Let me see if I’ve got this straight.
- Georgia Tech’s athletic department is in a financial hole because its basketball team can’t draw.
- On the other hand, Georgia’s men’s basketball team, suffering through its worst season in a while, still manages to break even.
- Georgia Tech’s football team, in spite of the excitement generated by its new coach and its first victory over its hated in state rival in almost a decade, bucked a national trend and saw home attendance decline last season. (Georgia Tech football – it was Chantastic!) Considering that the school had to fund a buyout and a big new contract for the old and new head coaches respectively, that probably doesn’t add up to a lot of financial success in that area, either.
- Meanwhile in Athens, the dumbasses that run the athletic department have somehow bumbled their way into a $20 million surplus for the year and have managed to bank a total of $60 million – almost enough to run the entire athletic department for a year without selling a single ticket. And that’s before the new football TV contracts kick in.
Brothers and sisters, can I get a “BWHAHAHAHAHAHAAH”?
Like I said before, when the magic of the triple option wears off, and the Jacket fan base grows even more apathetic (or maybe just distracted by the next Star Trek convention), it’s going to get rougher on the Flats, financially speaking.
No, they won't be going to the NC State game that weekend.
Maybe they can get some management advice from Furman Bisher.
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UPDATE: Westerdawg has some thoughts about what to do with the money.
Get The Picture 
NERDS!!!!!
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It’s great to be a dumbass!
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Careful Senator…”Bill” might show back up with his even “richer” commentary.
Oh..what the hell…”BWHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!”
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Remember when Coach Dooley was telling us that Damon needed another year or two under Dooley before taking over?
What was that all about? Hmmmm.
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Now I get it! This explains the whole Reuben Houston episode.
Someone from the AD office called and asked if a brother could spare a dime and he immediately sprung to action … after he finished the cool ranch dorritos.
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BWHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!
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How exactly would a win over Georgia in the last game of the 2008 season cause Tech’s attendance in the preceding games in 2008 to rise?
Your entire post can be summarized in one sentence: UGA has a bigger and more intense fan base that Georgia Tech does, so it can weather an economic downturn better.
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You left out the bigger stadium, too.
The reference to the Georgia win was pure snark; of course it had no effect on Tech’s attendance slippage. But I would have thought that dumping Chan and bringing in a new coach would have had a more dramatic effect on attendance than it did.
As for your point about the more intense fan base, you’d think Tech would have the edge there in basketball. It’s astounding to me that the Georgia men’s basketball program has done better financially than Tech’s program this season.
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Tech only played one of the opponents than traditionally bring a lot of fans: FSU. Georgia and Clemson were on the road and they didn’t have a home OOC game against a team like Notre Dame or Auburn to make up the slack.
Based on the articles, it seems to me that Tech’s hoops program does break even, but it hasn’t generated the sort of projected revenue to pay for other sports.
Next year should be the test for Tech fans in terms of their ability to support a football program. They might have had some skepticism of the change to a true option offense, but after this year’s results, they should be fully onboard. I’m no Tech fan and even I want to go to a game or two next year. (With young sons, it makes more sense than a day-long trip to Athens.)
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I would expect the attendance numbers to climb as a result of Georgia and Clemson being on the home schedule. What seats the Jacket fans don’t buy, Dawg and Tiger fans will.
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