Bowls are RIPPING GT (and others) off...

law_bee

law_bee

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http://www.ocregister.com/sports/special-report-price-1949560-of-success


"Financially it can be pretty painful," said Mollie Mayfield, Georgia Tech athletics' chief financial officer. "You spend the last six months of the year trying to cut back and say no to things you planned on doing."

...


"The ticket allocating is killing us," said Georgia Tech's Mayfield. The Yellow Jackets ate $400,180 in unsold tickets for last year's Gator Bowl. "When you have a season-ticket base of 25,000 and the bowl is making you sell 10,000 to 13,000 tickets, getting 50 percent of those season-ticket holders to go to a bowl can be unrealistic."

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Hotel prices and the mandated length of team stays at bowl sites are also playing significant roles in driving up bowl expenses.
"The biggest issue is you're assigned a location, assigned a hotel and the cost is non-negotiable," said Maryland associate athletic director Larry Leckonby.
Not only do bowl organizing committees tell teams where to stay, they also dictate the number of rooms and nights schools have to purchase.
"We're not talking the Marriott Courtyard at $89.99 a night," Georgia Tech's Mayfield said.
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saw this post on the hive

Ironically this 11 years in a row bowl streak is KILLING THE GTAA, lol

We can't afford to go to another Gator Bowl and I can only imagine the loss if we would have gone to the Orange Bowl. If you sit in the top 10k seats in BDS@HGF you should be obligated to purchase Bowl Tix, IMO.

Look at Clem's son those guys pay big bucks no matter how many disappointing losses. The PSL was a good start but the next step should be bowl seat obligations.
 
The Yellow Jackets ate $400,180 in unsold tickets for last year's Gator Bowl. "When you have a season-ticket base of 25,000 and the bowl is making you sell 10,000 to 13,000 tickets, getting 50 percent of those season-ticket holders to go to a bowl can be unrealistic."
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Especially when a large percentage of the base was in Jax just 2 weeks before for a miserable ACCCG in miserable weather.
 
Im no CFO, not even an accountant, but doesn't the revenue sharing of all the acc bowls offset our loss?

Still, the 32 games are a joke. Cut it to 12 or 14 and its better all the way around.
 
pocket_watch said:
Im no CFO, not even an accountant, but doesn't the revenue sharing of all the acc bowls offset our loss?

Still, the 32 games are a joke. Cut it to 12 or 14 and its better all the way around.
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8 or 10 is plenty of bowls, some of this Irmas Whorehouse Grill Bowl in Climax Ga aint worth foolin with
 
clapper said:
Didn't read the article, did you?
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Ok, I read the article; but what I don't understand is why it cost a BCS conference school approximately $1.9M to attend a bowl game; but it only costs a non-BCS school ~$900K. Am I reading that right? I can understand some bowls costing more than others to attend, say 20-30% more; but double? on average?

Second, why haven't I gotten any mail from GTAA asking me to buy tickets to the H-bowl and donate them? I was planning to do that in exchange for AT points. (I know, AT points are next to worthless; but still)
 
aeromech said:
Ok, I read the article; but what I don't understand is why it cost a BCS conference school approximately $1.9M to attend a bowl game; but it only costs a non-BCS school ~$900K. Am I reading that right? I can understand some bowls costing more than others to attend, say 20-30% more; but double? on average?

Second, why haven't I gotten any mail from GTAA asking me to buy tickets to the H-bowl and donate them? I was planning to do that in exchange for AT points. (I know, AT points are next to worthless; but still)
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The added costs stem from the entourage that the BCS conference schools bring and the additional crap they dole out to their own. Plus, the non-BCS types tend to go to smaller venues where things like hotel costs are less and many aren't traveling quite as far since they have secondary bowl tie-ins closer to home.

GTAA has dropped the ball a few times this year regarding getting their supporters to 'follow' the teams off campus. I've been disappointed in that effort. Maybe DRad's cost cutting measures have knocked out some staff in this area. If so, it's a big mistake IMO.
 
clapper said:
The added costs stem from the entourage that the BCS conference schools bring and the additional crap they dole out to their own. Plus, the non-BCS types tend to go to smaller venues where things like hotel costs are less and many aren't traveling quite as far since they have secondary bowl tie-ins closer to home.

...
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Sounds like the BCS schools are more than a little out of control. Considering that the non-BCS schools still have an entourage (perhaps not as large), and travel expenses probably don't vary that much (maybe flying vs. busses?); the double the cost factor gets my attention. It sounds like there is a lot of abuse, not specifically at GT; but across the BCS conferences. Travel and lodging to bowl locations like Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville, JAX, and even Boise shouldn't be what's breaking the bank (I'll concede lodging at the Emerald, and Orange is probably high).
 
GEETEELEE said:
Especially when a large percentage of the base was in Jax just 2 weeks before for a miserable ACCCG in miserable weather.
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An "inconvenient truth" here. We will not be able to call ourselves a big time program (despite paying a coach $2 million per) until we can sell tickets in Atlanta, and sell every MF'ing ticket to the bowl games--whether they are in Boise, Miami, or Jax. A pathetic statement on our fan base that we cannot sell our allotment to a fine, fine bowl such as the Gator Bowl--in our own backyard. And you better believe all the bowl committees know all the numbers. Very poor for our reputation. Well at least next year we won't have to worry about that subject since we won't be bowl eligible.
 
Yukonwreck said:
An "inconvenient truth" here. We will not be able to call ourselves a big time program (despite paying a coach $2 million per) until we can sell tickets in Atlanta, and sell every MF'ing ticket to the bowl games--whether they are in Boise, Miami, or Jax. A pathetic statement on our fan base that we cannot sell our allotment to a fine, fine bowl such as the Gator Bowl--in our own backyard. And you better believe all the bowl committees know all the numbers. Very poor for our reputation. Well at least next year we won't have to worry about that subject since we won't be bowl eligible.
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Something tells me someones had a bad day!
 
I will say it again if you sit in one of the top 10k seats you should be required to purchase bowl tix.
 
Yukonwreck said:
An "inconvenient truth" here. We will not be able to call ourselves a big time program (despite paying a coach $2 million per) until we can sell tickets in Atlanta, and sell every MF'ing ticket to the bowl games--whether they are in Boise, Miami, or Jax. A pathetic statement on our fan base that we cannot sell our allotment to a fine, fine bowl such as the Gator Bowl--in our own backyard. And you better believe all the bowl committees know all the numbers. Very poor for our reputation. Well at least next year we won't have to worry about that subject since we won't be bowl eligible.
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You need to read the equivalent thread on the Hive. Then you will see how unrealistic your statements are. Tech travels VERY well to nearby bowls. NO team travels as you suggest to the podunk bowls.
 
We can't keep losing to ugag and expect to sell out bowl ticket quotas.

Cart before horse. Priorities.
 
Yukonwreck said:
An "inconvenient truth" here. ... Well at least next year we won't have to worry about that subject since we won't be bowl eligible.
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:laugher::lol::roflmao::laugher:

And no, in case you were wondering, I'm not laughing 'with' you. And while I'm at it, the open quote in your post is in the wrong place. It should be moved one word to the right. Some folks on here just crack me up.
 
Yukonwreck said:
An "inconvenient truth" here. We will not be able to call ourselves a big time program (despite paying a coach $2 million per) until we can sell tickets in Atlanta, and sell every MF'ing ticket to the bowl games--whether they are in Boise, Miami, or Jax.
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A complete lack of perspective, or just complete BS.

No, we don't have the typical football factory fan base with the 100k ancilary "fans" that have had nothing to do with Tech other than being brought up that way.
We had a lot more of these 50 years ago, but not now. Dan is working hard on this but it won't happen for years.

Also, how can you discount the horrendous November finishes under the Gailey regime? If we had ever finished strong, the bowl ticket sales question would have been something to brag about.
 
We're also being hurt by the poor performance of ACC football teams overall. FWIW, even SEC teams that didn't even get invited to a bowl will get about $2.9 million from just this week's games. Of course their teams going to good bowls get a lot more.
In other words, not only do we need to find a way to improve, but it would help if the ACC did as well.
 
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aeromech said:
Sounds like the BCS schools are more than a little out of control. Considering that the non-BCS schools still have an entourage (perhaps not as large), and travel expenses probably don't vary that much (maybe flying vs. busses?); the double the cost factor gets my attention. It sounds like there is a lot of abuse, not specifically at GT; but across the BCS conferences. Travel and lodging to bowl locations like Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville, JAX, and even Boise shouldn't be what's breaking the bank (I'll concede lodging at the Emerald, and Orange is probably high).
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Keep in mind that many of the top schools can afford to take a hit on their bottom line of less than $500K annually...especially if it means drawing the best athletes, competing at the highest levels, and bringing publicity to their school. It isn't considered being out of control. It is a marketing expense item in their annual budget.

The other BCS schools that try to keep up with them without having the means are out of control, but that doesn't mean everyone should be damned for it. The non-BCS folks have already realized they can't play that game. Their problem is that any shortfall has a major impact on their annual budget. That's where the problem lies. Either the BCS conferences have to start reining in their poorest performers while giving the non-BCS schools a greater share of the pot, or the minor bowls need to just go away.
 
Yukonwreck said:
An "inconvenient truth" here. We will not be able to call ourselves a big time program (despite paying a coach $2 million per) until we can sell tickets in Atlanta, and sell every MF'ing ticket to the bowl games--whether they are in Boise, Miami, or Jax. A pathetic statement on our fan base that we cannot sell our allotment to a fine, fine bowl such as the Gator Bowl--in our own backyard. And you better believe all the bowl committees know all the numbers. Very poor for our reputation. Well at least next year we won't have to worry about that subject since we won't be bowl eligible.
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This time last year the wheels were finally starting to fall of the "fan of chan bandwagon" by even his staunchest of supporters after that kick-ass, high octane performance in the ACC CG. People weren't really in the mood to spend money. With a new coach, let's just hope problems such as this are behind us.
 
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