Thoughts on the Portal

[sgreer]

GT baseball is either at blue blood status or very close to it, too. A super regional would really help that out. They consistently recruit in the top 10, they’ll win most of their series during the year, and they’re an excellent ACC tournament team. Making the postseason is the norm as well

Maybe light blue- Vandy is true blue.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Maybe light blue- Vandy is true blue.

No way. We are Navy blue. Can't get the wrong shade of blue.

 

[Spalding Jacket]

Not to de-rail the thread, but if every year we are just gonna watch our best players get poached by other programs, then I’d like to see us get Monken and return to the flexbone. Then at least fewer teams would be sniffing around.

 

[WrongShadeOfGold]

Not to de-rail the thread, but if every year we are just gonna watch our best players get poached by other programs, then I’d like to see us get Monken and return to the flexbone. Then at least fewer teams would be sniffing around.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. If we had another Dwyer or Ant Allen, they would jump ship after a year or two to show they could do their thing in a pro style offense and boost their draft status. It is way too easy to transfer now which is not a good thing for teams like us.

 

[Vespidae]

Here's some food for thought ... "

College football ranks as the nation’s second most popular sport with 47.5 million fans attending games in 2019 and 392 regular season telecasts reaching more than 145 million unique fans and 38 postseason bowl games reaching 90 million.​

This is in a sport that is so screwed up politically, imagine what will happen when they finally sort it all out. While I prefer the old model, you can't deny the trend. CFB is more popular than it has ever been. It is just different now.

 

[MWBATL]

I think the trends (as many have already pointed out) are accelerating the chasm between the financial "haves" (UGA) and the financial "have-nots" (GT). It is becoming a semi-pro sport.

I find myself losing interest. It's not gone yet, but I don't bother watching the NFL very much and couldn't tell you who the last Super Bowl was between.

Perhaps I am an oddball.

 

[slugboy]

Here's some food for thought ... "

College football ranks as the nation’s second most popular sport with 47.5 million fans attending games in 2019 and 392 regular season telecasts reaching more than 145 million unique fans and 38 postseason bowl games reaching 90 million.​

This is in a sport that is so screwed up politically, imagine what will happen when they finally sort it all out. While I prefer the old model, you can't deny the trend. CFB is more popular than it has ever been. It is just different now.

That’s true. There are some underlying trends underneath it.

• Over the last 30 years, a lot more programs threw their hats in the ring. UCF, Cincinnati, Boise State, and so on. Back in the 1980’s, those UCF fans might have been Miami or Florida or Florida State fans. The NCAA Football fan base has grown, but it’s grown by the big teams getting bigger and by adding new teams.
• We might have had some of the Georgia State fans in the past. The fan bases in the middle are getting split among more schools, while there are Alabamas getting more and more of their state. I don’t think the fan base is growing as fast as the number of teams has been. This is an issue in NCAA Basketball, too.
• In retail terms, NCAA football teams have “more stores”, but the “per store” numbers are going in the wrong direction, and the “per seat” numbers are definitely going in the wrong direction.
• Other sports, like the NBA, MLB, and even the NFL are losing attendance. San Diego is a growing city, but they moved to LA for a new stadium and the lure of a bigger population. St. Louis is growing, but the Rams moved to LA too.
• The NBA has to act like they have full arenas. Part of moving to be a TV sport is that you have to do more and more
• Major League Soccer is drawing big crowds in Portland and Seattle and Atlanta, but not so much in NYC and other areas. It’s a growing sport and passing the NHL, and in some cities it’s figured out how to get people in seats, but for every Atlanta there are multiple “Chicago Fires”.

The margins for the “A” teams are healthy in a lot of sports, but the margins for the “B” and “C” teams are getting tighter and in some cases negative.

 

[sgreer]

I think the trends (as many have already pointed out) are accelerating the chasm between the financial "haves" (UGA) and the financial "have-nots" (GT). It is becoming a semi-pro sport.

I find myself losing interest. It's not gone yet, but I don't bother watching the NFL very much and couldn't tell you who the last Super Bowl was between.

Perhaps I am an oddball.

You should watch some NFL- The playoff games have been great. Very competitive and I don’t know who will win Super Bowl while Alabama will probably win NC next season.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

That’s true. There are some underlying trends underneath it.

• Over the last 30 years, a lot more programs threw their hats in the ring. UCF, Cincinnati, Boise State, and so on. Back in the 1980’s, those UCF fans might have been Miami or Florida or Florida State fans. The NCAA Football fan base has grown, but it’s grown by the big teams getting bigger and by adding new teams.
• We might have had some of the Georgia State fans in the past. The fan bases in the middle are getting split among more schools, while there are Alabamas getting more and more of their state. I don’t think the fan base is growing as fast as the number of teams has been. This is an issue in NCAA Basketball, too.
• In retail terms, NCAA football teams have “more stores”, but the “per store” numbers are going in the wrong direction, and the “per seat” numbers are definitely going in the wrong direction.
• Other sports, like the NBA, MLB, and even the NFL are losing attendance. San Diego is a growing city, but they moved to LA for a new stadium and the lure of a bigger population. St. Louis is growing, but the Rams moved to LA too.
• The NBA has to act like they have full arenas. Part of moving to be a TV sport is that you have to do more and more
• Major League Soccer is drawing big crowds in Portland and Seattle and Atlanta, but not so much in NYC and other areas. It’s a growing sport and passing the NHL, and in some cities it’s figured out how to get people in seats, but for every Atlanta there are multiple “Chicago Fires”.

The margins for the “A” teams are healthy in a lot of sports, but the margins for the “B” and “C” teams are getting tighter and in some cases negative.

This was my thought also. Anecdotally, there was a time in my life when the majority of people I knew followed college football. Now the majority of people I know don’t follow college football. As my circle of friends has gotten larger, it is not just that I am making more friends who never followed football, though that is part of it, I am finding long time friends are saying, “Oh, I quit following that a long time ago.” The percentage Millennials and younger who are not watching college football also seems larger. Baby boomers may have been the gold standard for saturation levels of fans.

 

[tmhunter52]

Not to de-rail the thread, but if every year we are just gonna watch our best players get poached by other programs, then I’d like to see us get Monken and return to the flexbone. Then at least fewer teams would be sniffing around.

If we ever develop a good defense, poaching on that side of the ball would still be a concern

 

[Vespidae]

The margins for the “A” teams are healthy in a lot of sports, but the margins for the “B” and “C” teams are getting tighter and in some cases negative.

Hasn't it always been this way? Here are the teams in the NFL in 1930:

Green Bay Packers
New York Giants
Chicago Bears
Brooklyn Dodgers
Providence Steam Rollers
Staten Island Stapletons
Chicago Cardinals
Portsmouth Spartans
Frankford Yellow Jackets
Minneapolis Red Jackets
Newark Tornados

Major teams grew and prospered, marginal teams did not. Nothing new there. College football has evolved from a club sport, to a varsity sport, to a developmental league. (Golf is the same way now, btw.) Do I miss the old college football? Yes. Is it coming back? No. The big schools with big fanbases will prosper and the rest will become a feeder system much like the Minnesota Twins.

 

[JacketFan137]

lots of 3stars get lots of playing time. check NFL rosters.

it’s kind of a fallacy though. there are a lot of 3 stars in the nfl cause most of the ranked recruits coming out are three stars as it’s basically a bell curve

the stars actually predict all americans and nfl draft prospects really well

 

[JacketFan137]

You should watch some NFL- The playoff games have been great. Very competitive and I don’t know who will win Super Bowl while Alabama will probably win NC next season.

i used to watch college ball literally from gameday to the 2 am pac 12 finishes. now college football outside of tech is so stale to me i only watch it because i wanna see what rookies i want to draft for my fantasy football team.

the game has gotten so stale and it feels like all the magic is gone. the fact that in the past 5 years people have looked at uga and lsu as these plucky underdog teams taking down the big man pretty much says it all.

tech being bad doesn’t help any but anecdotally it seems like my friend group’s interest in cfb as a whole is declining as well

 

[WreckinGT]

Here's some food for thought ... "

College football ranks as the nation’s second most popular sport with 47.5 million fans attending games in 2019 and 392 regular season telecasts reaching more than 145 million unique fans and 38 postseason bowl games reaching 90 million.​

This is in a sport that is so screwed up politically, imagine what will happen when they finally sort it all out. While I prefer the old model, you can't deny the trend. CFB is more popular than it has ever been. It is just different now.

The National Championship was the 2nd least watched championship game since 2005 (only last years was lower). The playoff games were the least watched playoff games since the playoffs started. Attendance for FBS games had dropped for 6 straight years after the 2019 season and were the lowest they had been on average since 1996. College Football is still really popular but it's not as popular as it has been nor is it trending in a positive direction.

 

[JacketFan137]

The National Championship was the 2nd least watched championship game since 2005 (only last years was lower). The playoff games were the least watched playoff games since the playoffs started. Attendance for FBS games had dropped for 6 straight years after the 2019 season and were the lowest they had been on average since 1996. College Football is still really popular but it's not as popular as it has been nor is it trending in a positive direction.

i’m wondering if the fatigue is setting in. we’ve watched almost nothing but ohio state, clemson and bama

 

[GTrob21]

I think the demographics of america is changing, and with it the viewing habits of the younger generation. I see the point of people questioning the value in spending 150$ on up, to go to a live college football game, compounded with all the traffic, and sometimes vial people you encounter.

There is a legit questioning of Why do this? Maybe if our team is good, and we have something we are going to play for. But the days of die-hards attending every single game with that much disposable income are fading fast.

 

[bobongo]

I think the demographics of america is changing, and with it the viewing habits of the younger generation. I see the point of people questioning the value in spending 150$ on up, to go to a live college football game, compounded with all the traffic, and sometimes vial people you encounter.

There is a legit questioning of Why do this? Maybe if our team is good, and we have something we are going to play for. But the days of die-hards attending every single game with that much disposable income are fading fast.

For a great many folks, college football is pricing itself out of the market. The more ticket prices, parking, and concessions go up, attendance will go down.

 

[LargeFO]

For a great many folks, college football is pricing itself out of the market. The more ticket prices, parking, and concessions go up, attendance will go down.

Absolutely. Tack on one of the more unfriendly admins as well.

 

[CEB]

i’m wondering if the fatigue is setting in. we’ve watched almost nothing but ohio state, clemson and bama

It is for me... and I still watch a lot of college football. The previous post addresses the CFP but I have to believe bowls outside of the CFP are even worse. Half of the team opts out of the bowl anyway so it’s not even the same team that got there in the first place... and there truly is no impact on the rest of college football whatsoever. As messed up as it was when the press was appointing national champs, at least it made several bowl games more interesting; the outcomes could have impact on something.
I know the P5 and BCS / CFP are all happy cashing checks but the on field product (and much of the fanfare surrounding it) is on the decline as a result. That’s got to be addressed.

 

[4shotB]

For a great many folks, college football is pricing itself out of the market. The more ticket prices, parking, and concessions go up, attendance will go down.

I am a broken record on this topic but for me, by far the biggest reason I don't like going to games in person is the wasted time for commercials. This is not inclusive to Tech games either. I have declined tickets to games in my area as well for this reason. I may be in the minority on this but these things just ruin the mood and the ebb and flow and thus the entire atmosphere.