Another area of haves/have-nots concern for college football is attendance.
Through five weeks, announced attendance in Football Bowl Subdivision games is down 1 percent compared to this point in 2013 and nearly 7 percent from three years ago.
The average FBS home crowd this season is 44,997, according to a CBSSports.com analysis of NCAA attendance data. That is down from 45,596 through five weeks in 2013, 47,181 in 2012 and 48,279 in 2011.
The good news for the game’s attendance health: Crowds are up 3 percent among the top 25 attendance leaders, due in part to some expanded stadiums. Seventeen of the top 25 attendance leaders experienced an increase through five weeks compared to 2013. Only 12 of the top 25 leaders in 2013 at this point had an increase from 2012.
The bad news: Many other FBS schools continue to struggle to fill seats. Outside of the top 25 attendance leaders, crowds for the remaining Power 5-conference schools are down 3 percent from 2013.
TV is a culprit, of course. So are neutral site games, which, as Solomon notes, “are continuing to increase and can produce more attractive games than season ticket-holders sometimes pay for on campus.” You’d think that would be a pretty clear hint about what the problem might be, but expecting athletic directors to use logic about the problem is evidently too much to hope for.
Besides, why worry about scheduling when you’ve got Mickey Mouse?
Increasingly, athletic departments are turning to Mickey Mouse for help on how to create a magical football experience.
Numerous schools have used the Disney Institute to reassess their football game experience. The Disney Institute is the professional development arm of The Walt Disney Company that gets hired by many industries, including healthcare, aviation, government/military, food/beverage and retail. The Disney Institute declined to identify or list the number of athletic departments that have worked with the company.
Mickey on the front end and ESPN on the back end. College football, you’re doomed.
Get The Picture 
“As one of the most recognized names in business solutions and professional development, Disney Institute is the only training and development company that empowers organizations to create lasting change through our time-tested model for cultural transformation that bridges insights into action through Disney best practices in leadership; culture; customer experience; brand loyalty; and creativity and innovation.”
LikeLike
Funny how many schools have no problem with students attending when they aren’t playing Troy or Charleston Southern or UMASS. Didn’t notice any student issues with UGA playing Clemson or even UT at that horrible start time.
Think there would have been a shortage of students if LSU had played Wisky in Baton Rouge or Madison. Of course not, but what the hell does the “average” fan know. Unbelievable. Clearly you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to be an AD thiese days.
LikeLike
Being a GSU grad, I know that our inclusion in FBS has to skew the numbers at least a little. We’ve packed Paulson for 2 home games at a 25,000 clip. How many other new to FBS schools over the past several years are skewing those numbers a bit? Just a thought, though undoubtedly TV has a lot to do with it.
LikeLike
I went to the App State game and the stadium was not packed. In fact, it was not even full. I was honestly surprised that there were empty seats.
LikeLike
You’re not very bright, are you? The Disney Co is widely acknowledged as the finest customer service and experience organization in the world. That’s why almost every Fortune 1000 company that sells any kind of product has consulted with them. This is a good thing for the fan experience bozo.
LikeLike
While this is true, customer service is not the true issue.
“Bozo” really? you couldn’t of used, grumpy, dopey…Alladin? STAY ON TOPIC HOTSAUCE!!
LikeLike
What part of “experience” organization do you not understand? Try and keep up…bozo.
LikeLike
Are you suggesting Disney will recommend a better matchups? I’ll hang up and listen.
–Dopey
LikeLike
At what point did I say that? Toure not very bright either, are you? Scheduling is one issue, fan experience once in the stadium is a separate issue. But since you’ve taken is there, for all of you bitching about Charlesyon Southern, you’ll be bitching even more if we have UCLA come in and beat us. Your kind cracks me up…your a genius, pretend athletic director lobbing complaints from the cheap seats.
LikeLike
My understanding is that they brought in Disney to increase fan attendance by improving the experience. The reason they did this is because they want a larger fan attendance.
I am suggesting scheduling better games will help with this, and that beating around the bush with Disney is not addressing the central issue of scheduling.
And I’m not quite saying UGA should schedule tougher, I think we’ve done a pretty good job, but other teams should look closer at why fans aren’t coming to the games.
LikeLike
Why does Goofy wear cloths and have conversations with Micky and Donald when Pluto, (also a dog) can only bark? Why does Donald wear a coat but no pants? This makes no sense. It’s all a stunt designed to get Gyro Gearloose on the MNC Bowl Selection Committee.
Disney my eye.
LikeLike
Well played.
LikeLike
The outgoing Secret Service director like the mouse too:
“Supervisors who had mapped out the security plan said they were taken aback when Pierson, who worked during high school at Walt Disney World as a costumed character and park attendant, said: “We need to be more like Disney World. We need to be more friendly, inviting.”
LikeLike
Micky mouse and cupcakes, oh yay!!
LikeLike
Just out of curiosity, what does it cost to go to a Georgia game from whereever you are…not including the cost of the ticket and the compulsory contribution to obtain the priority to buy same, of course.?
For me, I can drive a real car to Athens and back for about $75.00 plus a couple meals…say another $50.00.
I can cut the cost of the travel in half or less by driving Mrs. Jones’ mighty fine Prius, but man that thing feels funny at 80.
Plus the ticket and the obligatory contribution…oh and the obligatory contribution for the parking pass we used to get free cause they loved us so.
As middle class discretionary income continues to decline it is great to know experts from one of the most expensive entertainment venues in the known world are being called in to consult.
I hope this is not taken as patrimony, but somehow I don’t think this bodes well for the average Joe and Julia Bulldog.
LikeLike
Well for the past thirty one years I could,like yourself, simply drive over from Atlanta on game day. I spent as much or as little as I felt like depending on whether or not we chose to tailgate. For that, there are lots of supplies. Tents, chairs, coolers, tables, grills, food and beverage, etc. Now we live on St. Simons. A trip to Athens is five hours. Rooms, if you are lucky enough to reserve one in February are $400 a night and you have to rent for two nights regardless of whether or not you actually use the room. So right off the bat you’ve dropped nearly a grand. That’s before you gas up the car for ten hours of driving over two days. Needless to say, we don’t make as many games as we used to.
LikeLike
Plane ticket from DCA to GSP: $225
Rental car (because mama don’t drive on 85) $150
Lodging: Free (thanks mama)
Buy-in at communal tailgate: $10
It adds up quickly, and multiplies if I stay in Atlanta (rare). This is why I only make it to a couple games a year…
LikeLike
Where in the Upstate does Mama live? I’m in the Mauldin/Greenville area. Growing up, never thought I’d have anything nice to say about South Carolina, but I’ll never leave the area here, absolutely love it. And so easy to get to and from the UGA games, no traffic either way. People never believe me when I tell them I usually get home to Greenville faster than people get home who live in Cobb Country, but it’s true. 🙂
LikeLike
*Cobb County
LikeLike
We live in Simpsonville the cost of going to the game is 3/4ths a tank of gas and food for tailgating. Travel time is about two hours.
LikeLike
I’m not too far off the Laurens Rd exit, so it’s about an hour and 40 minutes for me usually. I used to live out past Five Forks (technically a Simpsonville address, tho not really Simpsonville), and yeah was a little closer to 2 hours there. Gotta love Woodruff Rd. 🙂
LikeLike
We live in Orchard Farms We take Roper Mountain Road to I-85.
LikeLike
Cobb Country is appropos, too. Hell, it takes two hours to get from I-75 to West Mayretta on a regular day, so I don’t doubt you get home faster than they do.
Damndest traffic jam I have ever seen. It takes the same time to get from Atlanta to West Marietta it takes me to get from Marietta to Chattanooga, despite going north on 75 being a nightmare.
LikeLike
I’d probably quit going if I totaled it up. I’m 2- 2 1/2 hours away and my diesel p/up gets 20-22 mpg. Anywhere from $50-200 for food and booze depending on whose weekend it is. Get an Athens hotel about one gave each season. Hell…we even went in and bought a rental house just so we could tailgate there. Free bathroom, parking, tv and ac for those who can’t handle the heat. My gf is right…I am crazy.
LikeLike
I’m going to one game this year. Flying from Sacramento to Kansas City $360 rt (X3 people) Rental Car to Columbia $125 AirBnb 4 nights $440 Food,etc. $250
LikeLike
Better match ups are needed. We all agree on that. But so are simple things like clean restrooms and better concessions at reasonable prices (that don’t take twenty minutes in line to acquire), These and other similar issues like traffic flow and the tailgate experience come up every single time fans are asked what they want.People do appreciate and respond to actual customer service.Especially since we receive so little of it on a daily basis. Perhaps Disney can convince our athletic department to actually listen to what their customers want.
LikeLike
I agree. Disney are the leaders in experience. If UGA could get some folks to assist with that it would be great. Their current staff fail miserably at experience. It takes 20+ minutes to go to the bathroom and grab something from the concession stand during a quarter, much longer at half time. During all of that time you are never within eye line of a TV and no audio. You miss an entire quarter of the game if you should want a drink in the 2nd quarter and maybe need to hit the head.
Scheduling better teams is only part of the solution. Improving the experience while you are there is really the bigger driver of attendance.
LikeLike
Just a quick tip, you know you’re gonna want one or more drinks during the game, so go ahead and stop on the way to your seats before the game and get one of the $8 unlimited refill drinks. Then, during the game when you need a refill, go to one of those smaller free-standing stands and walk past the line up to the front and stand just off to the side. They’ll see that you already have a cup and just go ahead and refill you while someone else is paying. I made it down and back to my seat within a single TV timeout during the 2nd quarter on Saturday. 🙂
This doesn’t help if you are wanting food, but all I ever buy is sodas in the stadium, and this works like a charm. The key is buying that first one on the way to your seat before the game starts.
LikeLike
So your pro-tip is cut in line.
Great advice, asshole.
LikeLike
Hardly. They refill while someone else is paying. Doesn’t slow down the people standing in line at all. If anything, speeds up the line because the time is now being used more efficiently. I hardly see anything wrong with that.
LikeLike
You do realize If everyone follows your suggestion then everyone would be cutting in line right? Sure not a problem if one person (you) cuts the line, but what happens when a couple thousand do it?
LikeLike
Then they would be forced to put in “Refill only” Express Lanes in various spots around the stadium, which would be a fantastic suggestion for the Mickey Mouse folks to make from the get-go. 🙂
LikeLike
On a more serious note tho, even if a lot of people were doing it (and more people are doing it already than you realize, I started doing it because I noticed others doing it), it’s a net positive gain. Next time you’re in one of those lines, note the downtime of the person actually making the drinks. They make the drinks, then are just standing there while the customer gets their change, tries to get it back in their wallet/pocket, tries to figure out how they’re going to carry the 3 big drinks they just bought, etc. If the people who have already been through the line once are standing off to the side and serviced during that time when the person making the drinks would otherwise just be standing there, then more people get serviced in a shorter period of time, and everyone wins. Even the people who still have to pay would get through the line faster because they don’t have people in front of them getting refills, as the refills are being taken care of in what would have otherwise been downtime.
But having designated Express Lanes for refills would appease people who just can’t see my point.
LikeLike
LULZ….so you cutting in line is really doing everyone a favor and making the line move faster.
it is always interesting to see crazy people describe their thought process. Thanks for that.
LikeLike
Didn’t say that was my thought process for doing it. I was explaining why I don’t feel bad for doing it. I do it because I can get down and back in a single tv timeout. However, I would NOT do it if I felt like I was negative affecting anyone. And unless you can explain to me how it negatively affects anyone, I’m not going to feel bad about it.
LikeLike
Of course you do not feel bad. You have justification on your side. Just like everyone else who does something against the norms and them has a handy dandy explanation why it was ok. You feel it has no negative affect therefore it has no negative effect. Glad we got that cleared up.
LikeLike
I think we’re at the point then where we have to agree to disagree, as neither of us is gonna change the other’s minds.
On to the next debate. 🙂
LikeLike
I’m convinced that Disney believes everyone is wealthy and price is not an issue. The venue is great, the traffic and parking are problems, but this isn’t new. Cupcakes games are glorified practices. You feel bad for the opposition and you can’t really feel good about the victory. I’d rather go to a game and lose to a top ten team by a few points than go to a game and beat the hell out of a semi-highschool team by fifty or sixty points. Disney can’t fix this, only scheduling can…Disney can give you more perephrial, entertaining distractions at an exorbitant price, but Disney can’t make Savannah School for the Arts into FSU or Oklahoma.
LikeLike
No, they’re convinced that the only people worth serving are those who can make Disney even more wealthy.
LikeLike
I love all the complaints about tickets prices and how much it costs to make a trip to Athens. Folks, going to a UGA game is not a right, it’s a treat, a privilege, an extra…whatever you want to call it…sort of like going out to eat or going to a movie or whatever you like to do for fun. If you can’t afford it anymore, that sucks. But suck it up. It’s not a constitutional right. The world is full of things that people at certain incomes cannot afford to do that they perhaps, could at one time in the past.
LikeLike
For a guy who likes to mock the intelligence of others, you really don’t get this, do you?
LikeLike
Pretty sure I get it…there’s a lot of butt hurt and bitching about rising ticket prices and the cost to attend. You’re trying to create a meme about scheduling and cost being the cause for an drop in attendance, but when you look at the fan attendance list in the attached article, the only thing it shows is that attendance is solely and directly correlated to the product on the field, not cost and not scheduling. Sorry you’re wrong again, not my fault.
LikeLike
Evidently, you don’t.
Tell me this: how does hiring Disney improve the “product on the field”? Does Mickey coach? Does he have a nephew who’s a five-star running back?
LikeLike
If scheduling is not a factor on demand then why are prices on secondary markets lower for cupcakes than ranked opponents? A generally accepted rule of economics is that high demand for a good in limited quantity pushes price up, and vice versa. Thus, where a noteable percentage of the stands are empty for a game, it is correct to say price is set too high for that level of demand. So there is correlation between quality of opponent, price, and attendance.
I also think teams with consistent winning percentage is a factor for fan turn out. People are just less likely to commit to season tickets if they think they are paying to watch losses.
LikeLike
+1, very true. Several years ago, I could get $40 to $50 over face value when selling my lower tier games on the secondary market. Now I’m lucky to get $10 above face value after selling expenses, which tells me fan demand and interest continues to decline for these games – real life examples of economic theory at work.
LikeLike
I don’t think you really do get it completely. True, everyone cannot afford to go to the games. True, the product on the field determines a lot of how much demand there is. However, simply because one can afford to go does not mean they will choose to go. People make economic decisions all the time where they choose not to spend money on something they can afford because they have alternatives or determine that the cost is too great for the product or experience.
Under your premise; if the university raised ticket prices to $200 per game and tripled the required donations, the only people who would stop coming to games who go to games now would be those who “could not afford it”. Reality is, the stadium would be mostly empty because even those who could easily afford going to the game would not see the value in spending that much money to see a game in person when they could watch it at home. Even if they chose not to watch the game at all, they might elect to spend their leisure dollars on another event or experience they felt was a better value than the experience of going to a Georgia football game.
LikeLike
Of course he does! After all, instead of using select derogatory words towards others like obtuse, myopic, quixotic, unlettered…heck even ignorant; instead he chose to stick with the highly illuminating “bozo” on multiple occasions, thus exemplifying his extreme intelligence, in which a Mensa membership would surely be beneath his overall status among the elites.
I’m predicting that he’ll change things up a bit and use “dipshit” soon, which will further enlighten us with his intellectual prowess.
LikeLike
I’m not complaining about ticket prices. I actually think they are very reasonable, even when you include the obligatory contribution to the Hartman Fund. The cost of travel and such isn’t necessarily an issue either. We routinely chose to spend many thousands of dollars in Athens on game days in the past. What I am saying and what I think a lot of schools are having to deal with, is the fact that it’s no longer a given. We used to attend every home game, every year. As soon as the schedule came out those dates were on our calendar and we began planning. There was never a question of not going. You’re getting married that weekend? Sorry, we’ll be at the game. Now, not so much. If we choose to attend we can generally buy good tickets on the secondary market for very close to face value. If we choose to stay home, we have a 55 inch HDTV and a barrel smoker on the back deck. Ribs and and ice cold beer beat hot dogs and lukewarm Cokes every time. At home I don’t have to put up with bench seating and neighbors who assume I don’t mind if they squeeze in a couple of their friends so they don’t have to sit in nose bleed. And my bathroom is spotless. And since we never leave the driveway we never sit in traffic. More than anything else, this is what is suppressing attendance. That and the fact that at home I can also watch pretty much and and every game being played on Saturday.
LikeLike
I think you’re missing the point people are trying to make, which is when evaluating where to spend their discretionary income, the appeal of a UGA football game is becoming less and less attractive than the alternative. It’s basic economic theory at work and items such as poor scheduling, long concession and bathroom lines, (rising) costs of parking, etc. not to mention underperforming teams on the field are all eroding from the “enjoyment factor” of spending on a football game vs. spending on some other activity and watching the game at home on a big screen TV. The extreme crackdown on campus tailgating also eroded the experience for many people. Changes were needed, but the harsh crackdown implemented was overkill and drove away fans as well. Things like the sporadic, live “in game” feeds they show on the jumbotron are a joke compared to what you can watch at home. If you’re going to cut to another game a) make sure it’s one of relevance/interest and b) show us scoring highlights. I could care less if Kentucky is driving on their own 40 yard line against Vandy.
I donate a significant amount of money each year and travel from Chicago to Athens for 3-4 games each Fall. However, I find it harder and harder to justify “wasting” money on 2-3 home games each year against Eastern Clown St. This year the re-sale value of games against Troy and Charleston Southern was barely above face value for great location seats. Even the TN tickets (I used mine) were going for dirt cheap prices according to scalpers. Also, when not using my club level seats, I agree the concession lines are ridiculous!
I would also throw in the fact that many of the current college students are much less interested in attending games than we were when growing up (I graduated from UGA in 1988). They can only attend 3 home games (2 of which are a cupcake and SEC patsy like KY or Vandy). If my UGA football experiences were based upon games against William & Mary or Richmond, it’s less likely that I’d be willing to donate or travel to watch the team – Stubhub or scalpers work just fine if I get the urge. Time will tell if this trend continues to impact attendance in the future, but if a school like Michigan feels the affect, don’t think UGA is immune.
Like you point out above, attending a college football game is a choice, not a right and many people are excersizing their choice to spend money elsewhere. That’s the underlying issue people are raising on this board. Will the Disney Institute help address it? It can’t hurt, but until they stop using concession stand volunteers, spend money to add more concession stands (like the plaza on the North side), restrooms, etc. and improve the schedule quality, all the Peter Pan wishes in the world won’t address the real issues making the fan experience a whole lot “less fun”!
LikeLike
This rep,y was directed to “Hotsauce”
LikeLike
Very well said. I’m also in your camp as an out of state fan, and I too can certainly afford tickets, but I most often choose to spend my resources and limited time in other areas more and more. Experiencing a game inside Sanford Stadium, as great as it is, just isn’t worth the headache of traveling to/from Athens from out of state, followed by local traffic/parking issues and other general hassles (getting in/out of the stadium, bathroom/concession lines, reduced tailgating enjoyment, et al.)
With a large HGTV with a high end sound system, combined with bbq on the Big Green Egg, perfect 72 degree whether, like-minded friends (instead of idiots cussing out Bobo with their fat pressed against you in sec 133), libations, no restroom lines, and all the rest…more and more the decision to stay home most weekends is a no-brainer.
LikeLike
Travel seems to be your biggest deterrent. For me it isn’t a big deal since I live in Atlanta. I can drive up and park at the classic center, go eat downtown, and make it to the game for not much more than it would cost me to do anything else over the weekend. The ticket is the largest expense, but it’s usually not prohibitive. I do miss tailgating, but being in an electric stadium for a big win, like LSU last year, is what it’s all about for me.
Chi, I agree with your point about student ticket packages. I hadn’t heard the part about two cupcakes and Vandy, but that certainly isn’t going to inspire the next generation of season ticket holders. I think Michigan fans are sick of paying to watch their team lose to inferior opponents, so Georgia may not be immune, but they are not facing the same set of problems.
3rdandGrantham, I agree on your point: the home experience is at an all time high. I don’t have a big green egg, but my high definition TV makes the game much more enjoyable from the couch than 15 years ago.
LikeLike
Tucker, agree with your Michigan observation. The point I was trying to (poorly) make is that if this were the Ray Goff era and you combined it with the other factors people are complaining about, we could easily be in the same situation as Michigan. That’s not the case right now, but if on field performance doesn’t improve (I consider 4 or more losses poor), in 1-2 more years it could happen to us.
LikeLike
Drawing conclusions from “1% reduction” based on 4 weeks of football, and taking into account the enormous amount of noise such as stadium expansions, matchups, team performance and even weather seems like a waste of time. I’ll I see here is that there’s not short term attendance revenue concerns for T25 football programs.
LikeLike
+1
LikeLike
Read the article more closer, it’s a 1% decline compared to last year, but much higher compared to the 2011 attendance results. Also, it continues a downward trend of several straight years, ignore at your own peril.
LikeLike
+1 for reading
LikeLike
+2 on reading, I don’t have a dog in this race. But I don’t really see that data in the article. Student attendance is down, but a lot of schools are actually reducing student sections because non-student seats are more profitable. Also there’s this:
-“The SEC’s nation-best 75,674 average in 2013 was slightly up from 2012, but still 2 percent below its crowds in 2008.” That’s nothing, when compared to the offsets in (1) ticket prices and (2) TV deals.
-For all of this, their using average announced. That seems like terrible data, although there’s really not much else.
I do agree with everyone re: long term here, though, which is that alienating students is bad news for long term customer base. I guess the question is what gives out first, that trend or something more drastic because of head injury concerns.
LikeLike
HotSauce dressed up in his finest Red and Black getting ready for the Dawg Walk. Sassy Saucy!
http://origin.kaboodle.com/hi/img/b/0/0/18f/6/AAAAC5Ujkb4AAAAAAY9hfg.jpg?v=1318302088000
LikeLike
LikeLike
It doesn’t seem that long ago when a person could leave a comment on this blog and be pretty sure someone wasn’t going to call him a name. Sigh
LikeLike
You make a good point Gravidy.
LikeLike
I’ve been called an asshole and a crazy person just on this page, and that was when I was trying to be helpful to someone. Gotta love it. 🙂
LikeLike
I was raised waaay back in the Dinosaur Age before the internet was invented. Back then, we had these strange occurrences known as “face to face conversations”. Unlike what happens in one of these fancy virtual conversations, if you called someone an asshole to his face, somebody was probably going to get his ass kicked. The internet has spawned a lot of really good things, but the rise of the Keyboard Tough Guy isn’t one of them.
LikeLike
LOL, well I’m only 5’7″, so I probably wouldn’t be kicking anybody’s ass regardless. I don’t claim to be a tough guy in the virtual world OR the real world. 😉
LikeLike
I’m just 5’11” in shoes, and I’m too fat to outrun anybody, so in the same boat. It’s been over 40 years since I’ve felt the need to throw a punch, and I’m hoping I have another 40 left in me. 🙂
LikeLike
Well you did handle if very graciously. And Twistification was equally patient. We could all learn something from those exchanges. I don’t attend the games like we used to and I live in Athens. Both sons born here. Use to be quite a crowd at my house and we would vanpool to the tailgate, Then we went through the Goff/Donnan years and the crowd got surly at games. Dad was getting older and thinner skinned. Strangers weren’t going to use the F word around mom no matter what they thought of the team on the field. Finally managed to get him in front of the TV and no more stadium games for him. Nothing stays the same. Time felt different back then. Like there was more of it.
LikeLike
Well said. 🙂
LikeLike
Yes, I thought Twisty and Rev showed remarkable restraint.
LikeLike
“…college football you’re domed.” I just don’t agree with that statement by you, Bluto. College football is an outdoor sport. It was intended to be played on real grass outside and not in a domed stadium. When the weather is good, the players and the spectators enjoy being outside in the sunny, clean air. When the weather is bad, that presents a new set of opportunities to the players to be tough and show manliness in difficult conditions. The bad weather also makes the crowd show how much they support their team by showing up in adverse conditions….What’s that?…..It’s “doomed” not “domed”….Bluto is saying that college football is “doomed” because of all those bad things happening?…..Oh…..Well…..Never mind.
LikeLike
-1
LikeLike
No wonder your eggs are green. It’s mold. From being an old fuddy duddy. 🙂
LikeLike
This made me laugh, thanks for that. Though I gotta admit, I wouldn’t have complained about a dome on August 30th. I’m getting wimpy in my old age. 🙂
LikeLike
Oh yeah! I forgot to mention the biggest expense…road games. One trip to, say, LSU can cost me what maybe 3 home games would. I won’t even mention the Flarduh trip expenses since we usually make that into a 4-5 day vacation. You can add SECC and bowl games, too. Honestly, I couldn’t see myself doing it if I only cared about the game. It’s become as much about spending time with friends and family as it is about the game. There have been a couple times I’ve been so frustrated with the program and actual stadium experience that family and friends were a big reason why I didn’t stop putting so much into it. Like I said another time…I’ll stop going when stop having fun…win or lose.
Fortunately, I finally got my 4 tickets together in a place that is relatively easy to get to/from the gate and the concessions/bathroom are a bit more easily accessible. One stand even has TVs. The downside is that we’re closer to the visiting section and band than I’d prefer but we’re still surrounded by Dawg fans so I can deal with that.
LikeLike
I also think another issue, in our case, is that Richt brought back a lot of excitement and “long time”(splashed with sarcasm) fans. He/we haven’t lived up to their expectations so they’re bolting.
The hardcore of us stuck it out through the lean years. Hell…I had a hard time giving tickets away through much of Goff’s tenure and then everybody became a friend round 2002. Lol! Sad thing is that many of the fans Richt brought in made tickets into unobtanium for some long time fans. It’s their right, but, the while bandwagon thing. Never been a fan of it.
LikeLike
The Carousel of Progress … “It’s a great big beautiful tomorrow!”
LikeLike
Going to a football game in Athens from Elberton where I grew up is one thing. Going to see UGA play from Longboat Key, FL is another. Winning big does help.
LikeLike