Student section

[GT_EE78]

I thought that was changed after we studemts....er, I mean....some obnoxious fans, that is, threw all sorts of stuff at Notre Dame the year after Devine ran up the score on us.

My feet and boots stunk for weeks after those obnoxious fans did that (i mean the fish not the whiskey bottles)

 

[Animal02]

You're just being an obstinate old fart.

Do you sit in the lower west? If so, what yard line, and how many rows back?

Takes one to know one.

 

[Animal02]

Students sat there long after the fish and bottle incident. Lower east was the student section into the 90's. Hell we even had a flashcard section. The club seats were an abysmal idea in the lower east. Should have been in the south stands.
Also some of current students are paying for their tickets on top of their athletic fee. You think the school would give them a better block of seats if they want them to continue to be season ticket holders

hey shold at least put students in the lower and upper east north of the club section.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I knew things would get worse when Kim King died and Homer retired, but it's worse than I thought it would be. First Clough hires Dave Braine. Things have continued to go downhill. The Board-mostly appointed by Peterson--is a bunch of academics. The Board is the the genius group that approved Hewitt's contract. We need a Board dominated by alumni, like UGa has, and not dominated by academics.

It might help with the corruption and wasteful spending issues within the institute also.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I think that was why i quit being invited to parties in my younger days

It’s still why

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

My dad worked at a great job for Lockheed-Martin(he since retired) and he said people with engineering degrees from GT were always highly respected.

And then football fan forums came about and.....

 

[iceeater1969]

I knew things would get worse when Kim King died and Homer retired, but it's worse than I thought it would be. First Clough hires Dave Braine. Things have continued to go downhill. The Board-mostly appointed by Peterson--is a bunch of academics. The Board is the the genius group that approved Hewitt's contract. We need a Board dominated by alumni, like UGa has, and not dominated by academics.

Not suggesting we be exactly the U of H !
The head of their board is The Billionaire. He is a """business man"""- (restruants, casinos-- NOT CORPORATE) who loves UH and especially the athletics program. Also he hates UT football (because the would not let u H into B12.)

Not u h but
Do we have gt grads, creative business persons, who love gt football and hate uga football? I dont know, but from these posts sounds pretty corporate.

 

[Vespidae]

Not suggesting we be exactly the U of H !
The head of their board is The Billionaire. He is a """business man"""- (restruants, casinos-- NOT CORPORATE) who loves UH and especially the athletics program. Also he hates UT football (because the would not let u H into B12.)

Not u h but
Do we have gt grads, creative business persons, who love gt football and hate uga football? I dont know, but from these posts sounds pretty corporate.

Tech has great business executives alumni they could listen too. But they don’t.

 

[IEEEWreck]

Tech has great business executives alumni they could listen too. But they don’t.

That is the essence of the Hill. We have brilliant electrical engineers and computer scientists who could write and run a far better IT infrastructure during their coffee breaks. Do we even ask them what's a good idea to buy?

But it's an integral part of the experience. The shaft has never been personal, it's just incompetence.

 

[RamblinRed]

This is hardly a unique issue to GT. Both attendance and student attendance are down in college football and have been trending that way for 5 yrs now.
For the 2nd or 3rd straight year Saban has called out AL students for not showing up.

I'm not sure there is a good answer here. I have a millennial daughter who graduated from a large state university and even there she and her friends would generally leave in the 3rd quarter and have been back for 1 game each season since graduating. Millennials in general don't care about college sports in general and college football in particular as much as previous generations and i'm not sure it is going to get better. Not only is attendance down, but TV viewing is down as well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...st-decline-in-history/?utm_term=.2011e37d8623

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/co...-college-football-games-real-concern-tv-blame

Also, in many ways the numbers are worse than shown as schools shows paid attendance vs actual attendance in their numbers and often include everything from the band to the person who sells you a hot dog. Actual attendance is much lower. For GT, it's announced attendance was 281K, it's actual attendance was 203K.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-footballs-growing-problem-empty-seats-1535634001

Now, saying screw TV and moving times to have fewer noon starts is simply unrealistic. First, as a member of the ACC, GT is bound to play at whatever time TV tells them to play. If a school chose to ignore that it would likely not only lose the TV money, but also be kicked out of the conference entirely. Given that the TV contract brings in close to 30MM per yr, where do you expect to make that up. Chances are you would make up less than 20% of that loss by changing the start times so it makes no sense for a school to even contemplate it.

I've thought for a few years that we are likely living in a little bit of a bubble in terms of college sports contracts. The TV contracts keep escalating, but both the in stadium and at home viewership continues to decline. At some point if that continues the bubble will have to burst - most likely in the form of entertainment entities paying less to conferences to show their sports.

 

[Vespidae]

I've thought for a few years that we are likely living in a little bit of a bubble in terms of college sports contracts. The TV contracts keep escalating, but both the in stadium and at home viewership continues to decline. At some point if that continues the bubble will have to burst - most likely in the form of entertainment entities paying less to conferences to show their sports.

I think this is the reality. Cable is dying and with it, the ability to pay these large sums of money for broadcasting rights. As streaming picks up, there will be multiple viewing options, but not as much money. Personally, I'd like to see BDS completely modernized with suites, tailgating pavilions, and more emphasis on game day experience ... even with fewer seats. Tech should probably plan for a 40K capacity.

Having said that, and I don't know the current state ... but the Dean of Students should be visiting the Greeks to drive attendance. Bring the cash bar experience from outside the stadium to inside.

 

[ibeattetris]

I think this is the reality. Cable is dying and with it, the ability to pay these large sums of money for broadcasting rights. As streaming picks up, there will be multiple viewing options, but not as much money. Personally, I'd like to see BDS completely modernized with suites, tailgating pavilions, and more emphasis on game day experience ... even with fewer seats. Tech should probably plan for a 40K capacity.

Having said that, and I don't know the current state ... but the Dean of Students should be visiting the Greeks to drive attendance. Bring the cash bar experience from outside the stadium to inside.

Are we sure it wasn't the stadium experience that was bubbling and now TV will rise? Are all of the people not attending the game watching on TV now or are they doing other things? I don't have the answers because I don't know what TV viewership across all games is like, but I am not convinced that declining game attendance is an indication that TV contracts are bubbling.

 

[Vespidae]

I don't have the answers because I don't know what TV viewership across all games is like, but I am not convinced that declining game attendance is an indication that TV contracts are bubbling.

I didn't mean to infer causation ... that expanded coverage reduces attendance. I think right now, athletic associations are ok with dwindling attendance because the broadcasting revenue compensates for that. But ... it's not forever. There will come a time when those broadcasting rights drop.

When I looked at attendance a few years ago, the key drivers of high(er) attendance was (and is) whether or not the stadium is located in an urban setting (which reduces attendance), the density of alumni within a 5 mi and 10 mi radius, and finally, the quality of the opponent.

In general, we can't do anything about the setting (unless we hold games in other locations like Macon or Savannah, which may not be a bad idea) or the density of alumni ... we only graduate so many a year. No, the one thing we can control is who we play. We are simply better off to play the crappiest SEC teams we can over teams like Bowling Green and Alcorn State because it creates Exposure. You can't change perception (I'm using the marketing definition here, not the vernacular) without changing exposure.

Two cents.

 

[ibeattetris]

I didn't mean to infer causation ... that expanded coverage reduces attendance. I think right now, athletic associations are ok with dwindling attendance because the broadcasting revenue compensates for that. But ... it's not forever. There will come a time when those broadcasting rights drop.

When I looked at attendance a few years ago, the key drivers of high(er) attendance was (and is) whether or not the stadium is located in an urban setting (which reduces attendance), the density of alumni within a 5 mi and 10 mi radius, and finally, the quality of the opponent.

In general, we can't do anything about the setting (unless we hold games in other locations like Macon or Savannah, which may not be a bad idea) or the density of alumni ... we only graduate so many a year. No, the one thing we can control is who we play. We are simply better off to play the crappiest SEC teams we can over teams like Bowling Green and Alcorn State because it creates Exposure. You can't change perception (I'm using the marketing definition here, not the vernacular) without changing exposure.

Two cents.

I was mainly providing my input. I wasn't saying you were implying causation (you weren't the one mentioning a bubble).

 

[AUFC]

I'm a newer alumnus who loves football, but I'm the minority. The number one way to get students interested in football again is by shortening the game runtime to 2 hours. Just being frank with you all.

 

[SteamWhistle]

I’m so tired of hearing the “It’s a National Problem” Clemson and Georgia sell out every game and they’re on the schedule, look at LSU, OSU, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma. It has nothing to do with the growing TV market, people wanna see winners. Look at our Crowds in 2009, 2014. When Tech is hot and winning the fans show up period, when you have a losing record and schedule homecoming at 12 they don’t.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I'm a newer alumnus who loves football, but I'm the minority. The number one way to get students interested in football again is by shortening the game runtime to 2 hours. Just being frank with you all.

Thanks to TV, that could never happen, but why is 2 hours an important game length?

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

I’m so tired of hearing the “It’s a National Problem” Clemson and Georgia sell out every game and they’re on the schedule, look at LSU, OSU, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma. It has nothing to do with the growing TV market, people wanna see winners. Look at our Crowds in 2009, 2014. When Tech is hot and winning the fans show up period, when you have a losing record and schedule homecoming at 12 they don’t.

No school is responsible for the time of any game, including homecoming; TV does that, and the schools have no option but to accept it. The students need to learn to deal with it just like the rest of us.

 

[PTCjacket]

Thanks to TV, that could never happen, but why is 2 hours an important game length?

It's not. Game length is not the reason people become disinterested in sports. I roll my eyes everytime someone brings it up.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

I knew things would get worse when Kim King died and Homer retired, but it's worse than I thought it would be. First Clough hires Dave Braine. Things have continued to go downhill. The Board-mostly appointed by Peterson--is a bunch of academics. The Board is the the genius group that approved Hewitt's contract. We need a Board dominated by alumni, like UGa has, and not dominated by academics.

Your statement rings true.

As well, a few years ago some buddies and myself broke down the “make up” of every AA board of every ACC school.

At that time, no ACC athletic board had as many students on their board as we did.

Nothing against those young people, but I would much, much of rather had input from some extra members that had real life experience and success in the business world.