Should UGA season ticket holders be satisfied with a diet of cupcakes?
If you’re a Georgia football season ticket holder and you haven’t made your annual contribution to the Hartman Fund, better get down to the post office, go online or get on the horn to the Georgia Bulldog Club offices in Athens, because today’s the deadline. You can find out all the details here.
Contributions sent via snail mail must be postmarked no later than Feb. 15.
Even if you’re not going for season tickets, a minimum $100 contribution to the Hartman Fund will get you a 2012 football ticket application and will make you eligible to request single-game tickets to five of the seven home games. With the Dawgs looking to open the season as possibly a Top 5 team, some folks might want to scramble aboard the bandwagon.
Then again, whether you can find five home games on Georgia’s 2012 schedule that you consider worth the cost of the ticket plus a contribution is another question.
Along those lines, I had a note from reader SavannahDawg, who was going ahead and making his contribution but was grumbling about the 2012 home schedule, which admittedly isn’t that exciting: Buffalo, Florida Atlantic, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech.
He complained that “the cupcake portion of that schedule is particularly lame. If sticking to an eight-game conference schedule in the expanded SEC means we have to give up playing Auburn every year just so we can keep the likes of the Florida Atlantic Owls coming to Athens for a paycheck, I’m going to be seriously rethinking my commitment to buying season tickets every year. Better to make a smaller donation and get single games, or even cherry-pick the best games on StubHub. Even paying scalper’s prices for those games, it’ll end up costing me less than season tickets when you factor in the Hartman Fund.”
SavanahDawg makes a valid point and I’m wondering if the SEC athletic directors’ aversion to adding a ninth conference game might not end up costing them financially down the road in terms of getting fans in the stands.
What do you think? Would a schedule that kept the cupcakes and lost Auburn as an annual opponent make you any less likely to buy tickets to games at Sanford Stadium?
Got something on your mind concerning UGA athletics or a question for the Junkyard Blawg? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.
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416 comments Add your comment
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
11:52 am
Why is there a POP-UP AD to buy Season Tickets to UGa games? I thought there was a HUGE waiting list of people just DYING to be in Sanford on Sat.
RawDawg
February 15th, 2012
11:53 am
They want to bring back UGA-Clemson rivalry and ditch Auburn?
gadawgs
February 15th, 2012
11:55 am
These same people who complain that we have too many cupcakes on our schedule will also complain that we are not winning national championships by doing the OPPOSITE of what the majority of past NC winners have done. You can’t have it both ways people.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
11:56 am
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
11:51 am
ahahahhahahahahaha thanks for showing to everyone so early how dumb you are.
Playing 9 SEC games is too tough on any team, hence why no SEC team wants 9 conf games retard. FYI its not scared its being resonable, and understanding how hard it is to play in the SEC on a weekly basis, something no ACC fan could even contemplate.
9 ACC games on the other hand just makes your schedule even easier with those football powerhouses you just added hahahahahahahaha
Actually I have my own set of season tickets, my brother has 2, and my parents still have their original 4 seats from from the 1970s. But thanks for your concern.
Skitty Fritty
February 15th, 2012
11:56 am
This is what Florida has been doing for years. It’s great for the championship run but no fun for the fans.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
11:57 am
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
11:52 am
Funny coming from someone whos team has to give away cokes and hot dogs to get a decent showing. ahhahahaha
TDF
February 15th, 2012
11:58 am
RawDawg
February 15th, 2012
11:53 am
Dont want to lose either one. Clemson wont be every year but probably a home and home every 4 or 5 years.
Jacket99
February 15th, 2012
11:58 am
I think scheduling cupcakes is a disservice to the fans. If I was a Dawg fan, I would be angry if Auburn or Tech were dropped from the schedule to make room for Coastal Carolina and Idaho State. I’m still angry that Tech doesn’t play Auburn every year, but Western Carolina and MTSU are still on the schedule. It won’t stop me from going to the games, but it seems the athletic directors and conference officials are willing to trashcan tradition regardless of how the folks who fill the seats and donate to the fund feel about it.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
11:59 am
30605 Dawg…..You sound like my dad. He got mad at TECh after the 90 season when they wanted more money for our good seats. Dad let them go and took the money he was giving to the A-T fund and moved it all the Tech student academic scholarship fund.
We still have season ticket but not as much money for the tickets and more money to the Smart Kids for Scholarships. It is after all an INSTITUTION for HIGHER LEARNING not semi-pro football with school buildings for decorations around the stadium.
Native Atlantan
February 15th, 2012
12:00 pm
That’s the price you pay for having the UF game in Jacksonville. If that was home and home, you’d have Florida on the home schedule this year, and that would make the home slate look a lot better.
As for cupcakes, Bama played Kent State, North Texas and Georgia Southern at home. That’s not much different than Buffalo, Florida Atlantic and Georgia Southern so three patsies appear to be the usual.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:02 pm
Dawg in Columbus….stop fooling yourself. If USC and Oklahoma are as good UGa will look like it is in reverse during the BCS selection process. UGa will get NO RESPECT for this schedule, Richt & Bobo’s coaching. It will be called a DOWN year in the SEC. UGa gets NO respect and rightfully so.
Jacket99
February 15th, 2012
12:03 pm
Three patsies are two too many. One is enough. Years ago, UT used to play Chattanooga before the Alabama game for two reasons. One, it was a patsy game and, two, UC ran a similar offense to Bama so it was a chance to have a full scrimmage before an important game.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:05 pm
30605 Dawg…..don’t argue with TDF…he is a moron with a Manga Cum-Laude Diploma in financial planning from UGa but he is on the blogs all day long while STEALING money from his employer
TDF
February 15th, 2012
12:06 pm
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:02 pm
ahahahahhahahaha nope wrong again. See ppl who understand football know the SEC is the best. Whoever wins the SEC goes to the NC game and if thats UGA holding the SEC trophy in DEC then there is no doubt we get a title shot. Sorry but noe one with a brain would agree with you.
GADAWGFAN1980
February 15th, 2012
12:06 pm
For those not wanting to renew your season tickets thank you. It will give me a better view of the game and I will be selling you my extra tickets for a profit!
Seriously, right now we don’t have the team that can play 10 top ten teams this year.
Some of you want the DAWGS to play a tough schedule and then complain when we don’t win. We need teams of all caliber coming to town. The Dawgs have played for 100 years. Look back through history and you will see that we have always played a format like this.
I am and will always be a DAWG fan. I will enjoy everygame regardless of who we play!
Jacket99
February 15th, 2012
12:07 pm
Native Atlantan…interesting point about the C@cktail Party (can we still call it that?). Neutral site games used to be more common. How complicated would scheduling be for UGA if they still played Auburn in Columbus every year in addition to the Jacksonville game?
UGAGOLFER
February 15th, 2012
12:08 pm
Yes, I almost did not make a donation and still not sure I will order season tickets because of the schedule. There is no reason to play Georgia Southern…ever. Nor Georgia State. There is no way in he__ either of these two teams could ever defeat Georgia. Cupcake games should be limited to two per year, and I would much rather keep Auburn and add a ninth conference game to replace a cupcake. By the way, would rather replace cupcakes with some mid-major schools. I am not buying into the “we would have to exchange a game at their place.” That is BS, many mid-major schools would gladly accept a million dollar check, and we as fans would be much happier with improved traditional powers (past games with TCU, Baylor, Houston, Central Florida, Southern Miss, etc. as good examples). Hope McGarity is reading this, because he better wake up.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
12:08 pm
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:05 pm
funny though seeing as you are also on here wasting time. hmmmm…….. dont give me the line “I own my own company” either crap. Bc we all know if you ran anything it would have already been ran into the ground by now.
sldkfjslk
February 15th, 2012
12:09 pm
Eliminate cupcakes for all. Play nine conference games and three legit opponents. But college football is run by weenies making huge profits and gulped up by a gullible public.
UGAGOLFER
February 15th, 2012
12:10 pm
GADAWGFAN1980,
Check out the 1980 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP schedule. We did not play one cupcake that entire year and ended 12-0!
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:13 pm
junkyarddawg….I think your kids can inherit your tickets. You just allow them to start writing the checks and change your mailing address to theirs for the ticket info. When you pass they just keep “Managing Your Affairs” until the time that they no longer want the tickets or get caught.
Floyd
February 15th, 2012
12:13 pm
If scheduling ultimately requires that we eliminate either Auburn or Georgia Tech from what has already become a cupcake-rich home schedule, you can count me out. I’ve had tickets since 1966, but a schedule like this one better prove to be the exception as opposed to the norm or I’m done. This is lazy scheduling, plain and simple…there are BCS-level schools and respectable non-BCS opponents who can be found to forumulate a solid home schedule without a return trip requirement. Many more will work out two-for-one deals. Bringing in teams like Florida Atlantic, Idaho State, Florida International, etc is pure laziness. The Georgia Athletic Department needs to get off its ass and ring some phones or its going to have a serious season ticket renewal problem on its hands. I’m not saying we need to add a Michigan, Texas or Ohio State every year…those are rare exceptions….but it’s not so hard to grab Southern Miss instead of FAU. We can find a Southern Methodist instead of Idaho State. A San Diego State or Fresno State or BYU instead of Buffalo. Many Big East schools, in particular, are begging for games right now to fill out their schedules. Find respectable non-conference opponents and stop this nonsense.
taterdog
February 15th, 2012
12:15 pm
clems son is so yesterday. been there done that. chech the series . nothin to see here.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
12:17 pm
sldkfjslk
February 15th, 2012
12:09 pm
too much disparity in conf to do this. SEC is head and shoulders above the rest
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:18 pm
oakisland…..play Lemay? HAHHAH 35:55minute MURRAY is a Heisman candidate. he will be in EVERY GAME as much as he can. Right & Bobo need MURRAY to look like a GOD. If 35:55minute MURRAY can put up a good season he will leave and Richt and Bobo will have the same situation in13 they had when Stafford left and all you had ready was Cox.
GADAWGFAN1980
February 15th, 2012
12:19 pm
UGAGOLFER,
I went to everygame that year and it was awesome! The team and talent we have now could not have gone 12-0.
I enjoy the games every year. I haven’t seen a DAWG team as good as those in the 80’s. We still lost some close games in those days.
It’s clear that none of us on this blog can change the schedule this year or for years to come. Keep up the good comments…
old time dog
February 15th, 2012
12:20 pm
Scheduling is apparently not an exact science. Some years it favors a particular school, other years it can prove to be a detriment.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
12:21 pm
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:18 pm
Actually mason can step in and fill in pretty easily. Has just as good an arm as Murray and can make all the throws.
Try again loser
James
February 15th, 2012
12:22 pm
I’m with Floyd. You don’t have to have Ohio State on the schedule, but respectable teams are available. I’d like to see Tech play Navy at some point, for example.
Jacket99
February 15th, 2012
12:22 pm
Confucius Say … Too many cupcakes gives fans big bellyache.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:25 pm
swimdawg68….McGarity KNOWS you will not give up your seats and that is WHY no good changes will be made. The best you can do is write him, buy the tickets, and leave them UNUSED.
Don’t plan on seeing UGa in the Kickoff Classic while McGarity is in the AD job. If the SEC goes to 9 games like the ACC you can bet no top tier SEC team will be in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game anytime soon. A Down Auburn, UT, Kentucky, Vandy, Miss St, Ole Miss might want to risk a loss in the CFA Kickoff Classic for the TV stage and recruiting advantages, but Bama, LSU, Florida, UGa, Arkiesaw will not want to be in that game.
Contractor
February 15th, 2012
12:25 pm
SavannahDawg is right on with that. It’s belittling to a team to play cupcakes all year long, and then go up against a real team in the SEC Championship and then Bowl Game. You get throttled when that happens. And I completely agree with not wasting your hard earned money to go see teams that couldn’t even match up with our state’s Friday night high school teams. McGarity needs to quit scheduling these teams, like he did at Florida, and get us into the big time games like with Boise State, LSU-Oregon, Alabama-Penn State, etc. It will bode well financially, for the fans, and get recruits into our program that want to play and beat the best for competition and exposure reasons.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
12:32 pm
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:25 pm
Why would we want to play 11 BCS opponents when everyone else only plays 10 at max??? Put ourselves at a disadvantage makes a whole lot of sense.
You can thank Florida and Bama for the trend of cupcake games for all SEC teams.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
12:34 pm
Contractor
February 15th, 2012
12:25 pm
We dont need extra exposure, we are in one of the best states for HS prospects.
Bama Penn state is not a big time game, not even close. Ths year that game equals us playing tech.
When all the other SEC stop doing it so will we.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:35 pm
TDF….I have pitched MASON for years now. That AIN’T gonna happen. BOZO hasn’t played MASON enough in critical moments with the 1st team Offense. Mason was STUPID to STAY. He will NEVER see significant playing time at UGa. the kid better have studied for a good Degree because he BLEW ANY shot ant playing in the NFL thanks to Richt and Bozo.
The only problem...
February 15th, 2012
12:36 pm
…with not donating, or donating and then not ordering season tickets, is you lose your seating priority and then, when the schedule gets better, you start over in the seating priority with lousy seats even though your Hartmann Fund amount continues to accrue – that, along with a crummy schedule every other year, is a real double whammy… but they do not care, all they care about is money, and there are thousands who have plenty of that to give every year…
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:41 pm
McGarity RAN from the Oregon UGa H-n-H so he filled one slot with the Boise St game last year. UGa got out of 2 tough game in favor of 1 against a BSU team that UGA and its fans thought would be a cakewalk in the dome. Just hink UGa could be starting this season with a trip to Oregon. If you win UGa moves to the head of the class if you lose then you have to win out.
Frosty Dawg
February 15th, 2012
12:44 pm
Option 1: 9 SEC games including permanent AU, plus GT, 1 OOC toughie, 1 cupcake. I’M GOOD! Option 2: 8 SEC games, permanent AU, plus GT, 1 OOC toughie, 2 cupcakes. OKAY, I GUESS, BUT WOULD PREFER THE EXTRA SEC GAME–DON’T LIKE GOING MORE THAN 2 YEARS BETWEEN SEC OPPONENTS (but see below). Option 3: 8 SEC games, no permanent West rival, GT, 1 OOC toughie, 2 cupcakes. CLEAR SIGNAL THAT TRADITIONS AND FANS DON’T MATTER, I’M DONE. As others have suggested, we can meet our goals with Option 2 by permanently scheduling 4 SEC teams (UF, AU, SC, UT) and rotating the other 9–I’d be okay with that, too. No offense to VU and UK, but don’t care that much if we play them every year or not.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
12:44 pm
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:35 pm
ahahahahahaha he doesnt play bc Murray is better. He was extremely smart to stay bc he will be able to get a shot at the starting job for a full year.
Blew it???? Ask Matt Cassel if not getting to play that often means you have no shot at the NFL.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
12:46 pm
The only problem…
February 15th, 2012
12:36 pm
Actually it isnt about money. They lose money by having to pay these cup cakes to play them.
Its all about not giving yourself a disadvantage over the rest of the conf. When everyone stops scheduling the cup cakes so will we.
funny...
February 15th, 2012
12:47 pm
Can’t win with some of you people.
Fire Richt, the schedules too easy, we didn’t beat Boise, our recruiting sucks
Go root for some other team.
SSIgator
February 15th, 2012
12:47 pm
“some folks might want to scramble aboard the bandwagon”
They always do before the season starts. After UGA actually has to play the games, they start leaving faster than people trying to get off of the Titanic.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
12:50 pm
Still@theKool-aidBAR
February 15th, 2012
12:41 pm
ahahahahahhahaha no one ran from anything. Keep telling yourself that. We tried to schedule numerous teams for the first game last year and Boise was the only one who accepted. every big 10 team asked said no.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
12:50 pm
funny…
February 15th, 2012
12:47 pm
Amen
TDF
February 15th, 2012
12:51 pm
SSIgator
February 15th, 2012
12:47 pm
Really?? wonder how fast the jort wearing gaytor fans abondoned ship this year???
Larry Lewis
February 15th, 2012
12:53 pm
I agree the schedule leaves a lot to be desired. I think the AD’s are more interested in making money than having competitive games. The cup cake games are the same as the NFL pre-season games, a glorified practice game. Need the 9 game SEC schedule.
Contractor
February 15th, 2012
12:58 pm
TDF,
Yeah, that’s why we keep losing out on some of our biggest targets when it comes to recruiting, because we have soooo much exposure. I meant the Alabama-Penn State game was an intriguing match up that got a lot of media attention, not that it was 1 vs. 2. Game Day was there, and them spending all of that extra time focusing on those two teams, they gained a lot of exposure throughout the country. And since when was it mandatory that we march to the beat of the rest of the teams in the SEC? Your points make no sense and have nothing backing them up. Exposure, wins, and beating the best gets you the recruits, brings in the money, and Championships. Look at Auburn, Alabama, and LSU. Florida played weak schedules, but their athletes were unreal in the years they won the National Championship.
dawgfacedboy
February 15th, 2012
1:00 pm
It’s cyclical. Some years it’s cupcake, sometimes it’s not. We started our season twice under the Richt era playing Clemson. We played Boise 1 year before they started their successful run of playing 1 good team a year. We killed a Central Mich team with a highly touted QB (Lefevre??). Southern competes for the 1-AA championship conistently.
TDF
February 15th, 2012
1:00 pm
Larry Lewis
February 15th, 2012
12:53 pm
What money do they make by paying a team hundreds of thousands of dollars to play us???
You ppl do realize a lot of these schools depend on the money they get for these games to help out their programs.
coastal Carolina team was started thanks to UGA. They didnt have enough money to get equipment so we gave it to them and they honored us by being called the bulldogs for a while, but have since changed their name to creat their own image. And we helped them out again by paying them to come and play.
there are a lot of reasons behind these games ppl, more than just your enjoyment.
MR is a Hypocrite
February 15th, 2012
1:02 pm
If UGA played Alabama’s or South Carolina’s schedules, they woudn’t break .500 and they could get rid of Richt and Bobo,