Pack Out Bobby Dodd

SandySpringsJacket

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
272
I don't live anywhere near Atlanta and I still show up. That being said, myself and a lot of my friends and I were asked to dig deep and support that man who previously worked for the circus. We were already giving, gave again, then gave some more, told it cost big $$ to win. We lost about 10k game day butts in seat in 3 years with the train wreck. I think everyone knew it was a mistake after game 2 where we got bailed out at home against a woeful USF squad, but some took until The Citadel disaster, the eternally faithful made it to the embarassing Temple loss. 4 years of losing fans in droves takes a very long time to recover from unfortunately. Most of my friends have cancelled their season tickets, there's nobody in my entire row or the ones up or down from me that were there in 2018. We used to know hundreds of people around us, all long term fans, but GT drove them off. Peterson, Stansbury and the circus guy massively damaged our program. We're going to need 3-4 years of solid winning just to get going.
I disagree with your take that we will need 3-4 years to get it going. although I appreciate you still showing up for the games. Why does anyone need 3-4 years to see that this coach and this team deserve fan support? I cannot imagine being a Georgia Tech fan and not being excited about this team and wanting to be at BDS to see them play,
 

MWBATL

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,589
If we get to 4-0, excitement will really start to build. If we beat Louisville to get to 5-0, I think ticket sales will climb noticeably for the rest of the season.
conversely, if we stumble early, the usual lethargy in sales will set in amongst the general public.
 

forensicbuzz

21st Century Throwback Dad
Messages
9,088
Location
North Shore, Chicago
One other challenge to the fanbase: be in your seats when the Wreck exits the tunnel. I'm really not sure whether it's an Atlanta traffic thing, having a snoozer of an entrance, expensive food/drinks inside the stadium, slow ingress/concessions, or some other factor. I have a football album and spent a few minutes combing through it for comparison photos to other schools:

VT ~5 minutes before Enter Sandman
View attachment 16682

Ole Miss 20 minutes before their team takes the field
View attachment 16683

Colorado as they take the field:
View attachment 16686

Notre Dame 10 minutes before "Here Come the Irish":
View attachment 16687

And then us for comparison - Louisville game just after run out (the away section density contrast in the far corner is particularly jarring in this):
View attachment 16688

SCST game last season 15 minutes before runout (and ensuing rain delay):
View attachment 16689
I think posting the South Carolina State stands is confirmation bias unless you're showing all those other stadia when they're playing an HBCU team. Show an equivalent game.
 

AUFC

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,994
Location
Atlanta
I think posting the South Carolina State stands is confirmation bias unless you're showing all those other stadia when they're playing an HBCU team. Show an equivalent game.
UNC 20 minutes before the team runs out:
1724809231236.jpeg
 

Oakland

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,290
Location
Georgia
Because some don’t live close. I live in Wyoming.
If you start driving tomorrow morning, you should make it by game time. Seriously, I'm not talking about people who live in different parts of the country. Heck me and several of my friends are sidewalk fans. In fact most people who sit around me in the West Stands are sidewalk fans. I'm talking about all fans that live locally. No more excuses.

Coach Key said this today "We really need the fan support."
 
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stinger78

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,947
I don't live anywhere near Atlanta and I still show up. That being said, myself and a lot of my friends and I were asked to dig deep and support that man who previously worked for the circus. We were already giving, gave again, then gave some more, told it cost big $$ to win. We lost about 10k game day butts in seat in 3 years with the train wreck. I think everyone knew it was a mistake after game 2 where we got bailed out at home against a woeful USF squad, but some took until The Citadel disaster, the eternally faithful made it to the embarassing Temple loss. 4 years of losing fans in droves takes a very long time to recover from unfortunately. Most of my friends have cancelled their season tickets, there's nobody in my entire row or the ones up or down from me that were there in 2018. We used to know hundreds of people around us, all long term fans, but GT drove them off. Peterson, Stansbury and the circus guy massively damaged our program. We're going to need 3-4 years of solid winning just to get going.
You forgot Sasquatch. How they could do that with a flipping Hall of Fame HC I will never, ever comprehend. Just amazing!
Then Cabrera comes in and is like, “Guys, we need to pump this thing up and get some positive vibes out of our historic football program. Football in Spain is BIG BUCKS! Let’s do this! How much money do you need?”
Who knew it was that easy?
 

JacketOff

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,012
2020? 2021? 2022? what year? Not sure I believe this is 20 minutes before the team runs out with there still being activities on the field. Looked at kickoff of GT/UNC last year and the stands were mostly full at kickoff.
It’s clearly from last year’s UNC game. The clock on the scoreboard says 25:44, as in that’s how long until kickoff. The crowd filled in nicely soon after kickoff, but OPs point is that we do a really bad job of getting people into the stadium before the team comes on the field. Only like 50% of the people who will eventually be in the stadium are already there when the Reck leaves the tunnel. Compare that to Tennessee when they run through the T, or VT during Enter Sandman, or anyone else with good atmospheres who are nearly full when the team enters the stadium.
 

AUFC

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,994
Location
Atlanta
I'd be remiss to not share what State games look like 20-25 minutes before tunnel run out. Somebody on the Rivals board suspects State brings 12,000 people. Their "tickets handed out" number for home games is typically around 15,000 but they are lucky to pull 5,000 people (including students with free tickets) through the turnstiles for a non-Southern game. The atmosphere sucks (and their 3rd down train horn is probably the main reason behind their low attendance) but you basically can sit front row for Division 1 football, which is cool. Halfway Crooks across the street makes for a nice pre-game spot and then Big Softie is there for you for dessert post-game. I'd recommend a visit if there's no conflicting Tech game or appointment CFB viewing.

1724818553745.jpeg


Edit: << that train horn by the way. I don't even think this does it justice. It's like the Mercedes-Benz horn on steroids. Everybody around me at the game was talking about how much they hated it.
 
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GT33

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,282
You forgot Sasquatch. How they could do that with a flipping Hall of Fame HC I will never, ever comprehend. Just amazing!
Then Cabrera comes in and is like, “Guys, we need to pump this thing up and get some positive vibes out of our historic football program. Football in Spain is BIG BUCKS! Let’s do this! How much money do you need?”
Who knew it was that easy?
We needed someone to care besides the fans and the team. We had 2 legs of a stool and just kept falling over. Peterson and Stansbury, Sasquatch before him didn’t give a ****. They got paid. Radakovich seemed to have a vision but no support so he bailed. Look what happened 2 hrs up the road by the lake.
 

AugustaSwarm

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
916
I agree, it's FCS and there are some uncontrolled variables at play here. But that Lane Stadium game was a washout too and their fans still came to the game on time. The thunder delay vs. SCST was announced right after special teams trotted out to kick the ball off. It might just be an Atlanta sports culture thing b/c Atlanta United and Hawks games are the same way. I've never been to Sanford Stadium but UGA fans seem to get into Bobby Dodd on time when they play here.
We were in the stands watching the lightening 15 mins before kickoff...the concourses were packed with fans that were nervous about sitting on metal bleachers while there was storms brewing...point taken, but not the best example.
 

Secret_AznMan

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
77
I disagree with your take that we will need 3-4 years to get it going. although I appreciate you still showing up for the games. Why does anyone need 3-4 years to see that this coach and this team deserve fan support? I cannot imagine being a Georgia Tech fan and not being excited about this team and wanting to be at BDS to see them play,
If we can get the dub this weekend and get than nice number next to our name in the AP poll, hopefully the people that left during the dark times take notice.
 

ramblineck

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
161
It’s clearly from last year’s UNC game. The clock on the scoreboard says 25:44, as in that’s how long until kickoff. The crowd filled in nicely soon after kickoff, but OPs point is that we do a really bad job of getting people into the stadium before the team comes on the field. Only like 50% of the people who will eventually be in the stadium are already there when the Reck leaves the tunnel. Compare that to Tennessee when they run through the T, or VT during Enter Sandman, or anyone else with good atmospheres who are nearly full when the team enters the stadium.
Exactly, thank you!
 

stinger78

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,947
Have no idea why the Student Section is catching shade they have outclassed the fanbase in every way in terms of showing up to games. They were full almost every game last year.
I got little beef with the students in the common era, however, that is an extremely low bar since TFG began his evil reign. There were many games, especially under CCG, but also under CPJ, that the student section would slowly fill up just before the half.
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
11,168
2020? 2021? 2022? what year? Not sure I believe this is 20 minutes before the team runs out with there still being activities on the field. Looked at kickoff of GT/UNC last year and the stands were mostly full at kickoff.
Yeah, team is still loosening up on field and haven’t gone to locker room yet. That’s got to be more than 20 minutes before the teams take the field.
 

AUFC

Helluva Engineer
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2,994
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Atlanta
Have no idea why the Student Section is catching shade they have outclassed the fanbase in every way in terms of showing up to games. They were full almost every game last year.
Just need them to figure out how to be college basketball fans :cry:

On the real though, our student section is one of the best in college football if we're measuring by engagement/noise/staying til the end. The main issue people bring up is the south endzone but that really has more to do with GTAA offering too much supply for our student body population. The general need to downsize Bobby Dodd is a tired discussion on here though. Maybe I'm off here but I don't think anybody is sitting in those seats, student or not. It's a terrible spot to watch a game from - too low/shallow, bad scenery skyline-speaking, no jumbotron, horrible concessions, etc.
 
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