Call with AT Fund Rep

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NotTheWishbone

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An AT Fund rep called me (probably just to make sure I'm giving money this year) but we did chat for a while. He did give me some information that many of you will probably be interested in.
  • There will be another Competitive Drive type fundraising effort since last year's was extremely successful. Many AT donors have complained that the GT Foundation doesn't do enough for the athletics department - unlike many other schools. The Competitive Drive campaign is the foundation's way of assisting the GTAA. He didn't give me the timeline on when that will occur.
  • It appears there are tiers of fans:
    • The diehards - Those who donate year in and year out. Buy season tickets every year no matter the record. Unfortunately, there are only around 10k of those.
    • Winning streak buyers - Ticket buyers that buy tickets after Tech gets on a good run during the season. If Tech is losing, they have no interest in coming back.
    • "After a good season" buyers - Buyers that will come back to buy season tickets after Tech has a good season.
  • A survey went out to current and former ticket buyers. One of the most common themes is that they want more luxury experience/seating like the club/terrace sections. The waitlist for those sections is extremely long and the GTAA wants to accommodate that.
  • Speaking of the club section, the club ticketholders are at the game despite the section looking sparse. They are always hanging out in the lounge. But they are at the game (according to him)
  • Bobby Dodd Stadium renovation
    • Edge Center - everyone already knows about the Edge Center renovation and the target completion date is 2026
    • North endzone stands - There are talks about doing away it and introducing something else in that area - like more luxury seating. There is nothing definitive since this would be the most expensive part of the stadium renovation.
    • Other stadium renovations are planned for 2026 but he did not provide details - mainly just to improve overall fan experience
  • The target goal for the NIL collective is $3 million. This puts us in the middle of the pack in the ACC. The NIL allows us to keep key players and pull in new transfers when the transfer portal opens up.
  • I brought up the Georgia game and said how I hate seeing so much red in the stadium. He said they're doing everything they can, including selling those tickets at premium, controlling when the tickets will be available, etc. According to him, the fans that come to Atlanta for a UGA game are usually the ones that cannot get into a game in Athens and this is their chance to see their beloved dwags. The second-hand ticket market is the main culprit for this.
  • The dwags being at the pinnacle and us having a few down seasons hurt us a bit (he didn't elaborate how)
 
Thanks for sharing! My rep had said some of the same things too about our season ticket population. In re-watching an interview prior to the UNC game with JBatt on the ACC Network, I think he did say something about having another fundraising event because funds had been raised so quickly the first time. I think many people are waiting for the program to show some success before they start 're-investing' into our program in time and money. I'm not a gazillionaire but I have bought my FB tickets non-stop since 98'. Some years are harder than others but I always try and make that a top 5 commitment financially. The game last weekend makes it all worth it, being able to experience that with my sons and my elderly dad who while not an alumni, bleeds white and gold by putting my rear end through GT as an undergrad in the early 90s. If I come into a large sum of money, I'll definitely give to the Tech Way/NIL.
 
ETBee said:
It sucks that the club seating is so popular. The empty seats just look awful on TV. If everyone is in the lounge watching on TV anyway why don't they move those sections away from mid-field?
Click to expand...
I've never understood why our club seats are always behind the opponent's sideline. It would make so much more sense if they were behind ours. I sat in the club seats for the BC game in 2021 and there were more BC fans there then GT fans.
 
NotTheWishbone said:
  • The target goal for the NIL collective is $3 million. This puts us in the middle of the pack in the ACC. The NIL allows us to keep key players and pull in new transfers when the transfer portal opens up.
Click to expand...
Great info overall. This one bullet point alone is going to cause some negative feedback from those who do and don’t agree with NIL. We’ll see how this all plays out over time. As Mike Farrell has stated numerous times on XM Radio, NIL is only in its infancy stages.
 
i don't give much to GTAA but i've always been consistent on tix purchases. think its 25 or 26 years straight now. and we doubled our seats from 2 to 4 this year.

also decided to take the family to hoops game this year. bought 4 for Syracuse. row 10 lower corner. looking forward to that.
 
Not surprised. Our prime seating is the lower West and the seating and amenities there are awful. It has to be upgrade (likely tore down and rebuilt) to ever move forward and get non-diehard fans in the stadium.
 
gt9589 said:
Thanks for sharing! My rep had said some of the same things too about our season ticket population. In re-watching an interview prior to the UNC game with JBatt on the ACC Network, I think he did say something about having another fundraising event because funds had been raised so quickly the first time. I think many people are waiting for the program to show some success before they start 're-investing' into our program in time and money. I'm not a gazillionaire but I have bought my FB tickets non-stop since 98'. Some years are harder than others but I always try and make that a top 5 commitment financially. The game last weekend makes it all worth it, being able to experience that with my sons and my elderly dad who while not an alumni, bleeds white and gold by putting my rear end through GT as an undergrad in the early 90s. If I come into a large sum of money, I'll definitely give to the Tech Way/NIL.
Click to expand...
Coming into a large sum of money is awesome, I've done it a few times, it's even better when it's not your money haha yeah take that you rich prick!
 
NotTheWishbone said:
An AT Fund rep called me (probably just to make sure I'm giving money this year) but we did chat for a while. He did give me some information that many of you will probably be interested in.
  • There will be another Competitive Drive type fundraising effort since last year's was extremely successful. Many AT donors have complained that the GT Foundation doesn't do enough for the athletics department - unlike many other schools. The Competitive Drive campaign is the foundation's way of assisting the GTAA. He didn't give me the timeline on when that will occur.
  • It appears there are tiers of fans:
    • The diehards - Those who donate year in and year out. Buy season tickets every year no matter the record. Unfortunately, there are only around 10k of those.
    • Winning streak buyers - Ticket buyers that buy tickets after Tech gets on a good run during the season. If Tech is losing, they have no interest in coming back.
    • "After a good season" buyers - Buyers that will come back to buy season tickets after Tech has a good season.
  • A survey went out to current and former ticket buyers. One of the most common themes is that they want more luxury experience/seating like the club/terrace sections. The waitlist for those sections is extremely long and the GTAA wants to accommodate that.
  • Speaking of the club section, the club ticketholders are at the game despite the section looking sparse. They are always hanging out in the lounge. But they are at the game (according to him)
  • Bobby Dodd Stadium renovation
    • Edge Center - everyone already knows about the Edge Center renovation and the target completion date is 2026
    • North endzone stands - There are talks about doing away it and introducing something else in that area - like more luxury seating. There is nothing definitive since this would be the most expensive part of the stadium renovation.
    • Other stadium renovations are planned for 2026 but he did not provide details - mainly just to improve overall fan experience
  • The target goal for the NIL collective is $3 million. This puts us in the middle of the pack in the ACC. The NIL allows us to keep key players and pull in new transfers when the transfer portal opens up.
  • I brought up the Georgia game and said how I hate seeing so much red in the stadium. He said they're doing everything they can, including selling those tickets at premium, controlling when the tickets will be available, etc. According to him, the fans that come to Atlanta for a UGA game are usually the ones that cannot get into a game in Athens and this is their chance to see their beloved dwags. The second-hand ticket market is the main culprit for this.
  • The dwags being at the pinnacle and us having a few down seasons hurt us a bit (he didn't elaborate how)
Click to expand...
  • The diehards - Buy season tickets every year no matter the record. are only around 10k of those. (Geoff Collins effect)
  • Winning streak buyers - If Tech is losing, they have no interest in coming back. (Most CPJ Era Fans that made up 48K)
  • "After a good season" buyers - Winning streak buyers are waiting for CBK to get to a bowl as most think GT should be able to win 6-7 games a year in the ACC "SEE GOL/CCG/CPJ Era" from 1996-2018....
This is why AD TSTAN & Clown Collins were fired. The Problem is that the Boosters & The diehards were all in on CBK. Hopefully he can turn this thing around despite all of Clown's blunders as it is a Mess on the FLATS. Time will tell! Fans will come back once the the team stops looking like a FCS program.
 
I simply do not buy that the club seat folks are there, just hanging out in the lounge. I thought the lower bowl seating against Louisville roughly mirrored the seating at BDS as far as where season ticket holders sat at the Benz. The lower bowl was pretty full, except for a large number of empty seats behind the Louisville bench, corresponding to where the club seats are in the East stands.

Do you really think there are that many who buy expensive seating who don’t go to those seats but fight traffic and come to downtown Atlanta to watch our games on TV in a stadium lounge?
 
"North endzone stands - There are talks about doing away it and introducing something else in that area - like more luxury seating. There is nothing definitive since this would be the most expensive part of the stadium renovation."

Does this mean the upper north as well? This is confusing. The lower north is the student section no?
 
77GTFan said:
I simply do not buy that the club seat folks are there, just hanging out in the lounge. I thought the lower bowl seating against Louisville roughly mirrored the seating at BDS as far as where season ticket holders sat at the Benz. The lower bowl was pretty full, except for a large number of empty seats behind the Louisville bench, corresponding to where the club seats are in the East stands.

Do you really think there are that many who buy expensive seating who don’t go to those seats but fight traffic and come to downtown Atlanta to watch our games on TV in a stadium lounge?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if I fully buy it either, but that's what I was told.
 
Buzzilla said:
"North endzone stands - There are talks about doing away it and introducing something else in that area - like more luxury seating. There is nothing definitive since this would be the most expensive part of the stadium renovation."

Does this mean the upper north as well? This is confusing. The lower north is the student section no?
Click to expand...

Yes, upper north endzone stands.
 
77GTFan said:
Do you really think there are that many who buy expensive seating who don’t go to those seats but fight traffic and come to downtown Atlanta to watch our games on TV in a stadium lounge?
Click to expand...
I sit in the club, have for years. We spend far more time outside than inside. Exceptions were when our kids were little and needed to work some energy off. Or crappy weather. Or when we were getting drinks (lines are much better now than they used to be as they doubled the number of stations). There are times, especially during half time, where it's wall to wall people in there. Also, just to note, the tv's inside often show other games as well as GT, so I do catch some people watching other teams...
 
77GTFan said:
I simply do not buy that the club seat folks are there, just hanging out in the lounge. I thought the lower bowl seating against Louisville roughly mirrored the seating at BDS as far as where season ticket holders sat at the Benz. The lower bowl was pretty full, except for a large number of empty seats behind the Louisville bench, corresponding to where the club seats are in the East stands.

Do you really think there are that many who buy expensive seating who don’t go to those seats but fight traffic and come to downtown Atlanta to watch our games on TV in a stadium lounge?
Click to expand...
I'll can tell you a lot of those club seats are put up to be sold to visiting fans since the Collins years. UNC must not travel that well, we had a group of 4 on each end of our row, and us in the middle. There were all empties between us. It was like that, fans in the club watching the game, during most of CPJ's years because they wouldn't let you drink in your seats. That isn't the case anymore, it's just no one is coming anymore because we suck and the other team in the state is winning national championships. Moral is low, and that's not he fans' fault, it's the damn product. I feel a lot different with Cabrera as President and the relation between football and the college. He's not your typical American nerd who shuns athletics, I think he sees how a successful athletics can improve a school. I never got that feeling with the other presidents. His support (through the Hill and fundraising alumni support) is crucial to us becoming a contender, but it ain't going to happen over night.
 
Walton said:
Not surprised. Our prime seating is the lower West and the seating and amenities there are awful. It has to be upgrade (likely tore down and rebuilt) to ever move forward and get non-diehard fans in the stadium.
Click to expand...

Will be difficult to do--it's my understanding that that structure was "Grandfathered in" for OSHA compliance and tinkering with that would significantly add to the cost involved to bring the structure fully up to code. That's one of the reasons that the club seats are in the LE.
 
77GTFan said:
Do you really think there are that many who buy expensive seating who don’t go to those seats but fight traffic and come to downtown Atlanta to watch our games on TV in a stadium lounge?
Click to expand...

Having sat in those seats for a game or two, yes. My experience was that the lounge area was used to socialize, let the kids run around and enjoy some alcohol.
 
77GTFan said:
I simply do not buy that the club seat folks are there, just hanging out in the lounge. I thought the lower bowl seating against Louisville roughly mirrored the seating at BDS as far as where season ticket holders sat at the Benz. The lower bowl was pretty full, except for a large number of empty seats behind the Louisville bench, corresponding to where the club seats are in the East stands.

Do you really think there are that many who buy expensive seating who don’t go to those seats but fight traffic and come to downtown Atlanta to watch our games on TV in a stadium lounge?
Click to expand...

I bet tons of those club level tickets are bought by business and corp interests. They give the tickets to clients/vendors/employees/politicians etc who May or may not be die hard football fans of Tech or the visiting team.

Many don't attend but show up in the attendance figures because the tickets were sold. And many who do go to the game care more for the lounge atmosphere than sitting in the sun, heat, cold, rain, etc.
 
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