GT getting some love on Atlanta radio

[33jacket]

i think the point is there was a time you could get really nice seats at a much more affordable price than you can today

and when supply is MUCH HIGHER than demand, raising prices and requiring donations makes little sense. Its why its eroded to a degree.

This isn't about any single human. Its about the fact that over the past few years in a tough economy ticket sales have gone down, yet prices in general at GT haven't, and for key games have gone up.

People don't feel the need to buy season tickets because supply is so high. But, families who want to go to a key game when supply is still high, don't, due to costs. It is just a pure fact.

Now, again, there is a balance. I personally don't want to sit in a sea of orange in the upper north...most fans wouldnt'...I owned gold seats for years right on the 50 yard line. I spent alot of money there....this doesn't apply to me.

Bottom line. GT should consider eliminating PSL for many of the seats they require it today. The Upper East NEVER used to be as empty as I see it now. This is a hint. The upper east used to ALWAYS be full. Its eroded.

Parking passes are now almost as expensive as a season ticket. Again, this has over doubled in cost over the past 10 years.

Its just little things stacked up, with high supply, that make people balk. If the supply was low...we wouldnt' have this problem. Its not.

Tech has on average 5k empty seats a game. This tells me that 5k tickets are non-revenue producing. So, is it better for tech to get zero out of that? Or...reduce costs across the board and try to get something?

Thats my point

 

[Animal02]

All that is fine and dandy for local fans, it doesn't help out-of-towners who want to see a big game at a fair price. I drove 6 hours and paid $80.00 a pop for two tickets in the upper east. Luckily, I can afford to do that once a year. A lot of guys can't. It really boils down to what the GTAA values more, butts in seats or gouging fans when demand is high. Well, I guess it wasn't quite high enough now was it?

Sell the worst 10k seats at $40 and filling the stadium is smarter than only selling 5k at $80. GTAA needs to send a few people to Econ 101. (maybe they can get a tuition discount)

 

[Bruce Wayne]

The noon start had the biggest impact on ticket sales. Especially since it was not determined until the week of the game. Their were far fewer Clemson fans at the game in the nosebleeds than usual. I think attendance would have been at or over 50K if it had been a night game, based on prior experience even this season with our one night game.

 

[mmbt0ne]

Sell the worst 10k seats at $40 and filling the stadium is smarter than only selling 5k at $80. GTAA needs to send a few people to Econ 101. (maybe they can get a tuition discount)

Sure, but this assumes that there are 10k people out there who want to buy $40 seats and that you wouldn't lose sales of the higher dollar value seats when the next step down is only $40 rather than $80.

The GTAA is healthier financially than it's been in decades. I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing when it comes to making money.

 

[mmbt0ne]

Also, tarping the stands should be an absolute non-starter. Once you do something like that, it takes ages to come back from the perception of it.

Lots of stadiums have empty seats. How many of them have surrendered the possibility to ever fill them?

 

[ibeattetris]

All that is fine and dandy for local fans, it doesn't help out-of-towners who want to see a big game at a fair price. I drove 6 hours and paid $80.00 a pop for two tickets in the upper east. Luckily, I can afford to do that once a year. A lot of guys can't. It really boils down to what the GTAA values more, butts in seats or gouging fans when demand is high. Well, I guess it wasn't quite high enough now was it?

Or you could have gotten season tickets for 99-170. If you only could make one game, you sell the rest and make up the value.

I made the drive up from Orlando 5 times this year. I'm very fortunate to be in a place where I can prioritize football games over other life obligations. But to think that price is a barrier seems strange to me. I have UF friends here who pay 600 for the worst possible season tickets, and they celebrate when they get them because they had to be selected in a lottery. We as GT fans have it great! I was able to see 5 games in the most beautiful college stadium for less than the gasoline it took to get me there.

 

[vamosjackets]

Season tickets were $99 each. You won't find a better deal than that anywhere in the world (at least for my money).

 

[TechPhi97]

I think the ticket prices were crazy.....I paid about the same for a similar seat at the B10 championship last year. They got greedy and got burned. The need to start getting students in those seats for next to nothing....instead of trying to ream the public for the one really good home game for the year.

UGA Dealing with student tickets: http://www.macon.com/2013/02/12/2353780/uga-attacks-problem-of-student.html
"The price of a student ticket is $5 per home game. The price of a "young alumni" ticket will be more expensive: $40. But in the first year the buyer will not have to pay the "donation credit" (or seat-license fee) that a non-student typically has to purchase. That would have been $500.

But the "young alumni" ticket will have a seat-license fee of $250 attached in the second year. And in the third year, the young alumni ticket will require a full $500 donation."

Notice that the young alumni ticket includes a PSL of $250 in year 1 and $500 in year 2. That's for a crummy, entry level seat, and it's for young alumni. It's slightly less than our best seats (Club or 50 yard line LE). Season tickets cost $245, or $40 per game. UGA is about the same on a per game basis, but the donation is much higher, basically starting at the $500 for entry level seats.

It's a fan number issue; they have 3x the students that we have and a stadium that is 1.75x our size, while having a sidewalk fanbase that is 10x our size. It is what it is.

 

[DTGT]

Sell the worst 10k seats at $40 and filling the stadium is smarter than only selling 5k at $80. GTAA needs to send a few people to Econ 101. (maybe they can get a tuition discount)

Their pricing is correct for them to maximize profit. It severely limits my cheap self from driving the 6-7 hrs each way for the game (or flying 1 hr at $300+/round trip ticket), but it is correct. A sellout means they could have charged more money for the same seats.

The higher price allows them to anchor higher prices in your mind when you see discounted tickets or less desirable games. The games need to be priced assuming that the season will be towards the higher end of the W-L possibilities to allow for discounting and promotions.

What seems like a better value: an $80 ticket on sale for $40? Or a $55 ticket on sale for $40? The first is a BOGO and the second is a beer and a nacho (NBA prices where I live). I can get far more seats filled with a BOGO than I can with a coke and a hotdog, yet they are the same discounted price per seat. Plus I get to sell the food-like products that I didn't give to them with the ticket.

Less than full attendance reduces costs (clean-up, maintenance, security, damage, etc...).

Fans, coaches, and players want to see a full stadium. Stadium management wants to see a high-revenue/low-cost stadium that is easily managed. Do not confuse your desires (and mine too!) with the desires of management.

 

[stevo0718]

All that is fine and dandy for local fans, it doesn't help out-of-towners who want to see a big game at a fair price. I drove 6 hours and paid $80.00 a pop for two tickets in the upper east. Luckily, I can afford to do that once a year. A lot of guys can't. It really boils down to what the GTAA values more, butts in seats or gouging fans when demand is high. Well, I guess it wasn't quite high enough now was it?

I can agree with that, gotta follow the basic rules of supply and demand. But you've got be able to anticipate that better as the GTAA.

There may not be 100,000 GT fans in Atlanta but there have got to be 60k fans of the tech football within an hour of Atlanta.

We will see what the future holds for filling up the stadium. I expect more of the same regardless.

Winning helps but doesn't fix everything. Check '09 attendance and '10 attendance, not too far off from this year and any other. I think legitimate stars helps more than wins. When you go to games, you want t see wins, but you also want to see big time players make plays.

I think we have a couple players we consider big time players, but don't get the pub of other star players. Let's win a couple more games this year bc I will be there regardless.

Love my team and the experience of going to a tech game and our players.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Or you could have gotten season tickets for 99-170. If you only could make one game, you sell the rest and make up the value.

I made the drive up from Orlando 5 times this year. I'm very fortunate to be in a place where I can prioritize football games over other life obligations. But to think that price is a barrier seems strange to me. I have UF friends here who pay 600 for the worst possible season tickets, and they celebrate when they get them because they had to be selected in a lottery. We as GT fans have it great! I was able to see 5 games in the most beautiful college stadium for less than the gasoline it took to get me there.

Time commitment is a bigger issue than price for me. I've got kids in weekend sports and scouting where I'm the coach/den leader.

 

[Animal02]

Their pricing is correct for them to maximize profit. It severely limits my cheap self from driving the 6-7 hrs each way for the game (or flying 1 hr at $300+/round trip ticket), but it is correct. A sellout means they could have charged more money for the same seats.

The higher price allows them to anchor higher prices in your mind when you see discounted tickets or less desirable games. The games need to be priced assuming that the season will be towards the higher end of the W-L possibilities to allow for discounting and promotions.

What seems like a better value: an $80 ticket on sale for $40? Or a $55 ticket on sale for $40? The first is a BOGO and the second is a beer and a nacho (NBA prices where I live). I can get far more seats filled with a BOGO than I can with a coke and a hotdog, yet they are the same discounted price per seat. Plus I get to sell the food-like products that I didn't give to them with the ticket.

Less than full attendance reduces costs (clean-up, maintenance, security, damage, etc...).

Fans, coaches, and players want to see a full stadium. Stadium management wants to see a high-revenue/low-cost stadium that is easily managed. Do not confuse your desires (and mine too!) with the desires of management.

Less than full attendance decreased profits from ancillary sales.....concession, parking etc.

 

[Animal02]

UGA Dealing with student tickets: http://www.macon.com/2013/02/12/2353780/uga-attacks-problem-of-student.html
"The price of a student ticket is $5 per home game. The price of a "young alumni" ticket will be more expensive: $40. But in the first year the buyer will not have to pay the "donation credit" (or seat-license fee) that a non-student typically has to purchase. That would have been $500.

But the "young alumni" ticket will have a seat-license fee of $250 attached in the second year. And in the third year, the young alumni ticket will require a full $500 donation."

Notice that the young alumni ticket includes a PSL of $250 in year 1 and $500 in year 2. That's for a crummy, entry level seat, and it's for young alumni. It's slightly less than our best seats (Club or 50 yard line LE). Season tickets cost $245, or $40 per game. UGA is about the same on a per game basis, but the donation is much higher, basically starting at the $500 for entry level seats.

It's a fan number issue; they have 3x the students that we have and a stadium that is 1.75x our size, while having a sidewalk fanbase that is 10x our size. It is what it is.

I agree....that is why the GTAA needs to make fans out of every student possible every year....that will not happen if they make it difficult to get tickets and a hassle to attend games.

 

[DTGT]

Less than full attendance decreased profits from ancillary sales.....concession, parking etc.

Maybe a little; but you just got more out of the high rollers that are there no matter the price and I would bet the 80/20 rule applies here: 80%-ish of your concessions sales are sold to 20%-ish of the people. I know I have gone to many games without buying anything. By raising the cover charge, you have reduced the number of low revenue fans and you can focus more energy on extracting more from the whales.

 

[ibeattetris]

Time commitment is a bigger issue than price for me. I've got kids in weekend sports and scouting where I'm the coach/den leader.

I understand and is why I said I'm glad I don't have those obligations just yet. Other people have complained about price and you had mentioned the 80 dollar a pop point. I figured 80 is close enough to 99 that just getting season tickets would be worth it.

 

[mmbt0ne]

Maybe a little; but you just got more out of the high rollers that are there no matter the price and I would bet the 80/20 rule applies here: 80%-ish of your concessions sales are sold to 20%-ish of the people. I know I have gone to many games without buying anything. By raising the cover charge, you have reduced the number of low revenue fans and you can focus more energy on extracting more from the whales.

Not only that, but ticket sales are almost 100% margin whereas concessions are significantly less, probably no more than 30% after Sodexo takes their cut.

Every person buying a $40 ticket instead of an $80 ticket would have to buy about $130 of concessions to earn the same amount for GT.

 

[Animal02]

Not only that, but ticket sales are almost 100% margin whereas concessions are significantly less, probably no more than 30% after Sodexo takes their cut.

Every person buying a $40 ticket instead of an $80 ticket would have to buy about $130 of concessions to earn the same amount for GT.

Only if you sell every seat.

 

[33jacket]

Only if you sell every seat.

Exaclty. They are empty. Its a pointless debate. The question is how to fill em. Ticket reduction will help but not 100 percent solution. The solution has to grow over time its not instant switch.

 

[Spandex]

Not only that, but ticket sales are almost 100% margin whereas concessions are significantly less, probably no more than 30% after Sodexo takes their cut.

Every person buying a $40 ticket instead of an $80 ticket would have to buy about $130 of concessions to earn the same amount for GT.

That would be, what, a pretzel and a coke?

 

[Animal02]

Exaclty. They are empty. Its a pointless debate. The question is how to fill em. Ticket reduction will help but not 100 percent solution. The solution has to grow over time its not instant switch.

Agree completely......which goes back to my original pint of getting students into those empty seats.....the GTAA needs to make fans out of as many students as possible......make it easy for students to attend games (and bring dates) How many ASC and other girls are now Tech fans because they attended games while going to college?