What is the state of our fan base?

[whitegoldsphinx]

I have a female neighbor who is late 40s who is a GT engineer. She has told me she wish GT would give up sports and be more like MIT. That is beyond apathetic.

MIT does play Division III football. My stepbrother was an Academic All-American playing football for MIT. He had all of their receiving records at the time. He had scholly offers to play football and a full ride to GT on an academic scholly and passed on it all because his biological father completely paid his way through MIT. He did not plan to play football, but the coach kept on him about it until he caved and started playing as a sophomore.

 

[g0lftime]

Sadly, I don’t think we’ll ever average 45k at BDS again. It’s more likely the stadium gets downsized to hold only 45k than it is we get 45k into the current configuration consistently. We’ll always draw 45-50k plus for games like Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, and Florida State with the help of visiting fans. But the games against those kind of second tier teams like UNC, Miami, Louisville, VT, NCSU are the ones I hope can start drawing 40-45k again. The only way we start getting more than 40k in the house for games against the likes of Syracuse, Boston College, Duke, Wake Forest, and any FCS/G5 teams we play is if we start rattling off 8-9+ win seasons consistently.

It will probably also help Tech at least a little bit if/when UGA gets knocked down a notch or two back to their historical normalcy. There are absolutely some “fans” afraid to identify with GT right now because of how our program looks compared to UGA. They’re scared of getting barked at at work or school if they talk about Tech.

It's hard to get fans to the games when almost all are on TV now. If it was like the old days with the game of the week was the only option to see a game, then people came to the stadium. It's just too easy to stay home and watch. The excitement of being at the game cannot be matched. I enjoy just being on campus again when I do come. TV can't do that, but at least I can watch the team play .

 

[stech81]

Losing is brutal on putting fans in the seats. If Brent Key keeps up the good work the fans will jump through hoops to come to the games. Winning solves 99.999999% of your problems. Just win!

I had season tickets from 1981 ( even though I have to give them to my daughter the last 2 years) even in our better years the stadium was about 35 percent assh@le uga fans. Now it did look like more because their puke red stood out more the our fans wear white blue or gold. Our problem is so many our our fans sale them to uga people.

 

[Thwg777]

Call me an optimist, but being 51st in attendance during a five year period that included four straight losing seasons and arguably the worst three year stretch in our history is honestly better than I would expect just reading this thread.

Sorry but I do have to throw a flag at this. We’re probably the most accessible venue for away fans which prop up those numbers a lot.

 

[GoldZ]

Clown induced PTSD takes time to heal, much like a severe concussion. The fan base is in early stage recovery, but is starting to buzz again.

 

[RamblinRed]

Right now we are at a low point due to the last 5 years.

That said, the upper limit is probably around 45K. In person attendance has been dropping in college football for 15 years and is likely to continue.

Also, keep in kind that these attendance figures are tickets sold, not butts in seat. So that article is giving you how many tickets are sold for a game. The average attendance in Div 1 football based on a study from a few years ago was about 70% of the tickets sold. (Alot of sold tickets go unused).

Our stadium is too large for the size of our fanbase (and alumni base). GT's undergraduate enrollment is in the bottom quintile of all P5 schools and I believe in the bottom 2 of P5 public schools.

If we had the money what we should do is rip out all of the benches (except maybe in the student sections) and replace them with comfortable individual seats. We could also use screens above the stands to provide shade and coverage from the elements but we do not have the money to do any of that.

It doesn't help college football that its fanbase skews older. Millenial/Gen Z respondents consistently answer at lower rates than Boomers and Gen X that they are college football fans. Boomers have the highest response rate to that while Gen Z has the lowest. Other sports appear to be appealing to younger generations more than college football.

 

[yeti92]

Sorry but I do have to throw a flag at this. We’re probably the most accessible venue for away fans which prop up those numbers a lot.

That doesn't mean they show up. I don't think Syracuse had more than 500 fans in attendance on Saturday.

That being said, the 5 year averages are all impacted heavily by the 2020 Covid season. Different schools had different policies in place that are going to throw the numbers off by a good bit.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

That doesn't mean they show up. I don't think Syracuse had more than 500 fans in attendance on Saturday.

That being said, the 5 year averages are all impacted heavily by the 2020 Covid season. Different schools had different policies in place that are going to throw the numbers off by a good bit.

There were quite a few in the upper north. Most just had nothing to cheer about for most of the game.

 

[stinger78]

Losing is brutal on putting fans in the seats. If Brent Key keeps up the good work the fans will jump through hoops to come to the games. Winning solves 99.999999% of your problems. Just win!

Yes, plus just being likable as well. Everyone wants Brent to succeed, even Mario, who told him that when Brent thanked him at midfield after the game.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

Yes, plus just being likable as well. Everyone wants Brent to succeed, even Mario, who told him that when Brent thanked him at midfield after the game.

Mario is a good guy for helping Brent like that

 

[ChristoGT]

To pile on the "winning cures everything" mantra, there is an article in AJC today on the No. 8 women's volleyball team selling out (almost) all their matches the last three years. Of course O'Keefe only holds 1,200 but they are winning and people are buying. Not sure how student tickets are for the non-revenue sports, so maybe not buying but they are coming at least. Packed that place must be a sweaty mess!

 

[BleedGoldNWhite21]

Sorry but I do have to throw a flag at this. We’re probably the most accessible venue for away fans which prop up those numbers a lot.

ugag, Clemson, FSU, Miami, ND, sure. Syracuse? Duke? UNC? BC? UVA? I doubt it.

 

[FredJacket]

Not sure best place to post this...

 

[gtie73]

That doesn't mean they show up. I don't think Syracuse had more than 500 fans in attendance on Saturday.

That being said, the 5 year averages are all impacted heavily by the 2020 Covid season. Different schools had different policies in place that are going to throw the numbers off by a good bit.

Looked like more than 500 from the West stands, but I get your point. Typical ACC schools do not draw a lot of FB fans unless they also start winning games that count.

 

[yeti92]

Looked like more than 500 from the West stands, but I get your point. Typical ACC schools do not draw a lot of FB fans unless they also start winning games that count.

Maybe you had a different view then me, but I was in lower west near the north endzone and I only saw 1 Syracuse fan anywhere around me, and outside of that it looked like most of their fans were grouped together in the lower east near the south end zone. Maybe they were all wearing navy and blended in with our fans wearing navy.

 

[slugboy]

Not sure best place to post this...

Funny, I saw that separately and posted in a different thread.

I think we need to steal some ideas from BC and how they build a community around their sports teams.

 

[Bogey]

I saw a couple Cuse fans in 106 but they were wearing navy along with their apparent GT host who wore a Tech navy pole.

 

[Jacket4Life]

I think it will take more than winning. Look at high schools in the state of Georgia and see how many kids are wearing GT gear? Basically none.. I don't know a quick fix but long term it's creating fans that are not connected to the program academically. Atlanta is a music hub and collaboration of youth camps with known artist would help. Look at how deion changed colorado. I'm not recommending becoming a circus but can't continue to have a fan base 50 years old and rising.

When I was in high school in the early 90's probably half the kids wore GT gear. Start winning again is what it will take.

 

[Thwg777]

That doesn't mean they show up. I don't think Syracuse had more than 500 fans in attendance on Saturday.

That being said, the 5 year averages are all impacted heavily by the 2020 Covid season. Different schools had different policies in place that are going to throw the numbers off by a good bit.

You may be right to a degree. I just consider people in non white or gold away fans…

 

[UgaBlows]

I just want to know why we didn’t have Yung Gravy and Luda playing inside the stadium Pregame to try and get some of those music fans to buy a ticket?