The best traveling team (or biggest draw) in the ACC is...

I’d be curious where all the ACC schools stand.

Atlanta has always been apathetic about fandom.

1. There is a lot to do in the city besides ball games
2. Folks with money aren’t all that excited to drive downtown for anything
3. Big sports fans are from somewhere else, so a Falcons game isn’t interesting unless their hometown Steelers are in town (similar to your FSU findings)
4. We haven’t always been a winning town (Falcons, Braves, Hawks, Jackets post SEC, Chiefs, etc.)
6. Atlanta is a “newer” city post Billy Sherman, so our teams don’t have the duration of existence of other cities, hence, Grandfathers don’t pass it on to Fathers to Son (except in the case of WFeather).
7. The ACC is notoriously slim on Football attendance as compared to Basketball. You can see why the SEC would only want VT and/or FSU. See: ACC Championship game ticket sales

I am glad to see that we add to our road hosts totals, and I can see the effect of Clemson and VT visits on the Upper North Stands every other year at BDS@GF.

The “round and round” of this expressed in the comments is only surpassed by the “round and round” that goes on in my head. In the end I just shake my head and admit that it baffles me. Bird’s comment about lack of density in the city does resonate however. There is another intangible that I can’t quite put my finger on. The only analogy that I can think of is the old saw about the difference in how Republicans seem to be united in everything they do and Democrats never seem to be able to unite in anything they do. This is an analogy not a political statement, so go with it for now.

There is something cantankerous about citizens in our cities that resists flocking in support of anything long term. It is not that decent numbers can’t show up for various events, it is that these numbers are not commensurate with the numbers one would suspect given the population numbers. Also there is a lack of stamina over time if any impediment appears.

So here are some apples and oranges comparisons. Statesboro, Georgia has a population of around 27,000 and when visiting there I have been hard pressed to find a decent restaurant. By comparison, Portsmouth, New Hampshire has a population of around 21,000 and has something like 81 critically acclaimed restaurants and is a national foodie destination.

Macon, Georgia has a population of around 91,300 and is the home to several colleges. Burlington, Vermont has a population of around 42,400 but as a college town has ten times as much going on in the club, restaurant and bar scene than Macon has.

Augusta, Georgia has a population of around 196,000 but its downtown energy level is put to shame by Portland, Maine, with a population of 66,194.

Much could be written about Atlanta and the urban planning (or lack thereof) that took place in the 60’s and 70’s. Until more recent decades Atlanta used to dry up after work hours and on weekends as everyone fled home to their TV’s and suburban homes. Unlike older Northern cities, Atlanta actually went through a period of discouraging downtown living. The city was even cut up by a downtown interchange that for awhile all but eliminated pedestrian walking. Atlanta’s efforts to turn this around are well known and they have been partly successful but unlike cities with a longer sustained history, Atlanta’s downtown is not the prime location for much of anything on a grand scale. There is not a major shopping boulevard downtown, no major art section or restaurant section or jazz club section or anything else that one often finds concentrated in cities in other parts of the country.

I am not trying to rag on Atlanta (as some will probably accuse me of) I am simply saying that Tech’s attendance issues cannot be viewed in a vacuum. The city itself has a certain pace and feel about it that tends to produce desultory results to most enterprises that require large on-going support downtown.

Granted, the restaurant scene in Statesboro isn’t great, but they do have SnookPac, a registered PAC!

They also had 25,500 for the UT Chattanooga game, and are looking to go from 20,000 to 30,000 seats.

Yep, Atlanta dried up after 6 pm. Maybe there is a turnaround with Atlantic Station et al, but I still don’t see mobs outside The Ted like Fenway…