Questions for Stansbury

[TooTall]

Love the idea of asking about the GT Adidas Swag Shop [emoji769]

Also would be curious if we would consider the idea of switching some of the upper west bleachers out and making a standing room only with bar service area like the old chop house. Seems like it would be a great way to up revenue and decrease supply of tickets to chase some of the gap between supply and demand. Given the direction NCAA Attendance is going, and our relative size of stadium, we don’t really need all of those seats and the back drop of ATL skyline would be boss from up there. Plus exceptionally unique both in NCAA and for Atlanta venues.

Change that to upper north and add in a cigar section and I'd change my season tix to up there.

 

[THWG16]

1) When will we invest enough money in the men's basketball program to have a competitive and NCAA tournament team?

I'll second that

 

[kg01]

I'll second that

Third'd

 

[Oakland]

Hope I can get this question in for TStan before you go to the meeting. Seriously, if you (Stansbury) didn't play football at GT, were not the AD and lived in the Atlanta area, would you attend Tech football games? I'm not trying to be smart, but we need to figure out how to get people to go to Tech football games.

 

[Gold1]

Ask how and when will we invest in the basketball program?
What are we going to do to fill the seats again at Bobby Dodd?
And why can’t we just embrace the white and gold as an overall program?

 

[BuckeyeJacket]

Wasn't there a rumor that Roll Call or the Alumni Association does not share their information with the Athletic Department? I'd like to know if the Athletic Association is asking for donations from the best list possible.

 

[BuckeyeJacket]

Ask him when does he expect our debt levels to reduce down to the levels of the other ACC schools? Does he think our debt levels hinder the program or now & why or why not? Thank whomever for conceiving & delivering the MBS idea to generate extra revenue and for the more thoughtful reseating plan than we got for Tennessee.

Ask him what improvements are being made to make the game day experience more attractive to our fans so we’ve got better attendance on game day?

Ask him about initiatives to leverage our technological progress such as advanced analytics, development of product, fusion of biomechanics & performance, etc. Ask him why we’re not a leader in these areas? Is it GTAA lack of perceived need or GT lack of support or a combination of both?

The seating for the Tennessee game was not decided by GTAA. It was a Chickfila Kickoff game, so tickets were split between the 2 schools. GTAA decided to make the game part of season tickets, but only had half the stadium to work with.

The new games at MBS are being put on by the GTAA (except for one of the Clemson games).

 

[LibertyTurns]

The seating for the Tennessee game was not decided by GTAA. It was a Chickfila Kickoff game, so tickets were split between the 2 schools. GTAA decided to make the game part of season tickets, but only had half the stadium to work with.

The new games at MBS are being put on by the GTAA (except for one of the Clemson games).

I understand GTAA only controlled what they were given but my regular season ticket seats are better than some of my friends. I’m not sure how they ended up with great seats and I got stuck down at the bottom corner of the endzone. Made no sense. We literally almost switched positions for ND. I gave my Tennessee tickets to some students and bought good seats on Stubhub.

 

[stech81]

I understand GTAA only controlled what they were given but my regular season ticket seats are better than some of my friends. I’m not sure how they ended up with great seats and I got stuck down at the bottom corner of the endzone. Made no sense. We literally almost switched positions for ND. I gave my Tennessee tickets to some students and bought good seats on Stubhub.

Same my seats for Tennessee was on the 35 this time I want to say 5 yard line but I did move to upper deck and on the 45 . Did because of the site not because of money

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Wasn't there a rumor that Roll Call or the Alumni Association does not share their information with the Athletic Department? I'd like to know if the Athletic Association is asking for donations from the best list possible.

No rumor. They act like elitist jerks.

When something big happens (ex: Final Four) they are there at the GTAA with their greedy paws out. But if GTAA wants to be treated like other athletic assn. are by alumni assn. at other schools they are basically spit on by ours.

Big reason our family took GT out of our estate plans with exception of GTAA. Screw them.

 

[33jacket]

Wasn't there a rumor that Roll Call or the Alumni Association does not share their information with the Athletic Department? I'd like to know if the Athletic Association is asking for donations from the best list possible.

not a rumor. I was on a AA fundraising board. Not hearsay. This is pure fact.

and to your second question, probably not.

 

[deeznats]

not a rumor. I was on a AA fundraising board. Not hearsay. This is pure fact.

and to your second question, probably not.

My wife worked for Roll Call for awhile. Definitely not a rumor.

 

[Gold1]

not a rumor. I was on a AA fundraising board. Not hearsay. This is pure fact.

and to your second question, probably not.

Do you know if that has changed or not?

 

[33jacket]

Do you know if that has changed or not?

as of beginning 2019 it has not. Roll call very protective and non-cooperative and there is zero reason this would have changed

 

[Gold1]

as of beginning 2019 it has not. Roll call very protective and non-cooperative and there is zero reason this would have changed

What a shame

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

as of beginning 2019 it has not. Roll call very protective and non-cooperative and there is zero reason this would have changed

Even if they don't directly provide the information, they put out an alumni directory either annually or every other year with pretty much all the information that would be needed.

 

[takethepoints]

I understand GTAA only controlled what they were given but my regular season ticket seats are better than some of my friends. I’m not sure how they ended up with great seats and I got stuck down at the bottom corner of the endzone. Made no sense. We literally almost switched positions for ND. I gave my Tennessee tickets to some students and bought good seats on Stubhub.

One of the things I found out from going to the Tennessee game was that there are no good seats at MBS. The ones that are close to the field require a trek to get to the concessions. The ones that are close to the concessions are too far from the field. And getting to and from your seats at the end of the game (not to mention to your car) should be treated in the Geneva Conventions as cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment.

I get that the players might like it. But all through that game I was thinking, "We tore down the Georgia Dome for this?"

 

[gtg970g]

as of beginning 2019 it has not. Roll call very protective and non-cooperative and there is zero reason this would have changed

Doesn't the GTAA give AT Fund points for consecutive years donating to roll call? If so how do they get this information unless it is shared?

 

[FrostedOrange]

Ok, back home from lunch and drive back to Warner Robins. My portion of Q&A was limited, but I appreciate everyone's interest. Here are the answers I was able to garner:

1) stadium repurposing: GTAA is currently in a "master plan" mode looking at overall optimization. Combining student seating (instead of some in south end zone), creating better experience for students to increase attendance, and? Beer garden. Nothing concrete and appears to be in purely concept phase
2) AI2020: initiative is cosmetic for recruiting but more importantly it's logistical. An example is the golf team has to workout ~ 0500 so that gym is free for football team to follow. Other areas equally stressed because the 1980s facilities designed for SA population 1/2 of current #s. Please give to take advantage of $10M matching campaign.
3) "The Hill": President Cabrera very supportive and appears to be a big improvement. Didn't get into weeds, but GTAA appears happy with relationship thus far.
4) Adidas apparel: asked about stand alone GT apparel outlet instead of bookstore ancillary function. Currently contractually obligated but "all contracts reviewed at renewal time". I'd expect changes here.
5) basketball: didn't come up much but obviously everyone aware of current situation.
6) $$$ - GTAA has debt, but don't think it's as bad as a former athlete here has made it out to be (no offense). Says debt is approx $200M and payoff plan in place.

Things we CAN'T control - everything that's happened to date

Things we CAN control - donate to AI2020, buy season tix, get butts in the seats and yell like Hell!

FrostedOrange out!

 

[JacketRacket]

Ok, back home from lunch and drive back to Warner Robins. My portion of Q&A was limited, but I appreciate everyone's interest. Here are the answers I was able to garner:

1) stadium repurposing: GTAA is currently in a "master plan" mode looking at overall optimization. Combining student seating (instead of some in south end zone), creating better experience for students to increase attendance, and? Beer garden. Nothing concrete and appears to be in purely concept phase
2) AI2020: initiative is cosmetic for recruiting but more importantly it's logistical. An example is the golf team has to workout ~ 0500 so that gym is free for football team to follow. Other areas equally stressed because the 1980s facilities designed for SA population 1/2 of current #s. Please give to take advantage of $10M matching campaign.
3) "The Hill": President Cabrera very supportive and appears to be a big improvement. Didn't get into weeds, but GTAA appears happy with relationship thus far.
4) Adidas apparel: asked about stand alone GT apparel outlet instead of bookstore ancillary function. Currently contractually obligated but "all contracts reviewed at renewal time". I'd expect changes here.
5) basketball: didn't come up much but obviously everyone aware of current situation.
6) $$$ - GTAA has debt, but don't think it's as bad as a former athlete here has made it out to be (no offense). Says debt is approx $200M and payoff plan in place.

Things we CAN'T control - everything that's happened to date

Things we CAN control - donate to AI2020, buy season tix, get butts in the seats and yell like Hell!

FrostedOrange out!

That's a great update! It feels like a lot of the responses echo the sentiment here. Feels like Stansbury is in tune with the fanbase, or at least hears us.