Thoughts on the Portal

Vespidae

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,974
Location
Auburn, AL
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.
No AD really cares about attendance anymore. They look at "touches" ... attendance, tv viewership, streaming, etc. The total package $ exceeds the value of attendance alone, so while it adds to the game day experience, it is not as important as it once was. As ESPN has said, they don't care if anyone shows up. It's programming.
 

JacketFan137

Banned
Messages
2,536
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.
i was dating someone at uga so i went to games a lot. i don’t think i will ever attend a game that is aired on CBS ever again. that game is a minimum 4.5 hour affair
 

bobongo

Helluva Engineer
Messages
7,062
No AD really cares about attendance anymore. They look at "touches" ... attendance, tv viewership, streaming, etc. The total package $ exceeds the value of attendance alone, so while it adds to the game day experience, it is not as important as it once was. As ESPN has said, they don't care if anyone shows up. It's programming.
Attendance is approaching a tipping point where it will have an effect on TV viewership. If few are in the stands, few are going to watch on TV. Note that they try to hide poor attendance by avoiding pictures of poor crowds. If ADs don't care about attendance, they will one day look back and regret their decision to squeeze every penny possible out of fans in the stands. They're forgetting about the fans, who make up a big component of the excitement of the game. And canned fan noise is not going to replace that.
 

Vespidae

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,974
Location
Auburn, AL
Attendance is approaching a tipping point where it will have an effect on TV viewership.
per ESPN, they don't care about attendance. Look at the bowl games. The stands are virtually empty. The SEC telecasts are a valuable property because of the large installed base of viewers which make up the demographics they are selling content for. Tech makes far more from TV than they do from attendance. The paradigm has changed.
 

bobongo

Helluva Engineer
Messages
7,062
per ESPN, they don't care about attendance. Look at the bowl games. The stands are virtually empty. The SEC telecasts are a valuable property because of the large installed base of viewers which make up the demographics they are selling content for. Tech makes far more from TV than they do from attendance. The paradigm has changed.
I know this is off topic, but I just want to ask one question which is puzzling me.
If ADs don't care about attendance because it's such a small part of their revenue anyway, why don't they lower the prices so they can attract more fans which would enhance the TV experience?

And I know the paradigm has changed, but for how long before it reaches a tipping point? I mean, if fans in the stands don't matter, why wouldn't schools just tear down their stadiums and play the televised games on their practice fields? What exactly would be the purpose of the stadium?
 

Vespidae

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,974
Location
Auburn, AL
I know this is off topic, but I just want to ask one question which is puzzling me.
If ADs don't care about attendance because it's such a small part of their revenue anyway, why don't they lower the prices so they can attract more fans which would enhance the TV experience?

And I know the paradigm has changed, but for how long before it reaches a tipping point? I mean, if fans in the stands don't matter, why wouldn't schools just tear down their stadiums and play the televised games on their practice fields? What exactly would be the purpose of the stadium?
Re pricing, entertainment pricing is not elastic. It is inelastic. That means demand for the product does not change due to a change in prices. Lowering prices simply reduces total profit because the the volume does not make up for the discounted price. FWIW, there are ATL area apps where you can get a GT ticket for virtually nothing and ... there are few, if any, takers.

There are some pricing models that will eliminate buying annual tickets. Stinger passes are one example. I forget the universities that have already done so but ... they no longer sell ticket packages. It's more opportunistic. I think you will soon see the same thing in college sports as probably 3/4 of teams struggle with this. Tech's problem, like many other schools, is that annual donations are bundled into the ticket sales.
 

bobongo

Helluva Engineer
Messages
7,062
Re pricing, entertainment pricing is not elastic. It is inelastic. That means demand for the product does not change due to a change in prices.
Theoretically, that means you could just jack the price up to $1,000 a game and attendance would not be affected. But we both know that wouldn't be the case.
Reduce the price and increase attendance. It's economics 101.
 

stech81

Helluva Engineer
Messages
8,726
Location
Woodstock Georgia
I know this is off topic, but I just want to ask one question which is puzzling me.
If ADs don't care about attendance because it's such a small part of their revenue anyway, why don't they lower the prices so they can attract more fans which would enhance the TV experience?

And I know the paradigm has changed, but for how long before it reaches a tipping point? I mean, if fans in the stands don't matter, why wouldn't schools just tear down their stadiums and play the televised games on their practice fields? What exactly would be the purpose of the stadium?
If an AD doesn't care about attendance he will not be there long. Players want fans in the Stadium hopefully their fans
 

bobongo

Helluva Engineer
Messages
7,062
If an AD doesn't care about attendance he will not be there long. Players want fans in the Stadium hopefully their fans
That's a good point. Players want to play in front of live fans, and the more the merrier Otherwise, there would be no such thing as a home field advantage.

And who knows? Speaking of the portal, it may be a reason why some of our best players are going to play in front of much larger crowds.
 

bobongo

Helluva Engineer
Messages
7,062
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.
TV is the current cash cow that ironically may prove to be the ultimate death of college football.
 

stinger 1957

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,327
Everyone is bitching about the portal, but I say the portal eventually brings some parity to CFB and being located in a big metro area could add an advantage. We'll see. It will need time to play out. IMO CFB dies if they don't get more teams rotating to the top.
 

bobongo

Helluva Engineer
Messages
7,062
Everyone is bitching about the portal, but I say the portal eventually brings some parity to CFB and being located in a big metro area could add an advantage. We'll see. It will need time to play out. IMO CFB dies if they don't get more teams rotating to the top.
Playing in Atlanta could be an advantage if most fans in Atlanta were Tech fans, instead of Ugag.

We have to start winning in order to attract more fans. We're in a hole and have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, hopefully with some good decision-making and some really, really astute coaching hires. Haven't done so well in that department, lately.
 

TromboneJacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
818
Location
Seattle, WA
TV is the current cash cow that ironically may prove to be the ultimate death of college football.
Yep. The TV ratings may bring in more money than live attendance, but that’s because of people casually watching teams other than their own. But even casual fans or watchers have to care about college football somewhat. If no one at all cares enough to want to go to games in person, is there really enough interest to even watch games on TV? There’s a heck of a lot on TV that isn’t football or even sports in general. If I’m just looking for background noise or something to pass the time, there comes a point where even Seinfeld reruns become more appealing.
 

WreckinGT

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,992
Everyone is bitching about the portal, but I say the portal eventually brings some parity to CFB and being located in a big metro area could add an advantage. We'll see. It will need time to play out. IMO CFB dies if they don't get more teams rotating to the top.
Its hard to agree with this without knowing our NIL strategy at all. All we have seen are a few minor NIL deals and one relatively small Tivo deal. Other programs are publicly organizing LLCs to remain competitive here. If we don't become major players in the NIL space then our program is just going to be a defacto farm program for the bigger schools. They will poach from us when they desire to. They will take the Gibbs and Ivey's, while we grab guys buried on their depth charts. There's no way that leads to parity.
 

Home Park Jacket

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
305
Its hard to agree with this without knowing our NIL strategy at all. All we have seen are a few minor NIL deals and one relatively small Tivo deal. Other programs are publicly organizing LLCs to remain competitive here. If we don't become major players in the NIL space then our program is just going to be a defacto farm program for the bigger schools. They will poach from us when they desire to. They will take the Gibbs and Ivey's, while we grab guys buried on their depth charts. There's no way that leads to parity.
I agree. The only thing that would lead to parity is a salary cap as in the pros. We all know the likelihood of that.
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
9,696
I know this is off topic, but I just want to ask one question which is puzzling me.
If ADs don't care about attendance because it's such a small part of their revenue anyway, why don't they lower the prices so they can attract more fans which would enhance the TV experience?

And I know the paradigm has changed, but for how long before it reaches a tipping point? I mean, if fans in the stands don't matter, why wouldn't schools just tear down their stadiums and play the televised games on their practice fields? What exactly would be the purpose of the stadium?
This was an argument many of us used to make years ago about Major League Baseball. You could fill up the TV sight lines with $2 tickets and everyone comes out ahead.
 

Heisman's Ghost

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,399
Location
Albany Georgia
per ESPN, they don't care about attendance. Look at the bowl games. The stands are virtually empty. The SEC telecasts are a valuable property because of the large installed base of viewers which make up the demographics they are selling content for. Tech makes far more from TV than they do from attendance. The paradigm has changed.
When the ratings go down, and they will, that will be the mother of all "paradigm(s)"
 

sgreer

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
397
I agree. The only thing that would lead to parity is a salary cap as in the pros. We all know the likelihood of that.
Slim to no chance. The only thing that gives me hope is the Ga High School talent that might stay close to home. Without that there are no positives for Tech- No full stadium (unless it’s uga) ACC is not a draw apparently, no recent history of successfully getting guys to the league, no recent success on the field, etc.
 

billga99

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
647
Playing in Atlanta could be an advantage if most fans in Atlanta were Tech fans, instead of Ugag.

We have to start winning in order to attract more fans. We're in a hole and have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, hopefully with some good decision-making and some really, really astute coaching hires. Haven't done so well in that department, lately.
I have suggested multiple times to give away seats (or maybe asked for $100 donations for 10 tickets to be given away) in upper North Stands. We could easily give away 5-10K seats per games excluding very few games.. Give the tickets to football youth leagues, high schools, military, etc. Would help fill the stadium and maybe along the way create some new Tech fans.
 

billga99

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
647
by the way, I sent this to 3 different ADs (including the current one) and never got a response. Even if they thought it was a dumb idea, it would be nice to know they received it and appreciate suggestions from fans who care.
 
Top