Serious Question...Should stadium expansion continue?

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bobby dodds ghost

Damn Good Rat
Joined
Jun 5, 2002
Messages
1,492
Best intentions should sometimes be put on hold. This is one of those times.
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Here's a visual....Tech builds the extra seats this year after going 5-7 (let's assume we beat Duke...I know, big asumption). Guess who will be in those seats on opening day next fall. Nooooo, not new die-hard FOCers wanting to get a piece of Gailey love, ...but thousands and thousands of Auburn fans. Guess who will be in those seats when we finish the season. Nooooo, not scores of recruits waiting in the wings to sign up for Tech's high powered offense, but thousands and thousands of Bulldog fans.
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11,000 new seats now = big timing mistake.
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BOO
 
Wonder what penalties we'd have to pay to cancel Phase II? Or, were no such contingencies spelled out in the contract, in which case we'd have to negotiate a settlement or even go to court over it. I'm guessing we'd pay a significant portion of the cost to get nothing.

We're gonna have lots of Auburn and UGAG fans in the stands regardless of how this year goes. It's just a matter of degree.

I'm more concerned about the other games, in which many of the UN seats will likely go unsold.

It's a significant debt load, and thinking like a businessman, we shouldn't incur the investment until we can resonably expect to sell all of most of the seats and to help pay it down.

On the other hand, it's taken SOOO LONG to re-expand after the "despansion" (remember the expansion plans of the early 90s?) that I'd hate to see it stopped.
 
It would almost have to depend on the amount of funding that is available and promised. If money is no problem, it would be wise to continue. Let UGA, Auburn, and the other teams fill up our stadium if we cannot sell the tickets.

When the ship is righted, the seats will be available for our fans.

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Don't shoot yourself in the foot when the ship is listing. Continue to build your stadium. Continue to move forward. Continue to do things that are positive for Georgia Tech athletics, and build on the tradition that is there. I think it is a very wise investment in the future of GT football to build this stadium. Pulling the plug in the midst of one year's struggles would be a mistake of enormous proportion. If Dawg fans fill the stadium this year, then welcome them and let them pay your bills. It's been many years but my parents use to tell me about when the Dawgs had to schedule their games so as not to conflict with Tech. At that time Sanford Stadium held 56,000.
 
Expanding the stadium will go down as the biggest mistake of the Dave Braine era. We couldn't fill it before and we will not fill it in the future. Horrendous business decision.
 
For some reason I was thinking that the expansion was being paid for without new debt. Am I wrong yet again?
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Mr. Dawg, it was necessary to finance the expansion using a bond. (I was told if they'd started a year or two earlier, before the dot.com downturn, donations would have covered it.)

Only 32 mil of the 80 mil needed for both stadia has been raised thusfar, per this page:

http://www.dev.gatech.edu/projects/STA/index.html

Traditionally, GT has either had the $ or commitments before starting construction, but O'L really wanted this. We can thank O'L for getting this project moving, for better or worse.
 
"If you build it, they will come."

IF WE WIN, IT WILL FILL.

Man, it has gotten so depressing when we contemplate stopping the expansion.

In some of the 12-step programs, there is a saying, "Act as if..." meaning if you act as if all is good for long enough, it will be. If you walk around acting gloomy, it will be. If we discontinue stadium, it will announce to all that we have given up. No way, Jose'!
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I feel we must go through with the second phase of expansion. To fail to do so would be like announcing that we've lost faith in our own program. I think we'll suprise somebody this year, and I know we'll be back soon, so we've got to have faith in ourselves and our program if we want other people to cast their lots with Tech, too.

When that stadium is full and we beat Auburn on TV to start next season, we'll all be feeling mighty good. And as for the other games, Tech can grow a fan base to draw 55,000 a game. Of course, if we tried to get back in the SEC, which is my fantasy, we'd have a waiting list for season tickets and be trying to figure out how to expand some more.

But we shouldn't even talk about retreating on expansion. We must have faith in the program and support it. Everything will be fine. Tech will be back. "Good things come to those who wait." Selah.
 
Expanding the stadium is an integral part of being
able to compete for recruits with programs like
UGA, Clemson, AU, and FSU. Without the improved
facilities, we'll stagnate right where we are at
the moment.

You've got to be able to attract players.
 
Agree that if we have borrowed the money or committed any funds via contract that we must go on and finish the project. It will longer term be an asset to recruiting and help us out...

Agree that the timing for next year will turn BDS into a visiting field advantage for the Auburn and UGAg games UNLESS we use our noodles. We don't have to sell those seats at all. We can leave them unfinished for another year (don't install the bleacher parts) until cash flow improves OR we can give all those seats away to high school and junior high school football teams, bands, boy scouts, etc. There will still be a lot of Dawgs and Tigers up there but they won't be organized and hostile.

The problem has always been that the AA can't turn down enemy money. But someday we have got to stop selling out and players and fans...
 
We have to accept the fact that the GTAA is a non-profit business which must optimize income to cover expenses. Their objective is to sell as many tickets as possible. They'll try to sell to Tech fans first, but if the Tech fans don't buy enough season and individual tickets to sell the place out with only 8500 tickets allocated to opponents, they'll sell the remaining tickets to whomever gives them the cash.

As to giving the tickets away to various groups around town, I'm all for such programs when the tickets would go unsold otherwise, but we need the income if we can get it, regardless of what color the person in the seat is wearing.

The long-term solution is to grow our fan base. That's much easier to do with a winning program.

By comparison, UGAG knows it can sell all the seats it adds to UGAG fans, and the income will pay off the cost in a matter of years, giving a good ROI. The latest addition was 4-5K seats, AIR, which was less than the would-be buyers they turned away last season.

The good news is there's no direct correlation between fan mix and W/L. ;-)
 
I guess it would be a public relations nightmare to discontinue it now - but it was a lousy idea in the first place and as far as I am concerned any reason to discontinue it would be a good reason.

Notwithstanding all the comments regarding providing seats for our adversaries - its another step by the GTAA to destroy the charm of our unique historic quaint in-town stadium.

The last expansion or renovation of the east upper decked exceptionally chapped me when they cut down those beautiful Bradford pear trees on Techwood. Those trees - as they got larger were providing a great feel to that Techwood Avenue stretch. It seems like they could have found a way to renovate and keep the trees.

The latest North Stands project will now obscure the pretty view of the Midtown skyline. Our stadium is spectacular with the view of the Atlanta skyline - especially at night.

Bigger is not always better and sometimes less is more. Pack our fans into a smaller, quainter, charming in-town stadium and make the Ga Tech football a tough ticket to come by, like the basketball ticket - toughest ticket in town, in the early 90's in Alexander.

If you start trying to keep up with the Jones, you might dilute or destroy your real strengths.

Charming and quaintness can recruit - especially smart athletes. UNC didn't have any problem recruiting Michael Jordan and a host of other great basketball players when they played in the old antiquated Carmichael did they? For those who don't remember it; I don't think it seated much over 5,000 - if that many. Permanent stands were only on one side of the court. A brick wall was on the other side except game days when they put in a row of temporary bleachers. No Jumbotron there - the score was kept manually by flip cards by each end line.
 
We should keep expansion going. Having a small stadium is a recruiting liability. I know we won't fill the expanded stadium for every game, but so be it. We'll have a big-ol stadium with some elbow room.

Outside of us cyberfans, I don't think many people worry about whether or not we sell out every game.

BTW, Auburn and Georgia are gonna bring a ton of fans no matte what. That's a constant.

Th expansion will come in handy when we play teams like UNC, NC State, UVA and MD. It gives us a chance to pack a bunch more TECH fans into the place.

My opinion: Keep expanding....and don't let a few losses discourage ya.
 
Aub. and UGA can't bring tons of fans if they can't get a seat. Tech fans, however, won't be in a buying mood next year. I would wait until a new coach is brought in who can create new excitement and some expected victories.
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BOO
 
That's right, BDG. Opposing fans can only get the team's allotment if Tech fans buy up all they can. That's a maxium of 8500 out of 55K, or 15%. But, as you say (and i tried to say above), the problem is not how many seats we have but how many GT fans we have in seats.

What was the official season ticket sales figure this year? If we reached the goal of 22K, it was just barely. We'll need to sell a lot more once we have the UN. Traditionally, season ticket sales are a function of W/L expectations.
 
The problem is the "knee jerk" assumption that "bigger is better".

More attention needs to go toward making a better ambience in the environs of the stadium - not destroying the ambience.
 
Agree. I believe BDS looks better now than it will with the UN & the NE Wedge, which will look like a huge one-winged duck, and block most of the view of the midtown towers from the LW stands:

4361692.GT020831n54.jpg


In its greed, UGAG is gonna seriously muck up the looks of the Sanforized "Big Commode" with a 5K seat triple deck section, if you ask me. It might look right again once they build a triple deck all the way around. (I understand Dooley (or was it Adams?) resisted enclosing the bridge end with an upper deck.)

But, like I said in an earlier post, AAs are non-profit businesses which will install as many seats as they think they can sell most of the time.
 
Whenever I hear about how pretty Sanford Stadium is - which it is - I always respond with, "Yeah, its nice but have you ever been to Grant Field on a lovely Fall evening?" - nothing can touch it.

I'm I won't be able to say that anymore.
 
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