New Bobby Dodd Stadium survey from AA

GT98

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As for throwing dollar figures around, they are trying to hone in on "willingness to pay." It's business strategy 101.
I get that the GTAA needs to figure out that sweet spot. Going to be tough for them to do so with a notoriously cheap and small fanbase.

They want to charge Clemson and Alabama prices with demand similar to UVA. I hope that the GTAA can figure out the best way to do so with a product that has little demand outside of small fanbase.
 

athensjacket

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I get that the GTAA needs to figure out that sweet spot. Going to be tough for them to do so with a notoriously cheap and small fanbase.

They want to charge Clemson and Alabama prices with demand similar to UVA. I hope that the GTAA can figure out the best way to do so with a product that has little demand outside of small fanbase.
Our current sweet spot is probably to lower prices, sell more tickets, and build the fan base. At least, until we fill the place on a regular basis. Then we can start to think about raising them. Business 101.
 

GTROY

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Our current sweet spot is probably to lower prices, sell more tickets, and build the fan base. At least, until we fill the place on a regular basis. Then we can start to think about raising them. Business 101.
I don't disagree that it's a valid strategy. The problem is that we HAVE been trying that for the past 5-6 years and it hasn't paid off. The "Gold Zone" and other options haven't been filled despite being painfully cheap.
 

athensjacket

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I don't disagree that it's a valid strategy. The problem is that we HAVE been trying that for the past 5-6 years and it hasn't paid off. The "Gold Zone" and other options haven't been filled despite being painfully cheap.
Well, it stands to reason that raising prices would make things even worse. You want to build the fan base? Maybe give tickets away to disadvantaged kids in the city, fill the otherwise empty seats, and build excitement. Do these people realize that all the games are on TV? They don't act like it. College football attendance is down in general, while ticket prices go up and more and more games are broadcast. Might be a connection.
 

05GTCorndog

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GT needs to reduce the capacity of the stadium to create some scarcity of tickets. 55k is just too much for the fanbase. Add chairbacks to reduce capacity. If there were 48-50k seats I think there would be more urgency to purchase season tickets. With 5-10k empty seats every week, the secondary market is flooded with $10 tickets. If you are only moderately invested in the program, why buy a season ticket package if you can get into the games for 1/4 of the price? UNC went from like 63k to 50k by adding chairbacks around the whole stadium. I'm not sure if we can do the same but that would seem like a good play. UNC spent $6 million on theirs, so roughly $120 per seat. If we did it to 25k for $3 million, we'd probably shave about 5k off capacity. Charge $25 or $50 more for these seats a year, not the $100 per game or whatever nonsense the survey asked for.
 

05GTCorndog

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Our current sweet spot is probably to lower prices, sell more tickets, and build the fan base. At least, until we fill the place on a regular basis. Then we can start to think about raising them. Business 101.
So decrease revenues in a time when we desperately need to increase them?

When you have bills piling up, you don't take a voluntary pay cut. It might increase your revenue 10 years from now, but the repo man doesn't care about that.

Revenue management is more complex than "just sell cheap tickets."
 

GTROY

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The low-end strategy of selling cheap tickets or even giving them away HAS been our dominant strategy for awhile now. The GTAA regularly gives tickets away to underprivileged groups, veterans, and others. This strategy has not led to an increase in revenues or ticket sales (i.e. return purchases from those groups or other).

We have to decide if we're going to be Kia (sell a lot of cheap things), or Mercedes (sell fewer, more expensive things). We're already a small fanbase and efforts to increase the fanbase through give-aways or other means hasn't been super successful. Given that our season ticket holders are a small group of generally well-to-do alumni (at least more so than your average SEC school), going with Option B makes sense.

By the way, you and I likely feel VERY similarly about the direction of college football, how big money is ruining it, and how the most important thing is the product on the field. In general, I buy cheap seats to most sporting events and pay attention to every second of play. Still, I want the best long-term thing for Tech, and if that requires me to step up a bit, I'm personally willing to do it. I still think they should be super-sensitive to have many options for those who aren't willing to. To me, the most important part is that people fill out the survey and give their honest opinion.
 

vapspwi

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Could not agree more. My wife has Michigan season tickets and she pays $95 per game per seat in row 66 (plus, obviously, a required annual donation). I don’t even want to know how much seats in their equivalent of our lower level cost.
It’s amazing what you can get away with when demand outstrips supply. Unfortunately, that’s not the situation in which we find ourselves.

I get that they’re exploring creative options, and it’s too bad that “sell more for less” hasn’t worked out (but the product on the field has been hot garbage for several years, which has an impact). I just hope we don’t go all in on gouging the old, rich fans (that will die off soon enough) and the fickle young fans in it for the social event and then find ourselves left with nothing.

JRjr
 

GT98

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By the way, you and I likely feel VERY similarly about the direction of college football, how big money is ruining it, and how the most important thing is the product on the field
It isn't ruining it, that's already happened a long time ago. What you are seeing now is another arms race with facilities and the like to induce recruits to come to the school and amenities for donors to pay for it. All of this occurring amongst a backdrop of declining attendance. Only a handful of schools will pull that off; GT isn't one of them.

I hope that GT is able to take a considerate, thoughtful approach of not running off the fanbase that is there while finding a way to increase revenue a bit.

I kinda like the chairback ideas in this thread. GT's seating capacity is about 10-15% too large.
 

athensjacket

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It isn't ruining it, that's already happened a long time ago. What you are seeing now is another arms race with facilities and the like to induce recruits to come to the school and amenities for donors to pay for it. All of this occurring amongst a backdrop of declining attendance. Only a handful of schools will pull that off; GT isn't one of them.

I hope that GT is able to take a considerate, thoughtful approach of not running off the fanbase that is there while finding a way to increase revenue a bit.

I kinda like the chairback ideas in this thread. GT's seating capacity is about 10-15% too large.
Should have simply left the stadium alone when capacity was 42,000. I hear a lot about how to raise revenue - think of how much money we could have saved.

Yeah, I know, water over the dam - but maybe a lesson to be applied in the future.
Chairbacks might be a good idea, though, as long as the cost isn't too much.
 

clapper

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Putting chairbacks in is going to push the STHs who pay and donate the most away from the 'prime' seats they've spent time and money (raising their AT Fund points) moving to. That won't go over well.
 

techronnie

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Athletic Departments are like the Government, they are always spending others money. They do not have any accountable for their blunders. Sure they can get fired, but others are left with their mess!
 

gpburdell

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It’s amazing what you can get away with when demand outstrips supply. Unfortunately, that’s not the situation in which we find ourselves.

I get that they’re exploring creative options, and it’s too bad that “sell more for less” hasn’t worked out (but the product on the field has been hot garbage for several years, which has an impact). I just hope we don’t go all in on gouging the old, rich fans (that will die off soon enough) and the fickle young fans in it for the social event and then find ourselves left with nothing.

JRjr
There is a wait list to get club seats; so there is a lack of supply for premium seating.
 
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