
46,817 – 2004 – AVG. (85.1%)
2005 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dave Braine
HC Chan Gailey
OC Nix
DC Tenuta
Calvin Johnson - Sophomore Season
Marquee Win: Beat Auburn 23-14 in opener in front of 87,451 at Jordan-Hare.
46,459 – 2005 – UNC
48,770 – 2005 – UConn
51,432 – 2005 – NC State
55,000 – 2005 – Clemson
51,571 – 2005 - Wake Forest
56,412 – 2005 – UGA
——————————————
51,607 – 2005 – AVG. (93.8%)
2006 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dan Radakovich
HC Chan Gailey
OC Nix
DC Tenuta
Calvin Johnson - Junior Season (final)
Marquee Early Game: Narrow 10-14 loss to #2 Notre Dame in opener in front of sold-out Bobby Dodd.
56,680 – 2006 – Notre Dame
47,149 – 2006 – Samford
45,637 – 2006 – Troy
51,081 – 2006 – Virginia (Thursday)
51,686 – 2006 – Maryland
55,320 – 2006 – Miami
46,768 – 2006 – Duke
——————————————
50,617 – 2006 – AVG. (92.0%)
2007 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dan Radokovich
HC Chan Gailey
OC John Bond
DC Tenuta
Marquee Early Win: Beat Notre Dame 33-3 in opener in front of 87,451 at South Bend.
43,288 – 2007 – Samford
51,112 – 2007 – Boston College
54,635 – 2007 – Clemson
50,242 – 2007 – Army
52,202 – 2007 – Va Tech
54,990 – 2007 – UGA
——————————————
51,078 – 2007 – AVG. (92.9%)
2008-2012 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Dan Radokovich
HC Paul Johnson
47,489 – 2008 – AVG. (86.3%)
51,584 – 2009 – AVG. (93.8%)
46,449 – 2010 – AVG. (84.5%)
48,232 – 2011 – AVG. (87.7%)
43,955 – 2012 – AVG. (79.9%)
2013-2018 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Todd Stansbury
HC Paul Johnson
49,077 – 2013 – AVG. (89.2%)
48,519 – 2014 – AVG. (88.2%)
50,707 – 2015 – AVG. (92.2%)
47,503 – 2016 – AVG. (86.4%)
46,885 – 2017 – AVG. (85.2%)
43,087 – 2018 – AVG. (78.3%)
2013-2018 GT FB Home Attendance:
AD Todd Stansbury
HC Geoff Collins
44,599 – 2019 – AVG. (81.1%)
N/A - 2020 COVID-19 IMPACTED
34,956*** – 2021 – AVG. (63.6%) ***w/o UGA
