UGA makes right move switching unused student tickets to young alums
Putting young alumni in some of the unused student seats in Sanford Stadium is a good idea. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
I already covered a couple of weeks ago why I thought Mark Richt deserved a raise, so I’m pleased the UGA athletic board acted Tuesday to up his compensation and add a year to his contract.
Something else the athletic board did Tuesday is also worthy of comment: They cut the student allotment of tickets in Sanford Stadium for football games by about 2,000 and instead will make those tickets available to young alumni.
There were 17,910 tickets reserved for students last year, but on average only 11,802 per game have been used since 2009, according to UGA’s ticket scans. The highest student attendance during that period was at the 2011 Auburn game, when 15,450 used their tickets — meaning nearly 3,000 students didn’t bother to show up for the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry!
It’s embarrassing to have viewers tuning in for a nationally or regionally televised game see all those empty seats. The “gaping hole in our stadium,” as athletic Greg McGarity referred to it, has been the subject of much consternation at the school, which has tried different strategies, with mostly middling results, to get more students to show up for the games.
“We need to fill the stadium,” McGarity said.
So, starting with this season, UGA will take a little more than 2,000 of those end-zone tickets and sell them to alumni who finished their undergraduate or graduate degrees in the past five years.
I think it’s an excellent idea. Students weren’t using those tickets anyway, and the young alums, many of whom can’t afford the minimum donation to the Hartman Fund necessary to buy season tickets, have been largely shut out.
Back when students could sell hard tickets, young alums just out of UGA were frequently the buyers. Coupled with the restrictions on North Campus tailgating, the tightening of the ticket supply by going to electronic tickets on a student ID hurt attendance by recent grads. And young alums is a constituency the school and its football program need to develop.
It’s a win-win situation. Whereas students were paying $8 apiece for the tickets they didn’t bother to use, young alumni will be able to buy them for $40 in the first year without having to make a contribution. So the school still will make more money off the seats, even without the Hartman Fund payment. In the second year the young alums will be required to donate $250 to retain the tickets and that amount will increase to the standard base-level donation of $500 in the third year, which sounds fair.
Ryan Scates, a student member of the athletic board, told me it’s also important to note that students will still have the same access to tickets, because “UGA will continue to honor the same amount of student ticket requests as in years past,” essentially overselling the section just like airlines do with flights, because they know everyone won’t show up. As Scates explained, “Data reaching back to 2009 shows that even at the highest recorded levels of attendance, we still can expect over 450 seats to go unfilled in the student section after the Young Alumni Program is implemented.”
So every student who buys a ticket and shows up should have a seat.
Scates, a law student, said he’s an enthusiastic supporter of the move because it “allows newly-minted UGA grads to continue the tradition of fall Saturdays in Athens after graduation. … And most importantly, they have crafted the program in a fashion that will preserve the status-quo in regards to student access to home football games.”
As Scates noted, “the seats in Sanford Stadium for home football games are some of the university’s most coveted resources. I commend Greg McGarity and the UGA Athletics staff for taking a hard look at the most effective way to be a steward of this resource, and to also ensure active alumni support of Georgia athletics for years to come.”
Spoken like a budding politician, but I think he’s right on the mark.
How about you?
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82 comments Add your comment
loyaldawg
February 13th, 2013
4:11 pm
Paper tickets will solve the problem
kauai dawg
February 13th, 2013
4:13 pm
Ryan Scates is the MAN! Great article and I love the idea of filling the seats!
Go DAWGS!
Remarkable
February 13th, 2013
4:19 pm
My wife is an alumn (1982) and she already gets offers each week to purchase $40 tickets. And she never has to pay any other fee.
Denver Dawg
February 13th, 2013
4:25 pm
Not that this is the main topic being discussed today, but there’s been some misinformation posted here…
The yearly Hartman Fund contribution to retain your season tickets is ONLY contingent on where your seat is located, and has NOTHING to do with “how long you’ve had your seats”, as Mr. King wrote in an earlier reply to the original blog.
Just had this confirmed by the AA / Bulldog Club, and wanted to at least clear that small part up.
Carry on.
DawginLex
February 13th, 2013
4:27 pm
Tech fans don’t want to be around our fanbase because you always lose
Tech fans get outnumbered by UGA fans in their own stadium
Go back to paper tickets and quit making the students jump through hoops to attend football games.
ffh
February 13th, 2013
4:27 pm
The University needs to do whatever necessary to get students to the games and interested in football. Otherwise the student sections will not be the only empty sections in a few years. It is probably to late already.
Skokie Dog
February 13th, 2013
5:00 pm
Some of those empty seats might be filled if the competition weren’t cupcakes. Also, it doesn’t help that televised games in recent years have started at noon, which some U.Ga. students seem to think is too early to get out of bed. In the olden days, students seemed able to arrive by 1:00 PM, and those seats were filled. Bottom line is, as usual, this is about the money, which is no surprise, since the athletic association exists to make profits.
dawgsfan5191
February 13th, 2013
5:01 pm
well this past season in the student section in good ole Sanford Stadium I witnessed a small problem called OVERCROWDING!!! so now with less students getting tickets its going to be those young alums that are going to be forced up into the all ready overcrowded 300 section. I dont know why they think they can give away student tickets if they are having a problem with too many students coming to the games to begin with! Just read this article done by the University newspaper.
http://www.redandblack.com/sports/sanford-seat-snafu-more-people-more-problems/article_5c7e87a4-18ac-11e2-808f-0019bb30f31a.html?mode=story
GTBob
February 13th, 2013
5:20 pm
Tech fans don’t want to be around our fanbase because you always lose
If I am at kroger and I am near a UGA fan, I will intentionally walk to a different register just because I can’t stand being next to them. It has nothing to do with football. Your fanbase is full of just raunchy redneck people that aren’t pleasant to be around.
Rabun Dawg
February 13th, 2013
5:31 pm
I realize that a 9:00 tip off is late for people not from Athens area, but come on, the sparse attendance at last nights B-Ball game was embarrassing. Empty seats all around the lower area, not just up top. I guess UGA B-Ball is not on anyones radar these days, even though the team has played somewhat better lately. I realize that wasn’t UK or top teams involved, but it was pretty bad looking around the coliseum. I guess we are just a “football school”, and always will be. Even when we are winning we do not sell out. I’ve seen bigger crowds at some high school games compared to last night. I know, better product sells better, but with 35k students and Athens population being what it is I would think UGA could come close to filling up the place. Maybe we need to pay the “Big Blue Nation” to play more of their games in Stegman!
MT
February 13th, 2013
5:39 pm
Your fanbase is full of just raunchy redneck people that aren’t pleasant to be around.
Why don’t they offer a course at Tech? How to get along with people that attend the state’s flagship university.Georgia Tech appreciation for the Georgia Bulldogs. Course number 62/39/5
tech hater
February 13th, 2013
5:42 pm
“If I am at kroger and I am near a UGA fan, I will intentionally walk to a different register just because I can’t stand being next to them. It has nothing to do with football. Your fanbase is full of just raunchy redneck people that aren’t pleasant to be around.”
GT Bob, If you feel that way about us, why are you so interested in our blogs. I don’t think you would hurt our feelings if you “walked to a different blog” and quit commenting on our blog.
Bobby Dodd's Georgee Tech
February 13th, 2013
5:46 pm
Maybe a better course would be,How a GT Nerd can break the habit of hanging out
on AJC Georgia Blogs.
Excited Young Alum
February 13th, 2013
6:24 pm
So how do young alum go about getting these tickets this year?
GTBob
February 13th, 2013
7:09 pm
GT Bob, If you feel that way about us, why are you so interested in our blogs.
It should be pretty obvious why I am on your blogs. If you haven’t figured it out then maybe one of the more intelligent UGA fans will explain it to you.
Bill King
February 13th, 2013
7:32 pm
dawgsfans5191
I believe the only overcrowding takes place in the most desired student section. Anyone with eyes can see empty seats in other student sections.
Bill King
February 13th, 2013
7:37 pm
Denver Dawg:
What I was talking about is that it costs more to buy new season tickets than to renew old ones.
This is from the official website:
As a first time contributor we encourage you to make a gift you are comfortable with to build your priority points. While each section in Sanford Stadium has a per seat contribution associated with it, making that contribution does not guarantee you will receive seats in that section. The actual donation to obtain new season tickets may be higher than the per seat contribution listed.
Mtn.Dawg
February 13th, 2013
7:39 pm
GTbob…you just thought it was the UGA fan. It actually was the bottle nosed geek with the GT hat on standing on the other side of you in Kroger. You know, the one that hasn’t bathed in 2 weeks, and has his glasses taped together . that’s what gave you that raunchy, unpleasant feeling.
Bill King
February 13th, 2013
7:40 pm
History of Matt:
Google my past Blawgs on the subject of student tickets and you’ll find me saying that the problem was the athletic association got greedy.
Bill King
February 13th, 2013
7:43 pm
Denver Dawg:
Yes, from what I understand the student sections are general admission, though certain seats are reserved for fraternities, etc.
Mtn.Dawg
February 13th, 2013
8:43 pm
Control freak Saban, with all his consultants and attorneys couldn’t keep the lid on this one. What happened to the notion that we don’t have players like that at Bama? Now that the rug has been pulled back a bit for all to see, why yes they do! It will be interesting to see how well the hired hands will do with this one? It seems after the infamous convenient store robbery in Knoxville, Fulmer started a slow slide into the abbes. Could Saban be next?
AltamahaDawg
February 13th, 2013
8:44 pm
I have been saying for years now that the youngest alum would be a much better use of tickets. As loud as “students” and almost a 100% chance that they show up. Plus from a fairness standpoint, a recent grad is far more deserving that a maybe grad.
AltamahaDawg
February 13th, 2013
8:45 pm
And how the hell are UGA fans getting shafted by this inside?. You are the biggest whining liberal around.
Jay in VA
February 13th, 2013
8:53 pm
Will this address those perpetually empty seats in the northeast corner? The ones that the cameras in the press box always seem to show? Not making a statement, just asking the question. It is demoralizing to tune in and see those bare seats. And before anyone makes the comment, I live 500 miles away so I can’t be a part of the solution every week.
That asked, I love the fact that there is a concerted effort to address this problem. Kudos to Greg McGarity!
OkieDawg
February 13th, 2013
10:45 pm
Great, this is the old format and GTbob can use his italics. Now if he can learn the difference in then and than.
Red Pants
February 14th, 2013
10:35 am
I’m one of those young alumni and I couldn’t be happier about this.
DawginLex
February 14th, 2013
5:12 pm
Bob
If I walked into the room, you would swear I went to Tech since in your feeble brain, only people that went to Tech wear a suit to work…………………
AltamahaDawg
February 15th, 2013
9:07 am
I couldn’t be happier for Red Pants. One of 2000 more people NOT showing up late, texting all game, unappreciative to be there, and whining about made up excuses .
The volume and intensity of that section just improved.
alpharetta alice
February 15th, 2013
9:36 am
play a decent schedule and people will show up…
AltamahaDawg
February 15th, 2013
9:36 am
IMO there are not enough hoops to jump through. The entire issue boils down to a small percentage of student who are at best: way to casual about it, and at worst: had little intentions of using thier alloted tickets in the first place. The problem is not caused by student who want to be at the game.
And why would they go back to paper? Buying a ticket (irrespective of it’s form) and showing up on the day of the game, is not jumping through hoops. College student are pretty capable of pulling off that feat.
I like what SC does. It’s all electronic. If your ID doesn’t scan enough times at the gate(s) this year, you don’t get the forms sent to you next year. I think they literally call it the “Loyalty” points.
GAGurl
February 16th, 2013
5:07 pm
personally, I am one of their targeted “young alums” and honestly, I probably wouldn’t buy the tickets anyway, I’d rather buy them from a scalper, because the student section sucks. Too loud, too obnoxious, too many drunk undergrads… it’s just not a good time compared to the “regular” seats.
dublindawg
February 18th, 2013
10:46 am
where do you get these tickets?