Locker Room Renovation Underway

[JDjacket]

So much for the soccer team paying for upgrades to the locker room this summer... LOL.

Total payments by Atl United to GTAA will be between $2.4-$2.6 million and that's before including whatever concession profits are (GT gets 60% of concession revenue which based on the addition of alcohol sales I would hope would be a lot). In total, I would expect it to end up being over $3 million. A part of the contract had money earmarked for locker improvements only as well.

I would say that's a substantial amount of money going to the GTAA that could be used to cover a large portion or all of a new and improved locker room depending on if you're trying to compete with Oregon's Nike facilities or trying to at least be reasonable on what you need. Based on revenue data in charts provided by Stansbury and the GTAA that would account for an amount equal to ~4% of the GTAA revenue.

Since this money would finish being received during the summer, you could say the soccer team will pay for upgrades this summer. Doesn't mean it'll be built this summer.

 

[SlawDog]

I thought Mexico was supposed to pay for it?

You are so pre election! El Chapo is paying for it!

 

[dressedcheeseside]

GT is selling education and life after football. Sadly, few top recruits care much about that or live in a fantasy world that says all that will take care of itself because I'm going to the NFL.

 

[flea77]

Total payments by Atl United to GTAA will be between $2.4-$2.6 million and that's before including whatever concession profits are (GT gets 60% of concession revenue which based on the addition of alcohol sales I would hope would be a lot). In total, I would expect it to end up being over $3 million. A part of the contract had money earmarked for locker improvements only as well.

I would say that's a substantial amount of money going to the GTAA that could be used to cover a large portion or all of a new and improved locker room depending on if you're trying to compete with Oregon's Nike facilities or trying to at least be reasonable on what you need. Based on revenue data in charts provided by Stansbury and the GTAA that would account for an amount equal to ~4% of the GTAA revenue.

Since this money would finish being received during the summer, you could say the soccer team will pay for upgrades this summer. Doesn't mean it'll be built this summer.

Like I always tell my Son when it comes to College sports, dont believe anything you hear, and half of what you see. The locker room was supposed to be "improved" before Will got here. LOL. Its really not a big deal, you shower ,use the bathroom and get dressed in there... I had heard that the United folks paid a amount upfront for locker room " improvents" that were supposed to happen this summer. Looks like the can is still being kicked down the road.

 

[flea77]

I'm not complaining about the extra money. I think the soccer fans are going to miss playing the games in Bobby Dodd. Its a great place to watch events.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Well, no doubt, it is a keep up with the competition world.
And, personally, I want GT to go first class. That includes visitors locker rooms.

Before Rice came, I am sure many remember the bathrooms under the old south stands. P.O.W. camps were better.

As far as kids expectations today, I took a recruiting trip to U Texas in 67. The lockers were a nail hammered into a 2x4 put on the wall.

Fact is we have a choice to make, donate more $ to sports or whither away.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

GT is selling education and life after football. Sadly, few top recruits care much about that or live in a fantasy world that says all that will take care of itself because I'm going to the NFL.

Nothing wrong with selling more than what you stated. We should be ashamed if we do not go first class in every Institute undertaking.

These kids, NFL aspirations or not, have put in appx 6 - 8 years of hard work to play this sport at this level.

We can not guarantee them a successful life, GT degree or not.

We can guarantee they will be provided "first class" in everything they try to accomplish while here.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Whose fault is that?

TV, coaches, boosters, fans, and probably the number one culprit is the recruiting mayhem of the present. I wish names were not known or released until they signed.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Home field advantage exists, is not solely determined by the # of fans in the seats. A nice locker room where the players can chill pre game, or conversely get each other fired up through comraderie, can affect said home field advantage.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

GT is selling education and life after football. Sadly, few top recruits care much about that or live in a fantasy world that says all that will take care of itself because I'm going to the NFL.

If a recruit doesn't care about or see the value in the education, then he should not come to Tech. Because you can't thumb your nose at professors here and just ignore school. You won't last long. You have to see the value in what that offers in order to dedicate yourself in the manner necessary to achieve success in the classroom when you are also holding down a full time job (being an athlete too).

One thing we can tell them is that over the last decade the same percentage of 4* or higher recruits from Tech made it to the NFL as did Alabama. Now yes, the volume is much higher at Alabama than here. But almost 2/3rds of 4*+ recruits there do NOT make it to the NFL. Its a volume thing - they have so many that they literally can't even make the field to play to even get a chance to showcase themselves. Those guys who don't make the NFL then graduate with a degree from a school ranked #252 in the nation by Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/colleges/the-university-of-alabama/). So yea, we don't want guys who don't see and understand what that means, because they won't be successful here.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

That includes visitors locker rooms.

We should put a bunch of long bleacher benches randomly and chaotically spaced throughout the floor of the visitor's locker room. That way it gets their shins ready for the beating they are all going to take from our Offensive Line. Amirite?

 

[Skeptic]

We should put a bunch of long bleacher benches randomly and chaotically spaced throughout the floor of the visitor's locker room. That way it gets their shins ready for the beating they are all going to take from our Offensive Line. Amirite?

No.

 

[GTRX7]

Like I always tell my Son when it comes to College sports, dont believe anything you hear, and half of what you see. The locker room was supposed to be "improved" before Will got here. LOL. Its really not a big deal, you shower ,use the bathroom and get dressed in there... I had heard that the United folks paid a amount upfront for locker room " improvents" that were supposed to happen this summer. Looks like the can is still being kicked down the road.

The contract reported by the AJC was for Atlanta United to pay $275k specifically for locker room renovations. That certainly won't get you entirely new, state of the art, locker rooms. However, hopefully that will provide Tech with some improvements that can be taken advantage of until we do our own full renovation project in the coming years. Not sure if that has in fact come to pass, but I would assume so.

By the way, looks like Home Depo must still be giving away tens of thousands of free tickets to its employees each game for the stadium to keep selling out ; )

 

[GTL]

If a recruit doesn't care about or see the value in the education, then he should not come to Tech.

While true, it doesn't apply exclusively to Tech. If a recruit is highly motivated (and he has to be to have GT in the mix), he can get an excellent education at most major colleges. It just that he can't goof off and take an easy route to a degree at Tech, while other major colleges actually encourage the easy academic route.

But this points out why we have to remain competitive in terms of facilities. Not necessarily the best or most luxurious, but at least competitive because the excellent education part isn't exclusive to GT.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

While true, it doesn't apply exclusively to Tech. If a recruit is highly motivated (and he has to be to have GT in the mix), he can get an excellent education at most major colleges. It just that he can't goof off and take an easy route to a degree at Tech, while other major colleges actually encourage the easy academic route.

But this points out why we have to remain competitive in terms of facilities. Not necessarily the best or most luxurious, but at least competitive because the excellent education part isn't exclusive to GT.

True, but the GT diploma and resume opens lots of doors all by themselves. Not to mention the business contacts developed.

 

[Cam]

True, but the GT diploma and resume opens lots of doors all by themselves. Not to mention the business contacts developed.

So does a degree from Stanford, Michigan, Northwestern, Duke, etc. A GT degree is not the absolute best you can obtain from a P5 program. Though it's pretty darn good and that's what we sell to recruits (and parents). The point is that we will keep losing recruiting battles to Stanford as long as they continue developing their facilities, branding, and overall program. The same reason why we routinely beat Duke in recruiting battles is because we have better facilities, football history, and stadium.

The way I see it, recruits aren't basing their decision off of who has the best jerseys or facilities, but those are pretty nice perks. If you're able to say, "Yeah, Stanford is pretty good. But you know what we have that they don't? __________." It helps a lot. When CPJ says we need to keep up with the "arms race" in facilities, it's because he's likely feeling the heat of losing recruits because with all things considered, we're not always the best option.

 

[vamosjackets]

While true, it doesn't apply exclusively to Tech. If a recruit is highly motivated (and he has to be to have GT in the mix), he can get an excellent education at most major colleges. It just that he can't goof off and take an easy route to a degree at Tech, while other major colleges actually encourage the easy academic route.

But this points out why we have to remain competitive in terms of facilities. Not necessarily the best or most luxurious, but at least competitive because the excellent education part isn't exclusive to GT.

Some schools you walk through, some schools you have to climb. GT, you have to climb. And, that means everything when it comes to a real education.

 

[vamosjackets]

So does a degree from Stanford, Michigan, Northwestern, Duke, etc. A GT degree is not the absolute best you can obtain from a P5 program. Though it's pretty darn good and that's what we sell to recruits (and parents). The point is that we will keep losing recruiting battles to Stanford as long as they continue developing their facilities, branding, and overall program. The same reason why we routinely beat Duke in recruiting battles is because we have better facilities, football history, and stadium.

The way I see it, recruits aren't basing their decision off of who has the best jerseys or facilities, but those are pretty nice perks. If you're able to say, "Yeah, Stanford is pretty good. But you know what we have that they don't? __________." It helps a lot. When CPJ says we need to keep up with the "arms race" in facilities, it's because he's likely feeling the heat of losing recruits because with all things considered, we're not always the best option.

While that's true, we don't often lose recruits to those schools. Most of the time we're losing to one in the southeast. Because, location is still the biggest correlation to choosing a school. If we lose a recruit to Stanford or Northwestern, it's a decision that makes at least some sense. A recruit who is academically solid choosing Alabama over GT, honestly usually makes no long-term rational/economic sense.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

While that's true, we don't often lose recruits to those schools. Most of the time we're losing to one in the southeast. Because, location is still the biggest correlation to choosing a school. If we lose a recruit to Stanford or Northwestern, it's a decision that makes at least some sense. A recruit who is academically solid choosing Alabama over GT, honestly usually makes no long-term rational/economic sense.

I read a quote recently from someone we were chasing who said academics was a huge piece of their decision making process, because he wants to make the NFL and take care of his Mom forever. So sometimes people say one thing, but mean another. Like they want a school that will stand behind them and support them enough so they can stay in school, hopefully graduate, but at least make it long enough to reach the NFL. Other folks say that academics matter and really just mean they want to go to a major university. And still others mean quality of education itself is what they mean. Often times we forget these are 17 and 18 year old kids that speak and mean things differently than we might. When I talk to other kids who are looking at Tech and getting intimidated, I tell them it doesn't mean you have to learn the theory of relativity, know it by heart, and how to calculate different things. Sure, when you are in those Physics classes, you better. But what a degree from Georgia Tech means you had the discipline and work ethic to survive all that stuff and that will translate to your integrity, work ethic, and success in the workplace. You'll forget a lot of what you learn and that's okay.

 

[Eastman]

There are a ton of factors that go into their final decision and each of them carries a different "price tag" in their minds. Location, closeness to home, having their major, academic reputation, foottball reputation, odds of playing early, playing a particular position (e.g. JeT), facilities, relationship with coaches/players, parents desires, opportunity to wear Russell gear and many other aspects are factors. Tech's great academic reputation is important but not sufficient for many players as our recruiting shows..