The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Found this interesting read from an Atlanta-based sports website. Replace some of the "Georgia" verbage with "Alabama" and you realize that our attendance problem is not unique:


"Georgia Tech's inability to fill its 55,000 seat stadium despite a robust tradition, outstanding gameday and stadium atmosphere and location smack-dab in the middle of a metropolitan area of five million remains one of the most puzzling mysteries in college football. After sitting inside Bobby Dodd watching the Jackets and Hokies, I have almost come to the conclusion that filling the stadium for eight home games a year is hopeless.

Most of us are familiar with the obstacles Tech faces in putting fans inside Bobby Dodd. For starters, the state of Georgia and the city of Atlanta are goony over the Georgia Bulldogs. The Yellow Jackets are completely overshadowed by every sneeze that comes out of Athens.

Roughly a fifth of Georgia Tech's 14,000 undergraduates come from overseas and its reasonable to assume they have less interest in football than a kid from Augusta. Tech is currently ranked as one of the top-10 public universities by U.S. News and World Report Magazine! Students attracted to and able to survive in an academic climate that challenging are - generally - more interested in class work and less interested in the ACC Coastal standings. Additionally, because of the large number of Tech students who come from overseas and out of state, another 30%, those graduates tend to leave the area once their classwork is finished making travel to football games far more unlikely.

Despite those obstacles, reason tells you it shouldn't be that difficult to put 55,000 inside the stadium ..."

(11-15-2011 08:20 PM)WhoDatBlazer Wrote:  Found this interesting read from an Atlanta-based sports website. Replace some of the "Georgia" verbage with "Alabama" and you realize that our attendance problem is not unique:


"Georgia Tech's inability to fill its 55,000 seat stadium despite a robust tradition, outstanding gameday and stadium atmosphere and location smack-dab in the middle of a metropolitan area of five million remains one of the most puzzling mysteries in college football. After sitting inside Bobby Dodd watching the Jackets and Hokies, I have almost come to the conclusion that filling the stadium for eight home games a year is hopeless.

Most of us are familiar with the obstacles Tech faces in putting fans inside Bobby Dodd. For starters, the state of Georgia and the city of Atlanta are goony over the Georgia Bulldogs. The Yellow Jackets are completely overshadowed by every sneeze that comes out of Athens.

Roughly a fifth of Georgia Tech's 14,000 undergraduates come from overseas and its reasonable to assume they have less interest in football than a kid from Augusta. Tech is currently ranked as one of the top-10 public universities by U.S. News and World Report Magazine! Students attracted to and able to survive in an academic climate that challenging are - generally - more interested in class work and less interested in the ACC Coastal standings. Additionally, because of the large number of Tech students who come from overseas and out of state, another 30%, those graduates tend to leave the area once their classwork is finished making travel to football games far more unlikely.

Despite those obstacles, reason tells you it shouldn't be that difficult to put 55,000 inside the stadium ..."

I think I know a way to help GA Tech with attendance. Schedule an OOC team that is nearby. I'd love to see the Blazers in Atlanta!

(11-15-2011 08:35 PM)the Dragon Wrote:  

(11-15-2011 08:20 PM)WhoDatBlazer Wrote:  Found this interesting read from an Atlanta-based sports website. Replace some of the "Georgia" verbage with "Alabama" and you realize that our attendance problem is not unique:


"Georgia Tech's inability to fill its 55,000 seat stadium despite a robust tradition, outstanding gameday and stadium atmosphere and location smack-dab in the middle of a metropolitan area of five million remains one of the most puzzling mysteries in college football. After sitting inside Bobby Dodd watching the Jackets and Hokies, I have almost come to the conclusion that filling the stadium for eight home games a year is hopeless.

Most of us are familiar with the obstacles Tech faces in putting fans inside Bobby Dodd. For starters, the state of Georgia and the city of Atlanta are goony over the Georgia Bulldogs. The Yellow Jackets are completely overshadowed by every sneeze that comes out of Athens.

Roughly a fifth of Georgia Tech's 14,000 undergraduates come from overseas and its reasonable to assume they have less interest in football than a kid from Augusta. Tech is currently ranked as one of the top-10 public universities by U.S. News and World Report Magazine! Students attracted to and able to survive in an academic climate that challenging are - generally - more interested in class work and less interested in the ACC Coastal standings. Additionally, because of the large number of Tech students who come from overseas and out of state, another 30%, those graduates tend to leave the area once their classwork is finished making travel to football games far more unlikely.

Despite those obstacles, reason tells you it shouldn't be that difficult to put 55,000 inside the stadium ..."

I think I know a way to help GA Tech with attendance. Schedule an OOC team that is nearby. I'd love to see the Blazers in Atlanta!

+1

A lot of that definitely rings true at UAB. Of my former classmates, if they weren't AU or UA fans, then they weren't fans of any sports teams.

Also, Atlanta isn't a pro-Atlanta sports town. Ask the Braves, Hawks, and Falcons. Did the Thrashers leave or end up staying?

(11-15-2011 08:35 PM)the Dragon Wrote:  I think I know a way to help GA Tech with attendance. Schedule an OOC team that is nearby. I'd love to see the Blazers in Atlanta!

if its home and home

There are some areas where they don't have our problems - mainly in BCS money.

(11-15-2011 09:12 PM)jthrashr Wrote:  A lot of that definitely rings true at UAB. Of my former classmates, if they weren't AU or UA fans, then they weren't fans of any sports teams.

Also, Atlanta isn't a pro-Atlanta sports town. Ask the Braves, Hawks, and Falcons. Did the Thrashers leave or end up staying?

The Braves and Falcons do pretty okay. I don't know about the Hawks because I don't like NBA basketball. The Thrashers left because hockey in the south (the real south, not Florida) sucks. Nashville and Raleigh keep it up because they're not real football towns. Atlanta is.

i can only agree that atlanta is a football town if you use the caveat that its a bandwagon football town. when the falcons suck, theres no support. i once had tickets to the falcons/seahawks game. i had 2 extra tickets i tried to scalp...the best i could get was $5 for the pair. i wouldnt at all call atlanta a football town

Agreed. Same thing years ago for the Braves. I supported the braves when they sucked. Now I really can't stand them or the bandwagon fans.

I sent this thread to a friend and he responded with this:

"yea, there are several reasons we have problems selling tickets.

We do have a large part of the student body that comes from overseas. They could care less about football. They like cricket and soccer. I think the last stat I saw said only about half the students are in state. That means they all go home and the foreign ones go back to their home country. Even the ones from Georgia tend to move all over the country. I'm down here, and I can't make Thursday night games. The people from Georgia I graduated with now live in Detroit, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, West Palm Beach, etc . We have a tendency to spread out all over the place.

The other problem is the economy. People don't have a lot of extra money right now and those in Atlanta have Braves, Falcons, Hawks, concerts, etc all fighting for their business. I'm also sure that there are people like my dad. When I graduated he was happy because it meant never having to go downtown again. That is the reason they want to move the Falcons to the suburbs. "

(11-16-2011 11:04 AM)legalblazer Wrote:  I enjoy going to college football games for three schools... UAB, Vanderbilt, and Georgia Tech. Everywhere else I've tried going I'm relatively uncomfortable because the fans are unruly, and/or brainwashed.

Maybe they don't really want to fill up those extra seats if it means importing that crap.

I agree. I have been to many "big time" college football games and it often seems uncomfortable for many reasons. Especially if you are a "visitor". Sportsmanship and courtesy has been all but forgotten in a lot of places.

I have been a season ticket holder at Alabama in the past, before UAB started football.

I prefer UAB's environment.

(11-15-2011 09:28 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Agreed. Same thing years ago for the Braves. I supported the braves when they sucked. Now I really can't stand them or the bandwagon fans.

I'm way ahead of you: I never could really stand them.