Support The Swarm Fund

TechCubed

Helluva Engineer
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1,039



Was on a donor Zoom with Stansbury last week, and he mentioned this was going to launch soon. No idea what football season will look like, but definitely going to be a budget shortfall due to less than full capacity crowds (if any at all). Hope folks who are able to can step up and make a contribution.
 

John

Peacekeeper
Staff member
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2,400
If you need revenue find a way to play the games. Take a stand, be an advocate and get it done. Don't go begging for public assistance.

Go Jackets!
Jerry, I think if the GTAA (or any program for that matter) had a button that will guarantee same attendance or revenue for this coming season as last year, they'd push it. I don't think it'll just be a matter of "play the games, people will come". I mean, let's face it, we have difficult time filling the stands in any given season.
 

TechCubed

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,039
Jerry, I think if the GTAA (or any program for that matter) had a button that will guarantee same attendance or revenue for this coming season as last year, they'd push it. I don't think it'll just be a matter of "play the games, people will come". I mean, let's face it, we have difficult time filling the stands in any given season.

John is right. For pretty much every program, the decision to play and/or have fans in stands lies outside the athletic department. The ACC is going to dictate the when, where and who for games, and local/state officials will determine if there are fans. This isn't a "get the commissioner on the horn and tell him we're going to play come hell or high water!" situation.
 

Jerry the Jacket

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Chapin, SC
Yeah too many cooks in the kitchen. I think everyone is standing around waiting for someone else to tell them what to do. Nobody is willing to step up and say just do it. Paralysis by analysis. This is not what America great.

Go Jackets!
 
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Augusta, GA
Just got an email from Tech asking me to choose from between 3 options for the season: (1) Keep tickets with reassigned seating and any refund going to The Swarm Fund, (2) Keep tickets and decide later what to do with the refund, and (3) Release tickets for 2020 but maintain them for 2021. I chose option (1), and they will supposedly set up a virtual appointment date and time for me to select my seats.
 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
Jerry, it takes 12 to tango. (Huh?). Tech can’t just say damned the torpedoes, we playin’! It takes other schools to agree to that and the schedule. The NCAA and ACC and other conferences will dictate that. Given what we’re already seeing with pro teams voting to not go play certain other teams, this season may end up a big crapshoot. We might only play a few games, who knows. We all need to unconditionally support the team. Athletic departments are losing tens of millions of dollars from ticket sales and donations and apparel and everything else.
 

GTRX7

Helluva Engineer
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Location
Atlanta
Yeah too many cooks in the kitchen. I think everyone is standing around waiting for someone else to tell them what to do. Nobody is willing to step up and say just do it. Paralysis by analysis. This is not what America great.

Go Jackets!

I don't think the issue here is that there are "too many cooks in the kitchen," but that there is still "too much uncertainty in the potential impact on the health of our players, staff, and fans." Any leader who wouldn't take the time to wisely consider those potential consequences only in order to ensure they would make more money wouldn't be a "strong leader" but a willfully ignorant and poor one.

Now, that is not to say I claim to know the "right" answer or even have a position on whether football should be played or not. Like everyone else, I strongly hope that it gets played. But I also hope that the decision makers take the time to ensure that, if we do play, we play in a responsible way that takes care of the health of those involved.

More than that, as others have said, it isn't a matter of "just play the games and people will come." Even if the season gets played, tons of people are not going to want to go to the games due to the health situation. I made the personal choice to decline my football tickets for this year for that reason. I love going to games, but it is not worth the risk to me.

That said, I also made the decision to donate the entire cost of this year's tickets to the athletic association because I love Tech athletics and know they are going to be in financial trouble whether the season gets played or not. But I am in the fortunate position that I can make that financial decision. Others are not.
 

Jerry the Jacket

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Chapin, SC
We really don't know what will happen. I want the opportunity to find out. Sure it's the easy, safe decision to just not do it but I would like to thank we are smart enough to manage the risk and adjust for what develops (if anything). It's neither smart nor brave to do nothing.

Go Jackets!
 

GTRX7

Helluva Engineer
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Atlanta
We really don't know what will happen. I want the opportunity to find out. Sure it's the easy, safe decision to just not do it but I would like to thank we are smart enough to manage the risk and adjust for what develops (if anything). It's neither smart nor brave to do nothing.

Go Jackets!

Actually, you have it backwards. Canceling the season would be anything but the easy decision, nor would it be doing "nothing." Everybody wants to have a football season. And the money from football is literally what funds most athletic departments. If we just played the season like there wasn't a global health crisis going on, that would be doing "nothing." Instead, they are taking the time to evaluate whether they can play safely, or if the season needs to be canceled. Those are hard decisions, and ones that require an immeasurable amount of thought and care. These are peoples's health and lives at stake. And not just the players, but the coaches, grounds crew, stadium staff, fans, etc.

Again, I don't claim to know the right answer and hope we have a season, but that decision shouldn't be taken lightly and we shouldn't just "find out" what happens without putting it through an appropriate decision making process first.

It is like this. If you think a building might be on fire, you don't just say, "we really don't know what will happen, so let's just run in and see what happens." Instead, you take the time to figure out what the risk is, what the payoff is, and whether you can take steps to ensure that the payoff of going in the building is worth the risk and what measures you can take to protect yourself ito ensure that it is.
 

Jerry the Jacket

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Chapin, SC
No you have it backwards. If the building is on fire you make every effort to find out if there are people in there and try to save them if at all possible. If you sit around and think about it too long the building will be gone along with anyone that might be in it. In any event, you and I will not agree on this, so that's the last I will have to say about it.

Go Jackets!
 

GTRX7

Helluva Engineer
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Location
Atlanta
No you have it backwards. If the building is on fire you make every effort to find out if there are people in there and try to save them if at all possible. If you sit around and think about it too long the building will be gone along with anyone that might be in it. In any event, you and I will not agree on this, so that's the last I will have to say about it.

Go Jackets!

Not a perfect metaphor, but it certainly sounds like we both agree that the decision shouldn't be made blindly and without thought. I guess my position is: why rush the decision when there is still time to make it, especially given the conditions on the ground are changing constantly and we are learning new information every day. For example, how the respective bubble vs. non-bubble sports setups are going for the NBA vs. MLB. Why make the decision before you absolutely need to when it is so important? Anyway, if you disagree with that, we can agree to disagree.
 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
Other programs are doing similar fundraisers:


Yep. I was estimating Clemson’s possible impact at $80m, so that makes sense. And when you talk about virtual learning, you’re losing another massive amount of money from dorms and school-owned apartments. This is why so many people have their hands out for money - the scale of the problem is massive.

Facebook and Twitter are now deleting videos that say children and younger people have almost a zero chance of severe negative health outcomes, but that’s actually scientifically correct. There are some large forces at work that don’t want people to do anything but hide right now. The reality is most people don’t have to hide if they just take proper precautions. I hope even with highly restricted crowds they at least attempt to play the season. There have been reports all over the country for college athletes testing positive for COVID, but I still haven’t seen a single solitary one where someone had a severe negative health issue from it. We have flu and staph infections seemingly every year that have worse outcomes than that.
 
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