Pack The Dodd

[78pike]

Lot of good points in this thread, but I'd like to highlight something alluded to earlier.

A lot of football fans (esp southern?) don't like driving into the city, figuring out parking etc. My brother in law is from Chicago southside, and it turned him off.

If he is from the south side of Chicago I would think he has much more to worry about than figuring out parking!

 

[Secret_AznMan]

Sorry, but this is a marketing problem. The AA needs to make home games at Bobby Dodd THE event of the weekend.

Fireworks and light shows for night games...maybe a live band after the game...t-shirts for white out games...food trucks, clowns, balloons for the kids.

DO SOMETHING! C'mon people...jump around...pack the stands.

Oh, and guys need to take their Agnes Scott dates to the games. That's still a thing, right?

The reason that the students don't go is because we haven't had a good team since 2016 and haven't had an elite team since 2014. Not to mention the ge*ff years. Any student that enrolled as a freshman since 2017 has not witnessed a 'good' Georgia Tech Football Team.
People like to root for winning teams, also like half the student body are turbo nerds and don't care about "sportball".

 

[Secret_AznMan]

Lot of good points in this thread, but I'd like to highlight something alluded to earlier.

A lot of football fans (esp southern?) don't like driving into the city, figuring out parking etc. My brother in law is from Chicago southside, and it turned him off.

Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field is the most accessible college football stadium in the country since it is 1 block away from a MARTA station.

 

[Randy Carson]

And that's what we have done, yet GT fans gonna GT fan and complain.

Last year we opened with Clemson. Next year we open with FSU in Ireland.

Not exactly the C-level teams I had in mind.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

Use Uber or Marta

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

One hurdle is scheduling. (this is through the lens of the last 3 years) Do we schedule A teams that will beat us 85% of the time? Do we schedule C and under teams that we will beat 95% of the time? Do we schedule B team that are 50 50? What will draw the largest crowds of GT fans? There are people who hate that we have Bowling Green and SC State on our home schedule. Are those big time draw names? Of course not but they are there for wins. mutt fans are blasting their home schedule for it being so weak, but they backed out of playing Oklahoma because they will be an $ec team next year. Guess nobody told Texas and Bama that they shouldn't play for the same reason.

@AE 87 is correct, most people south of Macon hate ATL traffic and don't want to drive there. They loathe it. BUT, within a 60 mile radius of our stadium are enough GT fans to fill the stadium. I don't care if they are alums or sidewalk fans, they are all GT FANS. Winning solves everything, well consistent wining.

I think you are wrong that we have enough fans within 60 miles. There is zero evidence to suggest this is accurate. Alumni do not equal fans. The evidence of a half empty stadium indicate we definitely DO NOT have enough fans within 60 miles to fill it. Winn8ng will help but our fanbase will at Bobby Dodd and it will be around 30-34,000 probably. That’s our fanbase today.

 

[TooTall]

Last year we opened with Clemson. Next year we open with FSU in Ireland.

Not exactly the C-level teams I had in mind.

We have zero say in conference games...was referring to out of conference.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

I totally agree with this. Proportionally speaking, I think we have one of the largest groups of extremely dedicated fans in the country. The turnout for the Ole Miss game was awesome (and we were loud enough to have maybe caused a false start in their own stadium).

We have a negligible number of non-(alumni or people who are related to alumni) fans, and our enrollment is very small as compared to other state schools, so we basically need full turnout in order to pack Bobby Dodd without a large group of away fans. As one of those detestable out-of-staters, I am definitely in the minority of my group in terms of being a dedicated fan, so I don't disagree that the increasingly competitive admissions are contributing a little bit.

However, if you look as recently as 2017, we drew a near-sellout crowd for FCS Jacksonville State (50,000+), so it is absolutely possible for us to get back to something like that if we start winning again. We can't control what others do, but we can all do our part by showing up whenever we can.

Ha ha. I don’t think out of staters are detestable at all. I just wish this strategy by GT was paying off (with huge pockets of fans around the country) but as you mentioned you are the minority for out of staters. I have many GT friends who came from out of state and sure they pull for GT from afar but they are still loyal (money) to their local childhood team. And I get it.

I just think our fanbase’s future is bleak as the old guard die off. Now, of course, if we go on a run of 10 win seasons for a decade then our fanbase will grow, but we all know that ain’t happening so this new paradigm for GT of 4-8 win seasons year after year is just going to see apathy settle in from alumni who simply aren’t that into it.

 

[cpf2001]

That's why I mentioned Texas A&M - there are certainly "Aggie families" with parents who also went there, but if you're a kid growing up in TX unaffiliated to one of the big state schools, A&M's rep has always been basically "the weird one." And then you start applying to schools and you choose to go to A&M and four years later you're *proud* to be a weird Aggie and you're converted to lasting fan-dom of all-things-A&M (especially football) at a much higher conversion rate than GT manages to do to non-legacy kids.

We're not gonna catch up on the size of the enrollment with A&M but we could catch up on the brainwashing.

 

[ramble_on92]

Sorry, but this is a marketing problem. The AA needs to make home games at Bobby Dodd THE event of the weekend.

Fireworks and light shows for night games...maybe a live band after the game...t-shirts for white out games...food trucks, clowns, balloons for the kids.

DO SOMETHING! C'mon people...jump around...pack the stands.

Oh, and guys need to take their Agnes Scott dates to the games. That's still a thing, right?

With what money? lol

Students will be excited for the games and attend when we field a consistent winning team. Students who somewhat care about football would rather drink with their friends and girls at a tailgate than watch 2-2 Tech play Bowling Green. Watching a 5+ win team play ranked UNC at home would put butts in seats.

 

[AUFC]

The reason that the students don't go is because we haven't had a good team since 2016 and haven't had an elite team since 2014. Not to mention the ge*ff years. Any student that enrolled as a freshman since 2017 has not witnessed a 'good' Georgia Tech Football Team.
People like to root for winning teams, also like half the student body are turbo nerds and don't care about "sportball".

Students haven't been the problem. They are loud and engaged and the North stands have been slammed since Duke last season.

 

[Randy Carson]

With what money? lol

Students will be excited for the games and attend when we field a consistent winning team. Students who somewhat care about football would rather drink with their friends and girls at a tailgate than watch 2-2 Tech play Bowling Green. Watching a 5+ win team play ranked UNC at home would put butts in seats.

Line up the food trucks on Techwood drive. Have the fireworks donated by Home Depot. Get a hot local band to perform a short set at halftime or after the game to get some exposure. Let them sell t-shirts.

Did I mention that I like to think outside the box? I think I said that.

 

[TooTall]

Line up the food trucks on Techwood drive. Have the fireworks donated by Home Depot. Get a hot local band to perform a short set at halftime or after the game to get some exposure. Let them sell t-shirts.

Did I mention that I like to think outside the box? I think I said that.

We need a Mike Veeck!

 

[devcon]

There are some hilarious crackpot theories about the student body in this thread. Have we considered that 3 years of embarrassing losses may have played a role? Have any of you actually been to a home game lately?

Ever since the last Duke game it’s been remarkably easy for me to get my friends and frat group (which consists of lots of “turbonerds” and, GASP, international students) to go to games, be loud, and engage with not just the football program, but athletics as a whole. I’ve been able to talk to just about anyone in class about the latest game. Half the shirts I see on campus are GT athletics related. Despite the 3 hour rain delay I had plenty of company at the SC State game, including lots of RATs. The general feeling I get from most students is that athletics is making a turnaround and that it’s worthwhile to go to games again.

Winning (even the mediocre level of winning we’ve seen this season so far) cures all.

 

[forensicbuzz]

GT's Demographics work against developing hard core football fans. Lots of students who did not grow up in households that did not follow college football. The trend is going in the wrong direction. If the GTBB Teams becomes really good again that could get many more students involved as fans of GT sports.

I think there are enough that did. uga and other schools don't fill the stadiums and walmarts with their alumni, they fill them with their fans. Tech has to make better with our sidewalk fans. We're not as good at that as we used to be.

 

[forensicbuzz]

If he is from the south side of Chicago I would think he has much more to worry about than figuring out parking!

This all depends on what is meant by the Southside of Chicago. If you're talking about Tinley Park area, not so much. If you're truly talking about inside the city limits, that's a different story. A lot of people consider anything south of the Eisenhower to be southside.

 

[JacketOff]

I think there are enough that did. uga and other schools don't fill the stadiums and walmarts with their alumni, they fill them with their fans. Tech has to make better with our sidewalk fans. We're not as good at that as we used to be.

Fighting a very uphill battle to gain any sidewalk fans right now. UGA looks like they’re about to do what Bama did for 10+ years and be the absolute dominant force in college football. And the ACC teams do not have as large of brand recognition in the south as the SEC, as well as potentially being blown up in the next few years. There’s really just not a whole lot of reason for someone without a connection to Tech to root for Tech. It’s gonna take several years of consistent winning from both football and basketball, baseball wouldn’t hurt, for Tech to make any real headway in growing the fan base.

 

[JacketFan137]

Fighting a very uphill battle to gain any sidewalk fans right now. UGA looks like they’re about to do what Bama did for 10+ years and be the absolute dominant force in college football. And the ACC teams do not have as large of brand recognition in the south as the SEC, as well as potentially being blown up in the next few years. There’s really just not a whole lot of reason for someone without a connection to Tech to root for Tech. It’s gonna take several years of consistent winning from both football and basketball, baseball wouldn’t hurt, for Tech to make any real headway in growing the fan base.

yeah the sec college experience is way more popular and uga winning everything imaginable is gonna make it near impossible. we will have to win a national championship or consistently be close to win any of that back and that is just unrealistic at a place like tech. we gotta focus on retaining alumni interest and developing good student fans

 

[Southern psu fan]

The lack of support from our fanbase at home games is a direct link to many L's in the history of our team, IMO.

Poor showing by our fanbase through the years has had a huge impact on recruiting, the mental attitude of players and coaches themselves, and many other areas.

If we want to be a top level program, it starts and ends with our fanbase.

Winning solves 99.99999% of your problems in sports! Just win baby and show some class

 

[Secret_AznMan]

Students haven't been the problem. They are loud and engaged and the North stands have been slammed since Duke last season.

The fraternities are forced to attend the games or they lose their priority in selecting their seating zone. Aside from when we play georgia, I don't think we've sold out of the free student tickets for a game at BDS since 2015 when we played FSU.