This one comes via a suggestion from Rocketdawg – quite simply, I’d like to get a gauge on how many season ticket holders plan on renewing their packages this year. As you’ll see from the questions, I’m also interested in hearing about what those who’ve decided against renewal plan on doing in the alternative.
Please feel free to elaborate on your decision in the comments. I’d also like to hear from fans from other schools about this.
Get The Picture 
I hate the cupcakes. But understand. And there is nothing like an Athens tailgate.
LikeLike
You’ll find this one difficult to believe. We have gotten 4 tickets since 2003ish. The past 3 years the $2,200 has been difficult to rationalize based on us having had a young child and there being only 3+/- compelling home games every year. It’s so much easier to watch the Georgia home games on TV. However, the W pitches a fit over this in budget discussions every year. Can’t risk losing the seat placement.
LikeLike
2013 will be my 20th as a season tix holder. I skip some home games due to family obligations and I loathe the 2-3 cupcake schedules. However, my ticket holder “equity” moves me to keep my place in the cumulative points line.
LikeLike
I’m in. But I strongly recommend the secondary market option to anyone considering tickets. Sure, you’ll pay a ton for LSU, but you’ll be grinning ear to ear when you’re in a better seat that me for a directional cupcake that cost me ~$100/ticket including donation.
LikeLike
Renewing because I just can’t give it up yet. I value those weekends when I can go drink some beer with friends and watch some football. I watched the Florida game from home last year (2012), and as awesome as it was, it just wasn’t the same as being there.
LikeLike
I didn’t vote b/c I don’t have an official season package, but I attend multiple games a year (including G Day) and have traveled to several bowl games. That said, I find myself going to fewer games each year partly due to my current phase in life with young children, but also because there is just not enough value. I usually can find tickets through friends at a reasonable price, but if not, feel I can navigate the scalpers well enough to get a fair price. But it’s all the other stuff- I feel like I’m getting punked at every turn: parking, concessions, squeezing the life out of my tailgating experience, etc. The cupcakes sure don’t help either. And this is coming from an alum who has been going to games since before I can remember.
LikeLike
never understand these comments. My experience is the exact opposite for games. Free parking, great tailgate where we are never bothered and the cops generally stop by to chit chat and grab a bit and a water, concessions might not be great, but you can always get a diet coke with ice and some candy or popcorn. We even got to bring the trailer back last season.
LikeLike
I used to park in the east campus deck, until the athens cops started “directing traffic” in the crosswalk between there and north campus, and giving open container tickets to anyone holding a cup and crossing the street.
no, i didn’t get nabbed, but that is bs.
of course, i can’t park there anymore anyway as it is locked to season-parking holders.
this was also about the time where they made it so you couldn’t really tailgate on north campus.
the fun was gone–i go back every couple of years because i love it so, but i feel like i am at disney world paying the max at every turn.
LikeLike
sorry–talking about the north campus deck.
there were no decks when i was in school…
LikeLike
Dawg Phan, where do you park? Just curious, because the only free spots I know anything about require getting to the parking lot at 7 AM, or walking half an hour each way to get to the stadium, or riding shuttles that take forever to go back & forth in all the traffic.
Also, for me, there’s the problem of getting to Athens in the first place. I live in Rome, and on gamedays last year it was a 2 1/2 to 3 hour trip each way. The top end perimeter around Atlanta, between I-75 and I-85, was slow because of construction all season, so we went all the way downtown to the 75-85 split on Athens trips, that was faster than sitting in I-285 traffic. (As anybody who makes the trip knows, there’s no good way to get from anyplace in NW GA to Athens.)
Add to all this my seat location: just about the worst you can get in the $325/seat section. I’ve been buying tickets in my own name for 12-13 years, I’m a 1975 UGA graduate, but I still don’t have enough points for decent seats or to qualify for Clemson and Auburn away-game tickets this year.
My wife and I split the tickets with our son & his family–otherwise we wouldn’t be buying season tickets at all. We really enjoy the experience when we’re our tailgates and in the stadium, especially when the play is at the west end, where we’re able to actually see what’s happening on the field. But, the whole experience is just getting tougher every year.
LikeLike
Parking is free on East Campus and on the intramural fields and they shuttle you to the gate for free.
LikeLike
renewing. added a 4th ticket last season. happy with my seats. Love the idea of slowly moving up, though I know I will likely never be getting great this way. If I could get to the point where i could order Tech and Florida tickets I would be happy.
I have a feeling the minimum donation is going up this year.
LikeLike
I gave ’em up in 2012. I still went to Tennessee and Georgia Tech and saved a fortune overall. Family is the main reason I gave them up, and not the cupcakes — although the cupcakes made it easier to say no. I have a two-year-old son and another due in March, and it was too much of a hassle to go several weeks in a row (even living in Athens).
LikeLike
Can i choose option 1 AND 3? I keep renewing and plan to keep renewing but find my trips to Athens becoming more and more rare simply because life gets in the way sometimes. Fortunately i recoup most of the investment thru ticket sales and am willing to just eat what i don’t recoup to be able to say i am a season ticket holder, have the option of going to games, have better chances at away game and bowl game tickets.
LikeLike
Renew – I live out of state (NC), and I know it’s a better deal to buy only the games I attend on the secondary market. At the end of the day, I hope my oldest is in Athens in a couple of years so I have an excuse to go visit.
LikeLike
I’m 2 years out of college with a two year old (wasn’t planned but what can you do) so I’m not a season ticket holder, but I’m not sure I’ll ever start considering the $2200 minimum donation folks are talking about and the crummy seats that gets you, coupled with only 1-2 good home games per year. My 50 inch plasma and a brand new lazy boy recliner makes the decision a bit easier, although I still try to make it to Athens at least once per season for a good game. As much as I love watching it from my living room, there’s just nothing like being there when it comes to the big games.
LikeLike
“Wasn’t planned, but what can yuo do”. Well, there’s answers for that and you better figure it out…QUICK.
LikeLike
Renew – even though I didn’t attend a single game last year… I moved to Chicago in the same season that I was finally awarded my season tickets, so the cost of donation, tickets, travel, lodging, etc. just isn’t quite offset by the savings on bar expenses in Athens vs. Chicago (though it’s close). I’ll continue to renew because someday I hope to have children attending UGA & I’d love to spend Saturday’s with them at the games. I’ve sold my tickets each of the last two years for face value with the requirement that the purchaser cheer loudly & represent me well.
LikeLike
I gave them up before the 2012 season after being a season ticket holder for 12 years. I still sent my donation money so i could be honest with myself that I was a true supporter of the program. I live in Savannah with two young sons that play sports on Saturdays. I was giving away most games anyway. Now, we make one game a year. And yes, watching at home on the big screen made the decision easier.
LikeLike
I have 2 children at UGA now. My oldest graduated in May 2011. I have not had season tickets in years because of soccer, football, dance, (you name it) on the weekends as they were growing up. Still, I went to 3 – 4 games a year and was able to get decent seats from friends or acquaintences. With the kids there now, my wife and I attended every home tailgate this year. Had a great time at my son’s fraternity house with my daughter coming by our tailgate on the front yard. Then, after everyone left, we went in the house, watched the game on television. It may not have been as exciting as in person, but we had a great time and did not spend near as much money as we would have had to otherwise. Given the uncertainty of game times, the tv availability of each game in Athens at almost any location and the cost — I expect we will continue to go to Athens, every homegame to tailgate and be a part of the atmosphere before and after and maybe attend a couple of games in Sanford, But my days as a season ticketholder are over.
LikeLike
Already re-upped. My wife pesters me until I renew the tickets each year because we enjoy each others’ company. I walk to the games and then home afterwards to freshen up. I tailgate in my house/yard. Y’all come on over. There’s usually plenty of folks around. Somebody bring some ice, and I think we’re out of potato salad… Gameday is a real blessing when you’re surrounded by 92,745 of your closest friends. Go Dawgs.
LikeLike
Wow…I’m jealous.
LikeLike
I think I know you.
Does your better half spend her work days counting and fending off addicts?
LikeLike
In a manner of speaking, yes. You bring the potato salad then, stoop. I’m afraid if Cali Ben does it will spoil during his flight. He can just scoop up a couple of bags of ice on his way in. 😉
LikeLike
There ain’t no other place to be on Fall Saturdays. You guys with young kids, how about bringing them to Athens and raising a new generation of Dawgs? I’ve got 4 young kids and they bleed red and black because they spend 6-7 Saturdays each fall with Daddy in the stands cheering on our favorite team. I just can’t wait till my oldest can drive so I can sleep on the way back from those late night road games. I’m renewing and getting my 4 year-old his first season ticket this year as he’s ready for a whole season of games.
LikeLike
You said it. Everything else is just 21rst Century problems. Go Dawgs.
LikeLike
I ain’t takin’ mine ’til he’s at least 6.
LikeLike
Man, as soon as ours were potty trained, they were in the mix. All of them got season tix at 5, and they bleed it, brother. To each his own, but there’s no doubt where by boys’ allengiances lie because they were raised between the hedges.
Last week my 8 year-old asked me, “Daddy, do you think we’ll get that kid out of Norcross?” I had a little tear well up. “I don’t know, son, but I sure hope so.”
LikeLike
I didn’t answer the poll because my season tickets were staff tickets (row 20, 5-yard line, southeast corner) but I gave them up in 2009 as part of a promotion. I considered joining the alumni system but there are so many cheap, high-quality tickets floating around Athens in the days leading up to a game that it would never be worth the price. I do miss them, though.
LikeLike
I don’t count in the discussion, but similar thoughts as others. I gave them up years ago. Not living in the deep South since the mid-80s, really made it a hassle. Add children, work, etc. and it got harder.
Combine all that with a big screen and the game on every week – even crap games – and I’ll let all my friends who live 4 hours away go to games. AU has a very tempting home schedule this year.
These days we typically make 1 home, 1 away. Often, I’ll tie the game weekend to something else – family, another game, beach, etc.
LikeLike
My family has had multiple season tickets since leather helmets. When it became my choice I let them go…I never understood the social aspects of football…I just wanted to go to the freaking game…who can stand around and bullshit with folks you don’t really know for two hours when the end of the fucking world is nigh?
My tired old soul can’t take being any closer to the game than TV and radio.
I do, however, miss Larry, and wounder if we’ll ever win another one without him.
LikeLike
I gave up 50 yard line seats behind the visitor’s bench years ago after moving to Texas.
Huge regret. Players, coaches, teams, schedules, etc. all change, but (hopefully) never tradition. Keep ’em if you got ’em.
LikeLike
*wonder….oh….wait a minute….maybe wounder is right?
LikeLike
Happy to renew, as I have every fall since graduating in 1998. My wife and I each got 2 tickets and are very fortunate to get the seat placments we have when we did (lower level corner). Would like to move, but we sit on the border of the next donation level up if we go any closer along the sidelines. With 2 young boys and a wife who loves UGA football, it’s a great investment. The look of glee on my 7 year old’s face as he watched in person Ogletree body slam that GT running back was priceless.
LikeLike
Did not vote because I am truly on the fence this year. I have had season tickets in some way, shape, or form since 1980. (Helluva season to start, huh?) First it was through my parents, then through student access while I was in school and started donating and buying my own in 1994. I have been sitting in the same seats for over a decade now and I do not like them. But, I have access to other tickets from family members for most games so I only sit in my seats 1 to 2 times per year.
I am torn because having gone as many years as I have along with living in Athens and in as close of a proximity to the stadium as I do, it is hard to imagine what else I would do on a football Saturday. I also have the good fortune to get a parking pass as a Christmas gift from my in-laws each year, so the hassle of getting there is non-existent.
I’m just tired of being treated like cattle by the Athletic Association and the University. Not renewing will not mean that I have to stop going or stop tailgating as that is already squared away, I just may have to miss some of the big games if other family members decide they want to go. The fact that I haven’t moved seats in so long pisses me off and I feel as if the Ticket Office could take a little better care of their long-time benefactors as opposed to just chasing the big check. Miami chased the big check with Nevin Shappiro and that seems to be working out well. Perhaps my donation could be better used elsewhere in the Institution.
What say you?
LikeLike
Just curious how have you not moved in 10 years? I started donating about the same time as you (1996) and only give the min $800 for two tickets. I have moved all the way down to section 108 row 39 from where I started back in 1996 (upper deck corner). You are definitely not being taken care of if you are asking for best available and have not moved past seats you do not like.
LikeLike
Call em and tell em you want to be moved. Have you reached out to the AA to see what they can do? I agree with reipar: seems you should have moved some in 10 years…
LikeLike
Thanks guys. I will call or go by and see what they say. Perhaps that will help me decide.
LikeLike
renewing – I’m in the same place as several others. I got in cheap, I’m not ready to give them up. Got 8 tix between a family member and myself. He’s on the 40 (home) and I’m in the corner of the endzone above the band. My seats are good considering this my 5th year of donating. Parking hasn’t been an issue (North Deck) but will be in the future. When the parking goes away, that’s probably when I stop going.
LikeLike
Renewed and unlike others I do not mind having two cupcake games a year. They make for good games to take out of town guests, friends that have never been to a game and small children. The tickets are affordable and very easy to come by. You can walk around outside and inside the stadium with no problem by the start of the 4th quarter. Tailgating and restaurants are easier and traffic much less. Plus I am not nearly as nervous at a cupcake game as say an actual SEC game.
Of course to make up for that I usually go to two good away games a year so I feel my schedule balances out 🙂
LikeLike
Renewed, but then I get f/s tix, so I’d pretty much have to be an idiot to not keep getting them. And yeah, I’ll be at the scrimmages, too.
LikeLike
can we at least stop saying that you didn’t renew because of Adams, or the AD or other such nonsense. If you didn’t renew it wasnt because the University created a bad environment for football fun.
LikeLike
I will not be in a position to consider purchasing season tickets for a long time. If that point ever arrives (perhaps as I near retirement), though, I will probably just stick to secondary markets.
As it stands now, I’ve enjoyed watching the games at the new Georgia Theatre. Occasionally, I might splurge to get tickets to a big, high profile game. As much fun as it is to watch a game on a huge projection screen w/ friends, it is no substitute for being in the stadium during a huge game. In the future, I won’t remember much about watching a game at Georgia Theatre. However, I’ll always remember dusting LSU between the hedges in 2004 and the Blackout in 2007. Luckily, I didn’t dish out $150-$200 to see the Blackout in 2008; that’s the flip-side of the coin.
Cupcakes, regardless of where you watch them, are not memorable.
LikeLike
Renewing with the option of putting them up on Stubhub. With the players returning on offense and leaving on defense, though, this has the potential to be one exciting game after another.
LikeLike
We’ve been renewing since 1983 and will continue to do so. Tailgates are important touch points for our family and friends. The cupcake games are primarily for the younger generation to introduce their kids to our extended family and the experience. Our commute from Atlanta is worth it. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
It’s not just about the football.
LikeLike
Serious questions…. I see the statements above, and read them elsewhere about being treated like cattle, kill the enjoyment, etc. etc.
2 questions: How do you consider yourself treated as such, and what would be your solution to handle 100,000 people on a given Saturday.
LikeLike
Renewing. I’ve had season tickets since 1988. I’ve had as many as 6 but i’m down to 2. For the last 12 years I have traveled from Southwest Florida, about 600 miles one way. If my children did not live in Atlanta I would have given them up a long time ago. The fact that all the games are on TV has made it harder and harder to justify the tickets.
LikeLike
Renew — last year was my first season as a season ticket holder and it was a no-brainier to renew. Despite the great season and (because I’m superstitious) feeling like I was a part of it, there is NOTHING like being a season ticket holder.
There is a pride—-the likes of which I’ve never felt before. It was also cool to tell of an older Tech fan (who was drunk and obnoxious) and was convinced our seats were his.
GO DAWGS!!!!!!!
LikeLike
dropping from 8 to 4. i always had extras for friends but it has become hard to get them to pay (face) for my extras. I really liked accumulating the points but they still seem to get me nowhere.
LikeLike
I have been a season ticket holder since 1975. The entertainment value of my tickets has been priceless. I have had the same seats for years because I like them (chairbacks, under the overhang) and I like the folks who sit around us.
My husband says I was real cute when he met me, and after he found out I had four season tickets I became drop-dead gorgeous….thirty years ago.
LikeLike
Renewing. We are only about a mile from the stadium, which is especially nice when my annual sinus attack hits and I’m not up to an early tailgate, but don’t want to miss the game. We could have moved to better seats after all this time, but I really like being around the same people every year for the past 15. We’ve watched kids grow up, and know our seat-neighbors, which makes it easy to find extra tickets for friends so they can sit with us. First SEC game of the season always feels like a reunion.
I admit to skipping out on some cupcake games, especially early in the season as those teams are never worth getting heat stroke, and I usually have to work one weekend per month. But we tailgate with people I’ve known my whole life, and even when we don’t tailgate, it’s just a nice day with my husband doing something fun. That’s what I’m paying for, and I try to stay hopeful–there were a lot fewer ads with blaring music this season, and it made the games far more pleasant.
LikeLike
I get F/S tickets so I feel as if I can afford to go ahead and buy them and give the lousy games to folks who can’t.
LikeLike
this entire string of posts should be required reading for jere morehead.
LikeLike
Renewing. I graduated in 2008 and got in after the 2010 disaster, er, um I mean, 2010 season. I used money I saved on deployment to plop down for 4 tickets in 305. Even though I can’t make it to every game, I have no problem selling the tickets, usually to friends or family, and almost always for face value (as long as I have a personal relationship with them). When I was deployed, I realized I can’t take such awesome experiences as a Fall Saturday in Athens for granted as we never know how long we’ll be here. I live in NC this year (hopefully for more, but we’ll see what happens) so I should be able to make 4 or 5 home games…it’s always worth the drive. I very much look forward to the day when I have kids and can raise them Between the Hedges each fall and have a son that worries about whether or not we’ll get some star recruit, like someone above mentioned. Watching it on TV is nice and all but it doesn’t come remotely close to the emotions and passion you feel when sitting with 92,746 of your closest friends and you’re all calling the Dawgs together. The Trumpet Soloist gives me chills every time. Go Dawgs.
LikeLike
Renewing, finished up grad school in 2011 and got in before last season with the minimum per seat donations. As much as I hate the cupcakes and down years, I was happy to take advantage and get in at the minimum compared to the 10K a few years back. Helps to have friends (and friends parents) who have season tickets to be able to tailgate and catch up with. It may be cheaper in the end to buy game tickets aftermarket, but I take pride in supporting the university financially and see it as an investment in the future hoping I am able to be a season ticket holder for 40 or 50 years (God-willing).
LikeLike
Thanks for putting this up Senator. I am still really torn on what to do, I have had a season ticket in one form or fashion since ’98 and have been going to UGA games since ’78 so it will be hard to give that up. That being said with 2 kids involved in sports and the availability of seats on the secondary market I could cherry pick the games I want to go to and still come out ahead. Decisions, decisions!
LikeLike
I gave up on the season tickets last year and I’m very happy with my decision. I had been getting them for about 14 years and had decent seats but the secondary market is a much better fit for me. I don’t have any desire to see North Texas or Appalachian State and, at this point, I’m questionable at best for Missouri and Kentucky.
LikeLike
Some of the best advice I ever got was from a really good friend who pointed out that in the small town where I live I’ve got to act like a professional and I needed a place to go where I could just be a Chuck. I go to Athens because that’s where I get to be Chuck. I get to relax and If I do really stupid things, no one cares. I will continue to do that as long as I’m physically capable of dragging myself up to Athens on selected Saturdays in the fall.
LikeLike
The current model that works for me (I live in Atlanta) is to renew and then sell the games I don’t want in the secondary market on Craigslist. So far, it’s been a breeze. Sold every game I didn’t go to. I’ve even had the UGA fans I sold them to email me for future opportunities. I don’t gouge people. I sell the cupcakes at face value and an SEC matchup for $50. I go to the big games and 1 or 2 of the lesser games. Alsos, usually 1 road ggame.
LikeLike