Pack The Dodd

[SOWEGA Jacket]

Hmmmm.....none of my kids or their kids are UGA fans. Among their first spoken words were "Go Jackets" and Boo Bulldogs". And they still say the same today, although the latter is sometimes spoken in more colorful language.

I know a lot of GT families from down in South Georgia whose kids are outstanding students and are now at UGA because they either got the transfer option or denied. I also know a lot of out of state kids with less SAT scores who got in (more money from out of state). And I’m not commenting on GT’s admission process.

All’s I’m saying is there is a reason (follow the data) of why GT’s fanbase has shrunk while admission has grown. And it’s not because GT has bad fans. It’s because GT does not produce alumni who become fans. That is clear. And with a kid on campus it is sad what he tells me. I still remember his freshman year when he lived in Glenn and could see the stadium from his room. And on game day #1 as he walked thru the dorm he was one of the few actually wearing the colors and going to the game. He said most of the rooms were watching soccer from Europe or watching other college games. I remember after the game walking in his dorm to see how the first few weeks went after we moved him in and very few were even interested in the game. That is why we have a core 25-30,000 fans which is who we will see this Saturday.

 

[5277hike]

A school like Texas A&M does a great job of turning incoming students into fans. GT could learn a lot there.

It is also a HUGE school, with a high percentage of their grads living in Texas.

 

[iceeater1969]

It is also a HUGE school, with a high percentage of their grads living in Texas.

TaM Football traditions let students AND NON ALUMNI have fun and feel a part of game:.
Students are encouraged to go to cheer ( yell) practice before the game - starts at Midnight. During game everyone stands up to be honorly ready to be a sub if player is injured. When fight song played the fans over lock arms over adjacent fan and sway to music. Used to get a kiss from date.
There fans and alumni donate at 3 times per capita that gt does. Plus as pointed out they have 3 times the alumni. YEA THEY ARE 9 TIMES GT IN DONATIONS

Fans include lots of regular folks that hate UT SNOBS. If a alumni cant attend they have plenty of none alumni dans that want the tickets- just to see tge spectacle


So Gt has had Admin that could care less about students and sidewalk fans having great experience at games. Gtaa is trying because we finally have a Prez that cares.

 

[forensicbuzz]

LOL, this is preaching to the choir. The people who come to this message board are going to go to the games if they're close enough to go. Some will plan trips and go even when they're not close. The last live game I saw was when we embarrassed ourselves at ND. I did get to see Gibbs run in real-time. The fans that need to be stirred up are not the fans coming onto a GT message board to talk GT sports. Go Jackets.

 

[TampaBuzz]

When I was in school we had a flashcard section in the east stands that would supply colors and messages throughout the timeouts (or maybe it was halftime....that memory is a bit hazy) during games. Not sure when this tradition ended. Not the same as the Ducks but your post elicited that memory for some reason.

I sat in the flashcard section a few times...it was a blast. The only drawback is that you had to stay relatively sober (this was during the last of the Pepper Rogers years and early Bill Curry when the team stunk and drinking was almost needed to watch) and couldn't use the facilities during timeouts. You had to be in your seat ready to flash those cards.

 

[Root4GT]

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.

 

[Randy Carson]

When I was in school we had a flashcard section in the east stands that would supply colors and messages throughout the timeouts (or maybe it was halftime....that memory is a bit hazy) during games. Not sure when this tradition ended. Not the same as the Ducks but your post elicited that memory for some reason.

Yeah, IIRC, the Wreck Club was in charge of flash cards, and they had priority seating near the 50 so it was a big deal. They were a couple folks short one game, so I moved over one section to help out. Kinda fun.

The band and the flash cards were in the section now known as CL2.

FWIW, back in my day, games were free with student ID, and if you got there early enough, you were seated on about the 35 (now CL1) - a few rows above the rat section.

I completely disagree with banishing the students to the endzone. Good seats should be a perk for those paying tuition, etc.

 

[bucknellbison31]

Some of you are just absolutely wrong regarding our fanbase. You are calling out a phantom. Our fanbase is about 25-30,000 strong. If we win some games we’ll draw GT alum who are not fans to the games for the social and fun aspect which pushes our attendance to 40,000plus some games. I think the problem some of you have is equating an alum with a fan. That is not the case at a school who brings in the student body we do.

I‘m tired of seeing this theme that we have a bad fanbase. We don’t. What we have is a much smaller fanbase than alumni who graduate from GT. I’ve told this before but my son is in one of the larger frats (he can see Peters from his room) and he says they probably have less than 10 brothers who are GT fans. The rest go to the games just because it’s the social thing to do but they all have had their favorite teams from where they grew up (and it ain’t GT). The other week I stopped by campus to have lunch with him and just driving around campus I saw Michigan, Ohio State, Bama, and Texas shirts.

We can definitely add more fans who end up as alum if we start winning and do it for a few seasons in a row, but right now we have a very loyal and small fanbase who showed out at Ole Miss (even if you never saw it on TV). Yelling about alum who aren’t fans does nothing because they don’t even know you are talking about them because they aren’t fans. Now sure, if you know a 30 year old alum who has GT stickers on his car, a GT welcome mat, wears a GT hat to work, has GT golf club covers, has a GT birdhouse in his front yard who lives in Dalton or Macon who doesn’t come to any games then I guess you could talk to him about his support. But more than likely that dude already has season tickets and comes to the games.

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.

 

[Randy Carson]

Maybe times have changed, but back in the days of the placement center and "plant trips," the big bucks being offered to engineering majors was a constant topic of conversation on campus. As a lowly IM, I have a hard time sympathizing with anyone who complains about how expensive it is to buy season tickets or go to the games.

If you're within a two-hour radius of Atlanta, you should be in your seat in Bobby Dodd every Saturday. No excuses.

<running and ducking>

 

[awbuzz]

I'm in Oklahoma, this week, wife has competition at the world Western dressage show, my tickets have been given to two young Georgia Tech alumni so that they can attend the game. There are others who are also out of town whether they live or visiting and buy a season tickets and donate or give their tickets away. So there are ways to support the team even if you can't be there physically to do so.

 

[MWBATL]

If you're within a two-hour radius of Atlanta, you should be in your seat in Bobby Dodd every Saturday. No excuses.

<running and ducking>

Last time I saw the data, there were only about 50,000 GT alums in the entire state of Georgia.

 

[Secret_AznMan]

Current get-in price for this saturday is 6.50 after fees. No excuses on price this time yellow jacket fans.

https://www.tickpick.com/buy-georgia-tech-yellow-jackets-vs-bowling-green-falcons-tickets-bobby-dodd-stadium-9-30-23-3pm/5474420/

 

[AE 87]

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.

 

[TooTall]

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.

 

[Secret_AznMan]

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.

Recent graduate here, we give away the tickets for free to students and they don't want to go across the street from their dorms. South end zone is always barren.

 

[ramble_on92]

I am once again asking to DISMANTLE THE UPPER NORTH.

 

[Randy Carson]

Last time I saw the data, there were only about 50,000 GT alums in the entire state of Georgia.

And this is a systemic problem that simply cannot be corrected.

When so many of our alumni are from out of state (or another country), we can't really expect a big turnout without building a base of sidewalk fans.

And that takes winning regularly.

 

[Randy Carson]

Recent graduate here, we give away the tickets for free to students and they don't want to go across the street from their dorms. South end zone is always barren.

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?

 

[Randy Carson]

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.

We schedule a C team in the first week.
Then a B team in the second week.
Then a good conference game in the third week.
Then Clemson. And Miami. And UNC. And UGA.

 

[TooTall]

We schedule a C team in the first week.
Then a B team in the second week.
Then a good conference game in the third week.
Then Clemson. And FSU. And UGA.

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