Welcome to Dawg Debates, where two staffers from Dawg Sports take up sides on a topic of interest to Bulldog fans.
This morning, as many of you prepare to trek toward Athens for a day of football Between the Hedges, Lugnut Dawg and Macon Dawg are back at it for another round. This week, following Georgia head coach Kirby Smart’s comments about the lack of crowd noise last week against Auburn, among the questions is this – does the Sanford Stadium fan experience need an overhaul?
Lugnut Dawg: The Gameday Experience Between The Hedges Needs An Overhaul
Many years ago while a high school freshman in journalism, our teacher illustrated the purpose of newspaper ad sales through an ancedotal and uncredited quote:
“The purpose of a newspaper is to make money.”
So where in the world does this tie into what happens Between The Hedges?
It’s simple.
The University of Georgia and its marketing team have done a robust job in the area of attracting a wide range of corporate partners. That revenue is critical, as it is an engine driving the athletic program across the board.
But at some point, the question has to be asked – is the priority fan experience or operating in the black?
There’s nothing wrong with celebrating and thanking sponsors for their support, but to mix a recognition in for a top executive either just before kickoff or during a key timeout does not get the crowd amped up for a key moment. Rather, it gives them a chance to zone out or check their mobile devices.
The same goes for recognizing a noted professor. Yes, it’s very important to do that, especially when you will never have an audience that large. But the timing could and should be improved.
Now more than ever, sports on all levels, from high school to college are fighting attendance challenges of some sort. With everything streaming and the fact you can watch it all from your own couch on a 60-inch TV, the days are gone where you can just open the gates and expect people to show up.
Fans give up a full day, sometimes more to be in Athens. When they choose to do so, they are showing up to be entertained not just on the field, but off the field as well.
If something with the fan experience does not excite fans, is it even worth doing?
For all of its solemness, the Battle Hymn of the Bulldog Nation is the opposite of fast-paced. If there’s a way to change that up and mix Munson voice-over into something higher energy, it’d do a lot to move the crowd energy to a fever pitch before kickoff.
As Georgia fans, we like to poke fun at our rivals. But for all of the wisecracks thrown Auburn’s way, pre-game on the Plains carries more excitement. In the ACC, Enter Sandman at Virginia Tech sets a fast-placed pre-kickoff bar.
Georgia is arguably the standard to beat in college football, and efforts toward fan experience should match it.
Macon Dawg: It’s a Saturday in Athens. What more do you need?
Call me old-fashioned. But when I show up for a football game in Sanford Stadium I like to know I am at a football game, not Rave Night at the 40 Watt.
I want a fired up crowd. I understand that it’s a critical component for making Sanford Stadium an imposing road environment.
But the thing is, playing Enter Sandman and Jump Around isn’t what does that. It’s a sense of urgency from the fans, and the feeling that they can (and need to) affect the game. The undertone of Kirby’s statements last Saturday was that there was a time when Bulldog fans wanted to prove they were a factor in the game, due in part to Sanford’s longstanding reputation as a quieter SEC venue.
Frankly, what Kirby may have been saying is that Georgia fans are starting to act a little like Alabama fans. And frankly, he may have a point. That doesn’t change by playing super dope, hella fly contemporary music.
Lost in the discussion of what needs to change in the Sanford Stadium experience is the fact that the experience changes a good bit organically. I’m old enough to remember when the Battle Hymn of the Bulldog Nation debuted. People cried in the stands.
I’m also old enough to remember when most of the recognition of corporate sponsors and donors and other assorted high and grand muckety-mucks happened at halftime or perhaps between quarters. I will concede that part has gotten out of hand. As much as I want us to celebrate the folks from the Curl Up & Dye School of Beauty for their support of Georgia football, I will grant that doing so just before a key third down isn’t great planning.
But you can have my Battle Hymn soloist and Baba O’Riley when you pry them from my cold hands (they’re not dead, I’ve likely just been clutching a beer straight out of the cooler). By all means, play some Lil Bird Dog or Young Postal Worker or whatever the hot hip hop of the moment is. And perhaps consider congratulating Professor Stevens on his research award from the International Society of Heirloom Kumquat Producers during the pregame. But changes to what has been a very successful and even beloved game day atmosphere should be approached, to quote Edmund Burke, with a a trembling hand. Because change does not necessarily equate to improvement.
We don’t need better music. We need fans to remember to keep their heads in the game.
Go ‘Dawgs!!!