Why the Benz?

[GoGATech]

It's about recruiting. Kids love playing in these nice NFL stadiums. We will have over 100 kids visiting for this one.

 

[RamblinWreck09]

It's about recruiting. Kids love playing in these nice NFL stadiums. We will have over 100 kids visiting for this one.

I know that's been a stated justification but I'm not sure if we'll get an actual recruiting benefit out of it.

Pitt plays all their games in an NFL stadium - does that help them with recruiting?

 

[gtGreg768b]

How do we make more money if the stadium is not very full?

How is it more profitable to leave an on campus stadium you own to play a mile away at a stadium you don't own?

We will be playing in a red stadium wearing blue uniforms. How does that make Tech Have a greater home field advantage and a recognisable look?

I have a lot of fond memories with relatives of games at Grant Field. I hope we win and that this helps recruiting, but I'm sentimental about Grant Field.

Good grief... It's one freaking game. Y'all will bitch about anything!

 

[GoGATech]

I know that's been a stated justification but I'm not sure if we'll get an actual recruiting benefit out of it.

Pitt plays all their games in an NFL stadium - does that help them with recruiting?

I guess it's different when you have your own stadium but also have the ability to play in a very nice NFL dome stadium too. There's nothing special about Heinz field. Our benefit is kids like playing in these "specialty" type games, the Benz is a nice stadium, and it gets them in the door. You might have kids visit to this one that end up with legit interest in GT that originally only came to go to a free game in the Benz.

 

[wesleyd21]

Paul Johnson lost his only game in the Benz and I don’t recall all this whiny crap prior to kickoff.

 

[vapspwi]

Georgia Tech made $2.85 Million from their game at their 2017 Mercedes-Benz game with Tennessee. From that you can estimate that Georgia Tech will be making somewhere between $10 – $15 Million for moving a series of games less than 3 miles from their home stadium.

The Tennessee game was a neutral site game, split between us, Tennessee, and the promoters or whatever. These new games are true GT home games, so we get the bulk of the tix and the revenue.

It’s just unfortunate that the marquee matchup with ND got cancelled last year and we have a fairly pedestrian matchup with UNC to start things off. But I suppose the idea was sound in theory, even though I’d much rather see the games at BDS.

JRjr

 

[JJacket]

I know that's been a stated justification but I'm not sure if we'll get an actual recruiting benefit out of it.

Pitt plays all their games in an NFL stadium - does that help them with recruiting?

You're "not sure"? Anything other than your personal feelings on the matter to show it doesn't help?

 

[JJacket]

The Tennessee game was a neutral site game, split between us, Tennessee, and the promoters or whatever. These new games are true GT home games, so we get the bulk of the tix and the revenue.

It’s just unfortunate that the marquee matchup with ND got cancelled last year and we have a fairly pedestrian matchup with UNC to start things off. But I suppose the idea was sound in theory, even though I’d much rather see the games at BDS.

JRjr

I'm guessing we got UNC because that is just the best we can get this season. Clemson next season will fill the place, especially since we were so competitive this season

 

[gtg970g]

A reduced capacity MBS is actually a much better size than BDS. Environment will be great if folks can stop botching long enough to show up.

 

[ee8384]

Lol. Yes because teams in major media markets who play in pro stadiums have a strong track record of success and growing the fanbase. Derp.

Oh wait, no that's actually completely ass backwards and every program who has done this (shared stadiums) has realized nothing takes the place of an on-campus stadium. Show me a successful program that decides that tradition deserves to be ööööted on to grow the fan base. Without winning, tradition is the only thing college football has to offer. Without tradition, college football is garbage.

The only argument that holds water in this thread is that it somehow creates excitement for the kids which will bring in recruits. I'll accept that as a subjective argument but I reserve the right to have the opinion that it is highly laughable that its is some kind of deal breaker with any recruit worth a damn. Unless we are filling MBS with more than 55,000, playing UNC makes absolutely no sense other than fulfilling our contractual obligation to pay MBS rent to use their facility.

Now, we will likely make more money when we host Clemson and Notre Dame, by trading a home game for what is essentially a neutral site bowl game. If that's what we arguably need to do for solvency, fine, but get the hell out of it when the winning starts and the money is healthy. If the winning doesn't start then we gained absolutely nothing but a hamstrung continuation of a losing program, to sell some seats to opposing fans.

If we were in Statesboro or Dalton or Macon, playing a game in MBS would make a lot of sense. We're already in ööööing Atlanta lol.

Faith or trust? F no. That has to be earned. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Go Jackets!

Help me out here. I am racking my brain trying to come up with another college team in a major market with an on-campus stadium that has played games in a pro stadium located in the same city. Other than Tech, which other team(s) are you derping?

 

[PressManCoverage]

I know that's been a stated justification but I'm not sure if we'll get an actual recruiting benefit out of it.

Pitt plays all their games in an NFL stadium - does that help them with recruiting?

Completely different scenario

Right now in this region, the Metro Atlanta Area is one of the most FB crazed parts of the Country when you consider, HS, FCS College, G5 College, P5 College, and The NFL

PITT has no decent on Campus Stadium that I'm aware of, also Heinz Field is a Dump that will never host a Super Bowl(s), a CFP Game nor a Natl Championship Game

In fact the Comparison with Pitt is probably the worst you could've chosen

What we are doing is akin to TCU playing a Game at JerryWorld, or Arizona State playing a big game in the same the Cardinals play in, maybe UNLV playing in the LV Raiders new Stadium, etc

I wish we had been doing this going back to the "old" GA Dome, maybe if we had done that, then maybe Bama doesn't play here every other year and use it as a valuable Recruiting Tool for them

Maybe we can do that -- open the Season Every Labor Day weekend with a Big inter-sectional opponent at MBS and call it the Yellow Jacket-CFB Kickoff Classic, get Corp Sponsors and "some" of our opponents won't demand a Return Trip because the money will balance out vs buying a home win vs a directional school

Gotta have some showmanship and some PT Barnum in this new CFB Era, we have to try different things if we are going to change our trajectory and bring in better Recruits

You should know that Pitt is nothing like GT with all the advantages that we have been wasting all these years

 

[JJacket]

Help me out here. I am racking my brain trying to come up with another college team in a major market with an on-campus stadium that has played games in a pro stadium located in the same city. Other than Tech, which other team(s) are you derping?

First, how many teams for your criteria? South Florida and Miami already play home games in a pro stadium. Pittsburgh does. Not sure who plays where in LA pro football (is there a team in LA? I don't keep up with the NFL)
Not sure if there are others, but it would be kind of difficult for other teams to do this. We are literally within sight of MB stadium. Obviously, there is nowhere for an FSU, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Clemson to go.

 

[andrew]

Help me out here. I am racking my brain trying to come up with another college team in a major market with an on-campus stadium that has played games in a pro stadium located in the same city. Other than Tech, which other team(s) are you derping?

This would ge a great trivia question.

Maryland has done it. They moved two of their home games to the Ravens stadium and received $7 million for it in the early 2010s.

Obviously it's not the same exact city but it's less than an hour drive from one to the other so I'd say it's basically the same situation as us. Their on campus stadium is also the same size as ours.

 

[andrew]

Unless we are filling MBS with more than 55,000, playing UNC makes absolutely no sense other than fulfilling our contractual obligation to pay MBS rent to use their facility.

I don't think this is the case. When we signed the contract with MBS, it specified that we would only be using 45k seats and the rent was less than half as much as if we were renting the whole stadium. This whole thing is about money, we wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't profitable. The recruiting, player excitement, "we are Atlanta" stuff are all completely secondary rationalizations rather than factors driving the moves.

» For the two ACC games — Tech is at home against North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech in both 2021 and 2023, along with Boston College in 2021 and Louisville in 2023 — Tech is planning to use only the lower bowl, which has a capacity of 45,000. (The rent for that configuration is $500,000 in 2021, compared with $1.1 million in 2020 for the full stadium for the first Notre Dame game.)

The athletic department could rent the entire stadium for either of those two games if it deems it profitable, Rountree said.

» Tech estimated a profit of $4.4 million for each for the two Notre Dame games — well ahead of the $2 million it would expect to make at Bobby Dodd — and that was using a low-end estimate of 54,000 tickets sold. Selling out the building could be worth an additional $1.2 million.

...


The athletic department estimates that the five games will generate $10 million more in revenue than if the games were to be held at Bobby Dodd Stadium, according to documents obtained in an open-records request. Moreover, the projection is based off of conservative ticket-sales figures.

Georgia Tech revenue estimates from Mercedes-Benz Stadium games

When considering the potential revenues that games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium could bring, Georgia Tech athletic-department officials had a seemingly simple decision to go ahead with the five-game series that begins in 2020.

www.ajc.com

 

[GT flunkout]

I don't think this is the case. When we signed the contract with MBS, it specified that we would only be using 45k seats and the rent was less than half as much as if we were renting the whole stadium. This whole thing is about money, we wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't profitable. The recruiting, player excitement, "we are Atlanta" stuff are all completely secondary rationalizations rather than factors driving the moves.

Georgia Tech revenue estimates from Mercedes-Benz Stadium games

When considering the potential revenues that games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium could bring, Georgia Tech athletic-department officials had a seemingly simple decision to go ahead with the five-game series that begins in 2020.

www.ajc.com

The numbers situation seems much more fuzzy this year when viewed as a standalone game, versus taking the contract as a whole. Definitely we will make money over the whole contract, but there doesn't seem to be anything definitive on how much extra money we are making by selling 45k (if that) tomorrow plus the cost of rent, versus another day in BDS. Point taken though.

 

[Chattanooga Jacket]

Sorry for the newbie question. I'm new to GT football and haven't seen a game in 2 years, and someone gave me some free tickets. Why is this game not at BDS? I guess when you're as bad as we are home field advantage really doesn't matter?

Collins promised everyone that GT would be a powerhouse

Sorry for the newbie question. I'm new to GT football and haven't seen a game in 2 years, and someone gave me some free tickets. Why is this game not at BDS? I guess when you're as bad as we are home field advantage really doesn't matter?

Powerhouse programs like GT have problems with finding enough seats to accommodate their crazed fans, so a bigger place was needed to pack them in.

 

[vapspwi]

PITT has no decent on Campus Stadium that I'm aware of, also Heinz Field is a Dump that will never host a Super Bowl(s), a CFP Game nor a Natl Championship Game

There’s nothing wrong with Heinz Field. It’s in a beautiful location looking out on the river, it’s got a built-in transit station, it still seems like a pretty new, clean facility, it has good seats, wide concourses, and good food options. Its even sort of got the right color scheme for Pitt. It’s a perfectly fine stadium.

That said, Pitt games there kind of suck - the place is 2/3 empty and there’s no college atmosphere or home field feel (despite a half-baked attempt to hang up some Pitt banners).

Miami is kind of the same deal, except the stadium is worse and in a worse location. Also, öööö Miami.

It’ll be interesting to see how the GT experience in the dome compares to the Pitt and Miami experiences.

JRjr

 

[txsting]

Sorry for the newbie question. I'm new to GT football and haven't seen a game in 2 years, and someone gave me some free tickets. Why is this game not at BDS? I guess when you're as bad as we are home field advantage really doesn't matter?

We wanted to play at Georgia State but they turned us down.

 

[BigDanT]

Pitt should have never demolished their own stadium. Same with Miami.

 

[jacket67]

Aside from being an NFL stadium, the appeal of MBS is also about being a site for high-profile college games. The Peach Bowl, Chick-fil-A Kickoff games, and SEC Championship all have big TV viewership, probably more than most of the Falcon home games. Unfortunately, young players probably don't really know or care about the history of BDS@HGF, but they understand the current environment and the hype surrounding those kind of games.