“Let us not be distracted by those who attempt to divide us. We must be united and stronger than ever before to help move our athletic program forward.” — Greg McGarity
Bill King digs into Facebook to check the fan base’s reaction to the new, “somewhat tone-deaf“ alcohol policy at Sanford Stadium. The reaction is, shall we say, a bit mixed.
It set off a bit of class warfare among fans on Facebook. One longtime fan, who regularly attends a broad spectrum of UGA athletic events, said the move was “yet another slap in the face to the common folks that make a yearly donation. Let’s let those Magill Society folks have their alcohol AND all the post season tickets, too.”
That prompted a rebuke from another fan, who belongs to the Magill Society: “Don’t punish us just because we are a certain level of donor. We have nothing to do with this.”
The first fan responded that “donors of a certain level are benefiting in many ways, while others who scratch together their $3,500 a year are simply taken for granted.”
In response, the Magill member noted: “without big donors we have no new end-zone/locker room and no indoor practice facility. Big donors are needed. I am sorry that you think that hurts you, but it is not the donors’ fault. You need to talk to the people in charge.”
Yeah, now there’s advice that’s bound to make a difference. Anyway, don’t bother that Magill member, who’s probably tied up trying to calculate how much money he’s going to make reselling his extra tickets to those primo road games coming up.
However, even in the Magill Society, there were those who questioned the move, with one member telling DawgNation: “I think they are out of touch with their fan base, and I doubt this will be that successful. Many of the $100,000 contributors have access to suites. In a suite, you can drink your own alcohol and see the game. I think this will not go over very well.”
Man, at Georgia even the elite strata have strata.
Alcohol isn’t the only factor in the growing dissatisfaction among some UGA fans over the emphasis on fundraising and catering to those with money on game day. Said another fan in a different Facebook discussion: “They want to add to the experience of the high dollar donor, and jerk around the rest of us. They’re now going to a lottery system for the parking lots and decks that were free just 2 seasons ago.”
Sorry, fan base, but Greg says it’s against the rules for you to try to divide yourself. Butts-Mehre has the exclusive on that, as long as there’s a buck to be made doing it.
Get The Picture 
Amen.
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I haven’t been to a Georgia game in person in over 10 years and I may never go to another one — nothing against the Dawgs, of course, the older I get, the more I avoid big crowds at concerts, theaters, even bars — but I sure do love to see the bourgeoisie here go back and forth on tickets, the game-day experience, etc.
Incidentally, the last game I went to was a monsoon when we played Arizona State, a low-scoring piece of shit of a night game. Luckily, we were sitting under the overhang. A big donor gave us the tickets. 🙂 I almost felt sorry for all those poor souls out in the rain.
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I bottom line can’t afford to go to games. I’m 4 hours from Jax I’ve already looked at ticket prices, impossible and then you hit with a hotel? I’m proud of Georgia fans attendance and following the team on the road, they’ve also made it incredibly impossible for us poor folks to go to games. And I have zero interest in traveling paying for a hotel and sitting in a horrible seat. Horrible seat that still cost hundreds of dollars
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All this is doing is turning the rank-and-file Hartman Fund contributor against the power structure on South Lumpkin. As someone who likely wouldn’t buy a beer during the game, this decision doesn’t impact me a bit but is a microcosm of the idea that the Magill Society (especially those at the top) are the only ones that matter. Young alumni are being squeezed out of season tickets, and long-time donors are being squeezed out of away game tickets.
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This all day. Those old farts will die eventually and without properly cultivating the new fans, there won’t be big donors. That TV money won’t last forever
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McDoofus can’t leave soon enough.
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I am now in my 49th season of being a Hartman contributor. My only revenge is keeping my Section 131 seats.
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If the AD could get his way, he would rip those seats away from you.
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I understand and one day he will.
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Thomas is correct – catering to the “big money” folks is a long-term mistake. Of the under 40 kids at our firm, I am the only one with season tickets; there are at least 7 or 8 other Georgia grads who think they are essentially “out of reach” (despite them making very good money. And I would say the same thing about other similar professionals at other firms. Younger folks simply don’t have the desire to spend the amount of money it takes to get tickets, and they are killing the pipeline for future season ticket holders.
I say all this as someone who gets solicited to join the Magill Society on about a quarterly basis (and who never had a problem getting away tickets until Ole Miss 16 (glad I missed out!)), but it really is nuts. I’m not even sure why anyone would join the Magill Society at the $25k level – once the big donors suck all the benefits up, there’s not much for you other than the newsletter…
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McGarity’s plan for 20 years from now is a seance to Channell the spirit of the late Fran Tarkenton to write a check from heaven.
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There certainly seems like a disconnect when the pitch is essentially (1) here, young lads, pay great money for these 300 level endzone tickets and keep giving us that good money but you’ll never get down in the 100shade, sorry. (2) Oh and hire a babysitter, fight traffic and maybe in 20 years you’ll have a place to park that’s not in a deck or a mile away.
Heck of a pitch ! And they wonder why people just gather on back porches bring the kids and turn on a few bounce houses.
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As has already been noted, Georgia was fully aware of the new SEC guidelines before announcing their new alcohol ‘sales’ initiative. Georgia isn’t attempting to sell alcohol. They fully intend NOT to sell alcohol. And they especially don’t want to sell it to the rank and file. Most likely, McGarity is doing everything he can to drive away any ticket holder who gives just enough that he can’t deny them tickets.
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So you are saying that Adams really wasn’t the responsible booger-bear of our past alcohol policy? It has been McGarity and company all along?
Divide and conquer on the political scale has infested our alumni section? Is Sonny Perdue’s alternate other reaching back from D.C.?
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Cojones, in the past the SEC prohibited it. Now that they don’t, McGarity doesn’t want to give away any perks he can restrict to those donating big bucks. After all, those folks need to feel like they’re getting something for their money.
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Please read all my posts with a sense of levity. I get very concerned when so many view them seriously. Uh… guess that means I have to post funny faces after each one…..but then no one would take any post seriously…. uh, that’s assuming that someone takes anything seriously that I post in the first place….well…..shit.
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From the quotes above, I don’t have any beef with the Magill Member’s statements. Good for him and his ability to give, and he comes across as supporting UGA (athletics, at least) almost in spite of the people in charge.
This is another McGarity PR misfire. Had he slow-played “a pilot of alcohol sales within the club level” for the upcoming season, and left all other details as a work in progress, the public reaction would likely have been much more speculative in nature, and given the AD an opportunity to pivot as needed. Instead, he gives a weirdly detailed description of perhaps the absolute worst “perk” across any luxury experience possible – to pay $100k for the privilege of waiting in line, paying for, and drinking beer in a confined space that will force you to miss the game. He has painted himself in a corner, all while failing to make any constituent group happy.
McGarity hasn’t found a situation he can’t make worse.
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+1000
I’m not thrilled about the level of drunkeness as it is, but I get that other fans have a different agenda on gameday.
Setting that aside, why not do the “club level pilot program” and also give Magill folks the ability to reach that section. You accomplish the same end without poking fans in the eye.
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The NYPost picked it up (about the big rollers being able to drink), so his limited thinking is now being highlighted in the media and he makes UGA looks bad. Thanks, Greg! Asshole.
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Another PR “fumble” by McDoofus. Would any of our coaches give someone that many chances? This could have been handled so positively, the guy is just out of touch and blinded. That type of FU must have destroyed whatever skill he had before arriving in Gainesville. Not surprising that Adams found him acceptable.
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His ineptitude goes back long before Gainesville.
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Living in NC, NASCAR country, I saw how the tracks got greedy in the early 2000’s by jacking up the seat prices. That, combined with the 2008 recession and they lost many of there blue collar base fans and never got them back. The stands are mostly empty for most NASCAR races. UGA and college football in general may go down the same road.
They at least had the new grad program for a few years but did away with it last year. Young fans need a cum of 22,000 to even qualify for season tickets. That’s just not feasible for most.
It was not a well thought out decision to offer alcohol to the largest donors only. Sends a bad message to the fan base as a whole. There are other nice things they could do for Magill Society donors that would not look so tone deaf.
Good week to all
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The young alumni program was just another Georgia Way scam. Both of my graduates want nothing to do with the Georgia athletic department.
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That’s a trend that doesn’t have a long-term positive outcome, but then again, no one in a position to deal with it will be around.
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I feel like coming to a game from far away (and all that entails) is becoming as logistically friendly as snow skiing. But this isn’t snow skiing. And shouldn’t be.
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I try to take the fam to one game a year. I make decent money, but it’s about to the point that I cannot afford even one game a year, unless it’s a cupcake. I would’ve loved going to South Bend and Pasadena in ’17, but it’s simply too expensive for the regular fan with a family. Honestly, I don’t know how some folks justify it. I love UGA football, but I’ll be watching from the house until some tix drop in my lap…
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Bingo. And Average Joe fan multiply that by ten
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I don’t care if UGA offers alcohol to just the wealthy section of the stadium, but it is dumb to not take the money and added benefits of offering it to everyone.
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May I inquire if anyone was able to pick BETTER seats during the seat selection last week?
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Hahahahaha!
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There was NOT one selection of 2 adjacent seats available in the entire 100 level. I kept mine (26th year in a row in same location, 30th year with season tix), and then they sent an email accusing me of “missing” my appt. time. I was on hours prior and at the time, and there was nowhere to move. What a waste.
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No matter how you cut it elitist alcohol sales looks really bad. College football is supposed to be about Community locals regular Folk. Course that hasn’t existed in a decade or decades. I miss being able to see a game a year but these type of things make me feel much better about all of it.
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It works until it doesn’t.
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