Why Are We Broke?

savbandjacket said:
Well maybe not students then. But they need to get rid of the lounge behind the stands where everyone hangs out during games leaving a gigantic empty eyesore on tv.
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Why do they need to get rid of it? Because it hurts your feels and looks bad? It brings in money. Unless you have a plan on how to replace that revenue, then it would be ridiculous to do anything for aesthetics.
 
05GTCorndog said:
Why do they need to get rid of it? Because it hurts your feels and looks bad? It brings in money. Unless you have a plan on how to replace that revenue, then it would be ridiculous to do anything for aesthetics.
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Give that section order to seat service. Just get rid of the air conditioned lounge. People will still pay for the seats. Just give them a reason to stay in them (by taking away the place where they go).
 
05GTCorndog said:
Why do they need to get rid of it? Because it hurts your feels and looks bad? It brings in money. Unless you have a plan on how to replace that revenue, then it would be ridiculous to do anything for aesthetics.
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You also have to look at what the AA lost with the addition of those seats and think about whether the net gain could be larger if the seats were elsewhere in the stadium (like south end zone).
 
gtg970g said:
You also have to look at what the AA lost with the addition of those seats and think about whether the net gain could be larger if the seats were elsewhere in the stadium (like south end zone).
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What good does that do? It is already built and it is generating income. So, the solution is to spend a öööö ton of money re-building the luxury seats in a new location?

The case could be made to replace the South stands with more premium seating, but that would likely have to be new premium seating to make any sort of financial sense.
 
So many of the changes to facilities have been poor imo. I’ve always disliked the Edge Center and preferred the prior stadium configuration. It was just an attempt at updating that ended up just sloppy looking.

Same thing with Mcamish. Ya it looks new but it just doesn’t have nearly as good of a vibe for actually watching the games in the stands. The original Alexander Memorial Coliseum was better. Better sight lines, closer to the court, and a frigging sound amplifier. All Tech should have done was renovate the locker room and give the scoreboards a facelift. How much cash would we have saved for more nostalgic and overall more pleasing facilities if we had just kept them with some minor improvements.
 
05GTCorndog said:
What good does that do? It is already built and it is generating income. So, the solution is to spend a öööö ton of money re-building the luxury seats in a new location?

The case could be made to replace the South stands with more premium seating, but that would likely have to be new premium seating to make any sort of financial sense.
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They at the very least should put a new front on the Wardlaw to line it up with the field and enhance the premium seating there. That wouldn't be terribly expensive and would likely sell a few more premium seats. When they can, they should replace the Upper East, adding a level or two of premium boxes between lower us upper levels. Those would provide a nice income stream. Then they can change the current club seating back to higher priced general seating.
 
05GTCorndog said:
This thread jumped the shark quickly. It went from a discussion on our $300 million debt to "Our stadium is asymmetrical and therefore should be rebuilt."
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Yep. There's a lack of facing reality here similar to US national debt. I'd like to see a cash flow projection with reasonable assumptions that pay down this debt to a manageable level, not grandiose pie in the sky rebuilding plans. Under any reasonable assumptions it appears we are going to have to go thru an AA bankruptcy. No money should be spent that doesn't have a realistic ROI. We still have 130 year old buildings being successfully repurposed all over the hill. Don't tear down, sharpen the pencils and renovate. If the numbers don't work, start planning the funeral.
 
ramblinwise1 said:
Yep. There's a lack of facing reality here similar to US national debt. I'd like to see a cash flow projection with reasonable assumptions that pay down this debt to a manageable level, not grandiose pie in the sky rebuilding plans. Under any reasonable assumptions it appears we are going to have to go thru an AA bankruptcy. No money should be spent that doesn't have a realistic ROI. We still have 130 year old buildings being successfully repurposed all over the hill. Don't tear down, sharpen the pencils and renovate. If the numbers don't work, start planning the funeral.
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Not necessarily. We have $65M worth of paper that will mature between today and the end of 2024. That's roughly $20M a year. That's very difficult, but likely doable with a campaign to ease the crunch. We cannot kick it down the road further because of what already awaits there.

Speaking of: For the 18 years between 2025 and 2043 there are a whopping $241M due. That's about $13M a year. As long as income remains steady, this will be less difficult to do, and much will be refinanced to kick the can down the road even further. That will ease the year-to-year blow but cost us a bunch more in interest. Still... it's doable.

I don't think the GTAA is looking at bankruptcy. They just cannot take on any more debt until this is serviced somehow. The problem is we have a lot of older facilities, and they require capital upkeep. BDS badly needs to be renovated and brought up to code. Part of our issue is we have never wanted to spend the money to do this, and the facility just deteriorates further. It will never be cheaper to do these upgrades than it is today. The GTAA must establish a capital upkeep fund out of which upgrades to repair deterioration and maintain code compliance are paid.

We have $175M+ in the bank from the AI2020 campaign. The portion earmarked to finance future building projects might should be repurposed, if legally possible, to address our current debt issues and establish that fund. Only then should we be planning new athletic building projects. I think this could be done relatively quickly, if the funds on hand can be repurposed. *This is the pressing issue at hand, and must be given the priority it needs.*
 
I might add that how much debt we allow to go forward and how much we campaign to pay down early depends on our debt service ceiling - how much debt service is acceptable for the GTAA to plan to carry so as to properly leverage their assets. Surely the current amount is beyond acceptable. How much they fund raise to pay down depends on how much they should carry to maximize leverage. I have no idea how much that might be.
 
And... another reply to point up... yet again... that this is why the mad rush to the brink that college football is engaged in is hurting so many programs and benefitting so few. Coaches are ridiculously expensive now and players are now beginning to cash in as well. Everyone must bow to the TV god to pay for all this. It. Is. Killing. The. Game. The Goose that lays the golden eggs is in the pot and the temperature is increasing slowly. GA Tech is hardly alone here.
 
In terms of ROI, I don't think there is a higher figure than hiring the best possible head football coach. That's why it's lunacy that Tech doesn't try in that capacity. We all wish Key the best, but I think everyone understands that he isn't going to resurrect our program into national prominence. He will be better than the Clown, but we all understand the ceiling. If you aren't going to aim to be great, why spend 3-4M/year on a head coach and be forced to buy them out after 3+ years of crappy mediocrity? It just doesn't make sense. Just go cheap then, roll the dice, and give some spread/air raid 30-year old understudy the reins.
 
cincytechie said:
In terms of ROI, I don't think there is a higher figure than hiring the best possible head football coach. That's why it's lunacy that Tech doesn't try in that capacity. We all wish Key the best, but I think everyone understands that he isn't going to resurrect our program into national prominence. He will be better than the Clown, but we all understand the ceiling. If you aren't going to aim to be great, why spend 3-4M/year on a head coach and be forced to buy them out after 3+ years of crappy mediocrity? It just doesn't make sense. Just go cheap then, roll the dice, and give some spread/air raid 30-year old understudy the reins.
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If we're paying Key 3-4M/year then we ööööed up. Hiring Key IS going cheap, hopefully only for the short term.
 
What a öööö playcall by KState needing a first down to start icing the game. Send the shortest player you have long on 3rd and 6.
 
vapspwi said:
I like the idea of turning the club lounge into a food court kind of area, which opens up the claustrophobic east concourse.

What’s even in Wardlaw anymore? Last I knew, there was a parking deck (behind the south stands) and a big ballroom (at the top of the stands). It would cost some money, but you could conceivably convert that stuff into club amenities and integrate it into the stadium.

JRjr
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It used to be called Tech Terrace and not a bad place to watch a game. Not sure what it’s called now.

Went to a Veteran’s event in there. It’s pretty nice.
 
EastboundJacket said:
Is it really because of bad coaching contracts?
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Because all but a fistful of college programs are broke.
Because college athletics are a way to enrich coaches and administrators and boosters who are granted contracts to build buildings etc. ie it’s all a scam.

if the program wasn’t broke, that would mean there is money lying around that isn’t being absorbed by coaches/administrators/boosters which wouldmean the scam was being run really poorly.

Being broke is a necessary indication that the scam is being run efficiently.
 
The debt isn’t the problem. The debt is the point of college athletics.

Until people recognize that college athletics is setup for one reason only, which is shoveling hundreds of millions of dollars towards highly corrupt local construction companies and other contractors, we’ll keep having this problem.

People keep fighting over $5mm paid to coaches, and $320jerseys given to players whereas the builders and contractors are taking hundreds of millions every year.

College athletics is a corrupt contractor welfare scheme.
 
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