Ga State Attendance Woes

[The Moody1]

GSU moves kickoff times in attempt to draw more fans
2:13 pm September 22, 2011, by Doug Roberson

In an attempt to improve attendance, Georgia State has moved back kickoff times for three of its remaining four home football games at the Georgia Dome.

The games against Murray State (Oct. 8), St. Francis (Nov. 5) and Campbell (Nov. 19) will start at 2 p.m. The game against South Alabama (Oct. 22) will keep its 3 p.m. kickoff time.

Attendance for the season-opener against Clark Atlanta surpassed 25,000, including thousands of students. The next game against Old Dominion had an announced attendance of more than 11,000, with perhaps hundreds of students attending. The poor attendance was attributed to numerous campus activities going on at the same time, including rush for sororities.

In an attempt to improve the spirit at the games, Georgia State is asking for fans to wear white to the game against Murray State. Free t-shirts will be given to the first 5,000 fans through the gates.

– Doug Roberson, AJC. Follow me on twitter @ajcgsu

[AppAlum2003]

"hmmm... should I spend my Saturday watching my school play Campbell or watch my Bulldogs play Alabama in HD on National Television?"

[Tuscon]

They also opened up 4000 seats for students in the lower bowl. I guess they didn't like being put in the mezzanine/upper level during the first game. Hopefully it helps make the stadium look a little more full. I don't honestly know how much of a difference an hour will make for the kickoff, but apparently that's a big complaint from students. The ODU game was a 12:00 kickoff. I'm not used to caring about that stuff. I was setting up my tailgate at 7 AM. I guess with our student body not being used to football or whatever they just don't get it.

[Tuscon]

"hmmm... should I spend my Saturday watching my school play Campbell or watch my Bulldogs play Alabama in HD on National Television?"

Not really an excuse for the ODU game as Georgia came on at 3:30 and there was enough time to get home and catch the kickoff. I think everyone in Georgia playing at home probably hurt second to noon kickoff.

[AppAlum2003]

Not really an excuse for the ODU game as Georgia came on at 3:30 and there was enough time to get home and catch the kickoff. I think everyone in Georgia playing at home probably hurt second to noon kickoff.

Trust me, not a knock on GASU. We get the same crap at ASU. It's getting less and less, but I still see Carolina jackets at ASU home games. SMH...

[Tuscon]

Trust me, not a knock on GASU. We get the same crap at ASU. It's getting less and less, but I still see Carolina jackets at ASU home games. SMH...

At least they're there. I want our administration to experiment a little more with the start times. Our opening games are very successful and have been at 7:30. Just try it once, if it doesn't work, tweak it. 11,000 ain't gonna cut it.

[McNeese75]

It seems Georgia State fights trying to increase attendance when kickoff coincides with Georgia games. We fight the same problem here. All home games begin at 7:00 and low and behold, most of the LSU games begin at the same time. Now if we could get LSU playing duing the day and Georgia playing in the 7:00 PM time slot we both might increase attendance xnodx

[Twentysix]

Not really an excuse for the ODU game as Georgia came on at 3:30 and there was enough time to get home and catch the kickoff. I think everyone in Georgia playing at home probably hurt second to noon kickoff.

Noon kickoff is unacceptable unless its homecoming. If you have 5 other games starting from anywhere between 4 and 7pm Im good. I couldnt imagine standing in line before like 930am...every week..

[Bogus Megapardus]

I'm going out on a limb and projecting, here and now, that Harvard will outdraw Georgia State this season.

[alvinkayak6]

The worst was being in the athletics department of a school and seeing students wear the opposing teams shirts/hats the day after a game. That was painful.

[tribe_pride]

I assume the ODU game was scheduled for noon for television reasons and no other. If you want to be on tv, you need to play when the tv station says you will play unless you are one of a select few teams and then you still are not on your own.

[Cocky]

Most of us have conflicts, schedule your game at the best time for your university and let everyone choose thier game of choice. I have a conflict with something every weekend but can only attend one at a time.

[Tuscon]

I assume the ODU game was scheduled for noon for television reasons and no other. If you want to be on tv, you need to play when the tv station says you will play unless you are one of a select few teams and then you still are not on your own.

That is what the case was. And we were supposed to have noon kickoff for the Murray State game as GPB picked it up before the SoCon game scheduled later in the day. Seeing as we moved that kickoff to 2:00 it seems as if our administration is placing priority on attendance rather than just having it televised.


Most of us have conflicts, schedule your game at the best time for your university and let everyone choose thier game of choice. I have a conflict with something every weekend but can only attend one at a time.

The best thing to do is schedule it when the widest amount of people can make it. Don't just make an arbitrary time. What makes a time best for the university? I would think high attendance/ television exposure. The former getting you the latter.

[Gringer1]

Free t-shirts will be given to the first 5,000 fans through the gates.

But what are they going to do with the 2,000 left over shirts? Just kidding, I'm sure they can find 5,000 hobos who will take a free shirt. However, if G-State counts shirts the same way they count attendance, they only made 3,000 of them.

[Tuscon]

But what are they going to do with the 2,000 left over shirts? Just kidding, I'm sure they can find 5,000 hobos who will take a free shirt. However, if G-State counts shirts the same way they count attendance, they only made 3,000 of them.

If a homeless guy wants my shirt, I'll probably give it to him. Who cares what our attendance is, I want us to start winning some games!

[Gringer1]

If a homeless guy wants my shirt, I'll probably give it to him. Who cares what our attendance is, I want us to start winning some games!

That's the spirit. You're starting to get it.

[Tuscon]

Sucks it ain't gonna start tomorrow. Hatcher likes to throw it though and we can stop that.

[Tribal]

I can't imagine anything interfering with attending a game. I earned my masters at S Carolina and VCU after that. SC could play in the National Championship game and I would opt to see W&M play. That includes the 2.5 hour drive each way with 3 boys in tow. If a student can't get out of bed at 11:00 to walk a few miles to watch their school play at noon, they aren't fans. GA State seems like they are doing all they can. Teeshirt giveaways. Change the start times. Hired a well-known coach. There's no excuse for poor attendance.

[Hammer22]

When the lower bowl fills 30,000 people and you only fill 1/3 for the ODU game, it's gonna make the crowd look really small.

[Ivytalk]

I'm going out on a limb and projecting, here and now, that Harvard will outdraw Georgia State this season.

If we had Yale at home, you might be right! Seriously, we have Dartmouth at night, so we may hit 20K for that one, in addition to the 18+K last night for Brown. Penn is an afternoon kickoff and, if it make a difference to the Ivy title, it may approach those numbers. Not sure we catch GA State.

[Cocky]

Unless it was bad camera angles the bottom was well less than a third full. It was maybe a twentieth full on the side visible on TV.
Playing in the Ga Dome is not a good deal for GSU. UAB has been fighting the plaque of Legion Field forever. UAB avg 17-20,000 in a 65,000 capacity stadium and it looks empty. Troy avg the same or less than UAB but everyone raves about their success. Troy's stadium holds 30,000 or less but its close to two thirds full.

Perception is reality