What is GTSWARM?

[BainbridgeJacket]

In summary, students have the option to get season tickets for an additional fee or just get the free tickets on a game by game basis. Either way the tickets are loaded onto their buzzcards and aren't transferable. Students who want seats with friends get the season tickets and aren't able to pass along their ticket when they can't make a game. The fact that the tickets are loaded on their buzzcard means they can't take dates/friends from other schools to the football games without paying for the guest tickets which are way too expensive for students. It maximizes profit, but makes the atmosphere worse which in turn reduces the attendance.

OPTION 1: RESERVED SEASON TICKETS

General Information

• 
  • Approximately 6000 reserved season tickets will be available.
  • All reserved season tickets will be located in the lower North End Zone between sections 112 & 120.

Gameday Entrance Procedures

• 
  • A valid BuzzCard and wristband (to be distributed by Group Leader) are necessary to enter North End Zone.
  • Enter @ Gate 7 (Bobby Dodd Way - Callaway Plaza).

Online Registration & Payment Information

• 
  • The cost of a reserved season ticket is $49 - to be paid individually online.
  • Payment will be made online (Debit or Credit Card only) by each individual student at the time of ticket reservation.
  • GT students wishing to purchase reserved season tickets have 3 options for group selection:
  • 
    1) Register as part of an organizational group.
    2) Join The Swarm for $69 (membership includes priority reserved seating, A-T priority point for 1 consecutive year donating to the A-T fund and a SWARM football t-shirt).
    3) Register individually and become a "Helluva Student Ticket" group member (details below).
    • 
      • The Helluva Student Ticket is a reserved season ticket targeted towards students not affiliated with a group organization, yet wishing to purchase a reserved season ticket.
      • Seating Location: North End Zone (as many students as possible will be placed in the North End Zone, however, it is completely dependent upon registration numbers. Therefore, a portion of the "Helluva Student Ticket" group may be seated in the South End Zone).

• All reserved season ticket holders MUST select a 'Group' upon registration.
Registration Dates

• 
  • Student season tickets will utilize a priority-registration system based on earned credit hours (provided by GT Registrar). The registration timeline is as follows:

Hours EarnedOnline RegistrationOpenTickets Available
90+Monday, April 1st@ 8:00am~1500
60+Wednesday, April 3rd@ 8:00am~1500
30+Friday, April 5th@ 8:00am~1500
FreshmenMonday, April 8th@ 8:00am~1500
*Registration ClosesWednesday, August 21st@ 5:00pm (For Blocks)
*Students who wish to purchase a student season ticket after this date may do so, but will be placed in the "Helluva Student Ticket" group.

• 
  • In cooperation with the Alexander-Tharpe Fund, SWARM Reserved Season Ticket Holders will receive tangible benefits recognized by the GTAA:

• 
  1) Reserved Season Ticket for every home game.
  2) A-T priority point for 1-consecutive year donating to the A-T Fund.

OPTION 2: FREE SINGLE GAME DISTRIBUTION
General Information
• Single game tickets will be distributed the week of the game on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Approximately 2500 single game tickets will be available each week.
• General Admission sections: South End Zone: Sections 133 - 136 and the upper part of 132.

Gameday Entrance Procedures
• A valid BuzzCard only.
• Enter @ Gate 10 (North Ave & Techwood Dr.).

Online Registration
• Reserve your free single game ticket online at ramblinwreck.com/students. Confirm completed registration when confirmation email is received.

Registration Dates



GameOnline Registration Opens
ElonMonday - August 26th
North CarolinaMonday - September 16th
Virginia TechSaturday - September 21st (Thursday Game)
SyracuseMonday - October 14th
PittsburghMonday - October 28th
Alabama A&MMonday - November 18th
GeorgiaMonday - November 25th
*Registration opens at 8:00am for the listed days.
*Registration closes Friday at 3:00pm - week of the game.
*Registration closes Wednesday at 3:00pm - (Thursday Game)
**Students cannot purchase a season ticket and claim a free single game ticket.



STUDENT GUEST TICKETS

• If student ticket inventory remains on Wednesday prior to the game, students will have the opportunity to purchase a student guest ticket based upon availability. If all student tickets are taken in the initial claim period, there will NOT be any student guest tickets available for purchase.

• Guest Tickets are valid for general admission student sections only in the South End Zone. Payment will be submitted online via credit card only. The guest pass will be added to your BuzzCard as a second scan. You must enter the stadium with your Guest and a valid BuzzCard at Gate 10 on the South end of Bobby Dodd Stadium.



GameGuest Ticket Online Registration OpensCost
ElonWednesday - August 28th$18
North CarolinaWednesday - September 18th$25
Virginia TechMonday - September 23rd$25
SyracuseWednesday - October 16th$25
PittsburghWednesday - October 30th$25
Alabama A&MWednesday - November 20th$18
GeorgiaWednesday - November 27th$90
*Registration opens at Noon for the listed days.
*Registration closes Friday at 3:00pm - week of the game. (Saturday Game)
*Registration closes Wednesday at 3:00pm - (Thursday Game)

 

[awbuzz]

Needless to say this is pretty stupid. What a way to guarantee that you going to have empty seats.

 

[awbuzz]

Needless to say this is pretty stupid. What a way to guarantee that you going to have empty seats.

Heck even over ut UGA they have way for one student to transfer the ticket to another student. I think that Georgia Tech should be able to do that..

 

[Leonard Larramore]

Wow did not know the details of the student tickets.

Here is how one school gets kids interested in their program. Current players reserve tickets for a prospect and their guest. The players develop a relationship with the prospect and continues the relationship through social media. Sure the kids can attend a game as an unofficial visit, the player inviting them seems more personal. This method has proven to be very effective . Another school recruits students with the sole purpose is to follow players on social medial and constantly interact with them about their program. Many at GT may feel that this is overboard but again it is effective. I was one that hated the fact that kids required so much attention when being recruited. I changed my mind when a young recruit who is now at Alabama shared his view on the recruiting process. He shared his past with me. Situations at home that pushed him to live with another teammate. He stated that all his life he struggled with having the reputation of being that poor black kid whose family has nothing and for the first time in his life he felt important because someone actually wanted him for his gift. He also stated that he wanted to take this opportunity to see different states outside of his own. I found this answer interesting . This is not the case with all of the kids but I am starting to see that it is the reason behind several student athletes making a decision to attend college.

 

[Animal02]

Animal/Bainbridge what is the current policy?

Not sure what it is currently, but read of issues involving block seating and total availability of student tickets. Back in the days when I was at Tech, you purchase the AA pass and coud purchase a date pass as well. It was first come first serve for seating. If you wanted to sit together, you went together

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Just migrated over here from another board. While I enjoyed the discussion over there, I did not enjoy the personal attacks (which I certainly engaged in). I like the fact that football can be discussed passionately without that.

Thanks to the moderators for laying down the rules. Good to see some of the guys from the other board (even cheese)

Welcome aboard!

 

[poodleface]

I had a student season ticket the past year. I went to all of the games, as did most of my section, but the inability to transfer your ticket at all (even to another student) is indeed the reason you see empty seats in the student section. In addition to the season ticket, your reserved section gets a wristband that designates which section of the stadium you are supposed to sit in. If you don't have one of these, they won't let you sniff the student section (well, in theory). If you forget your wristband, they won't even let you in. If you forget your Buzz Card, your wristband isn't enough.

They've tried to incentivize students to come early by counting attendance as 150% if you arrive before kickoff, but it hasn't helped with the fraternities who always arrive late. I'm not sure what the solution is to this problem. Even Alabama can't keep their reserved seating full. Perhaps they should just jettison the reserved seating.

 

[Leonard Larramore]

I had a student season ticket the past year. I went to all of the games, as did most of my section, but the inability to transfer your ticket at all (even to another student) is indeed the reason you see empty seats in the student section. In addition to the season ticket, your reserved section gets a wristband that designates which section of the stadium you are supposed to sit in. If you don't have one of these, they won't let you sniff the student section (well, in theory). If you forget your wristband, they won't even let you in. If you forget your Buzz Card, your wristband isn't enough.

They've tried to incentivize students to come early by counting attendance as 150% if you arrive before kickoff, but it hasn't helped with the fraternities who always arrive late. I'm not sure what the solution is to this problem. Even Alabama can't keep their reserved seating full. Perhaps they should just jettison the reserved seating.

PF

Thanks for the info. I wondered why several students seemed to arrive late.

 

[John]

Hey guys, I moved this to the lounge because I don't want this thread to get lost in the shuffle in the football forums.

While I really like the "every post should be backed by facts" idea, I'm having trouble figuring out the best way to quantify or qualify this so that it's something we can try to enforce with some level of consistency and objectivity.

One thing I definitely agree with is keeping discussions relevant. A thread about another site shouldn't turn into a "Anti-CPJ vs. Pro-CPJ" discussion. If you have an opinion, you can express it when a relevant discussion comes up (or you can start your own discussion if you really wanted). This really goes for both sides of the fence.

How many of you guys have seen a "Mac vs. PC" or "Android vs. iOS" discussion?

 

[gtdrew]

I think when I say "every thread should be backed up by facts," it's to keep people from saying, "well, I just don't like cpj," or "this offense is boring to me, so we should overhaul everything." I want to know that some thought has gone into an opinion before it's brought up, both to potentially keep threads clear of needless banter AND to keep personal attacks to a minimum...

 

[Mack]

Good point here boomer. Some of you may or may not know that we have just one rule here (so far anyways) and it deals with personal attacks. I've had many different conversations/debates with different folks here about what constitutes a personal attack and I admit, there's definitely gray areas that we mods can't promise we'll be able to enforce consistently.

One thing I realized is that because it's such a norm and even accepted thing to do on other sites, people are caught off guard when I send them a warning about it.

So going back to boomer's point. Here's my thinking on this that I wanted to bring up as another point of discussion. If a player makes a bad play, I don't see a problem with pointing that out. Let's take an example GT player named John Smith:

• John Smith should've made that play.
• That was a horrible play by John Smith.

I think the above two statements is critical of the player but it focuses on the plays. On the other hand, once you start calling them names, that's where a criticism turns personal:

• John Smith was stupid all game.
• If it wasn't for [insert any swear word here] John Smith, we would've won.

Then there are extreme cases like Alabama fans that send death threats to their players. There's no gray area there.

Thoughts?

No problem when it comes to calling a guy out but if we sink low on our recruiting can we say PJ needs to step it up ? If its third and twenty and Roof calls a blitz can we point out that may not be the best call ? Thats the kind of stuff I am wondering about.Ihope folks figure out that no coach is perfect and as I said for couple of million some heat should be applied but to question his family values or his relationship with the press is out of bounds.Sorry been used to calling the shots after listening to both sides and dont want to start off on wrong foot.What say YE

 

[Mack]

I think when I say "every thread should be backed up by facts," it's to keep people from saying, "well, I just don't like cpj," or "this offense is boring to me, so we should overhaul everything." I want to know that some thought has gone into an opinion before it's brought up, both to potentially keep threads clear of needless banter AND to keep personal attacks to a minimum...

Long as there is proof then I agree sound it out but like you said to personally attack a board member or a GT coach is kind of out of bounds since...........coaches and players read this stuff too.

 

[John]

No problem when it comes to calling a guy out but if we sink low on our recruiting can we say PJ needs to step it up ? If its third and twenty and Roof calls a blitz can we point out that may not be the best call ? Thats the kind of stuff I am wondering about.

Yes. I don't see a problem with either of those example statements.

 

[Mack]

Yes. I don't see a problem with either of those example statements.

Thanks...got idea of what is expected....should have no problem ..thanks again

 

[AE 87]

I fear that it doesn't matter what gtswarm has been. It seems to me that as a lot of the bbuzzoff folk who like to post their opinions about cpj without defending them with rational bases come here to shout their chowder, it will become bbuzzoff. Just my opinion.

I still feel this way, just my opinion

 

[John]

I still feel this way, just my opinion

Here's the fundamental problem with the "have to have facts/stats to back up every post" suggestion. Your post is a great example because it is an opinion without facts nor stats but I don't see a problem with your post the way it is. I think it's okay for you to have posted a pessimistic view about this site and I don't think it should be against the rules.

There are a lot of threads on this site that have no facts/stats. In fact, the threads discussing recruiting have a lot of rumors swirling around that are very difficult to prove as factual; even if anyone could, it could still change up until NSD.

Again though, it goes back down to this:

While I really like the "every post should be backed by facts" idea, I'm having trouble figuring out the best way to quantify or qualify this so that it's something we can try to enforce with some level of consistency and objectivity.

I understand the concern but do you have any suggestions on how to fix it? I don't think there's anyone that want to address these concerns other than Eric and I so we welcome all sorts of ideas.

 

[Eric]

As always John and myself are open to ideas...if you have a problem/suggestion please send us a message or get in touch with us.

We are still a young site and we are working as hard as we can to make the site the best it can be.

 

[CuseJacket]

John, Eric, and crew - Congrats on getting almost 200 new members in the last week alone!

 

[Eric]

John, Eric, and crew - Congrats on getting almost 200 new members in the last week alone!

haha John and I were just talking about that...it has been a huge week for us!

Thanks for the plug @dressedcheeseside and @33jacket.

Glad you guys are liking the site.

 

[Mack]

I certainly understand the situation the mods are in since it is hard to figure out what needs to have factual basis on a bloggers opinionD and what doesn not.I think things that are generally taken as givens do not need facts or rather hard stats.Example......Tech is behind in recruiting in the ACC...now I can say if you go to Scout you will see we are low in ACC ranking on recruits but I would think most would agree we dont recruit that well.If you want stats prior to a opinion I think you water down the opinion but you dont need to have guys say "PJ and his staff need to go"without some reason.Is it due to our low attendance or our poor pass rush ....is it because we are becoming a seven and five club etc..You guys are doing the right thing and as long as folks behave I think you have the key to having a very good board......I get this all the time in hearing.....guess you just do what your gut tells you to do..Merry Christmas !