• Loading stock data...
Saturday, August 16, 2025
Stephen A. Smith vs Clay Travis at Tuned In on September 16 in NYC. Don’t miss it. Buy tickets now!

Georgia Tech Focuses on Fan Safety With Return of Football

  • Fans have returned to Bobby Dodd Stadium at 20% capacity.
  • Fans have many of their questions answered by Satisfi Labs virtual assistant.
Georgia Tech football
Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports

With the beginning of the college football season, several programs have allowed fans back into venues in a limited capacity. In the heart of Atlanta, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have allowed fans into Bobby Dodd Stadium at 20% capacity. 

To keep fans safe Mike Castle, assistant athletic director, ticket sales & operations, and the rest of the athletic department put together a cohesive plan to best service customers while maximizing revenue.

“I think the most difficult hurdle was that there was no written plan to start from,” Castle told Front Office Sports. “We were all starting from scratch and reacting as the situation unfolded. This was such a fluid offseason in preparation for so many unknowns, it was definitely one of the more challenging things I’ve ever had to encounter in my career.”

For the past several years, Georgia Tech has implemented Satisfi Labs’ virtual assistant to help answer fans’ questions about the game-day experience both leading up to game day and once they are inside the stadium or arena. Fans can access the virtual assistant on ramblinwreck.com, via SMS, and through the athletic department’s official app. This has been particularly helpful in 2020 as the Yellow Jackets’ staff deals with many new COVID-19 related questions, especially when it comes to entry policies, mobile ticketing, food and beverage handling, and even tailgating protocol.

“The great thing about Satisfi Labs and the specifics of the products we use with them is that it learns off of itself,” Castle said. “Each season, we can build off of the questions that fans are asking and provide more intelligent answers. This offseason, we were working with a bank of questions that we’ve never had answers to before and we were trying to guess what kind of questions people were going to have about their game-day experience. Luckily, Satisfi works with a lot of different teams that have already started the process. So we were able to benefit from a lot of the COVID platforms that have been built for other teams and built off of it to make it unique and applicable to our own team here.”

As part of Georgia Tech’s measures to decrease points of contact between customers and venue staff, the Yellow Jackets implemented a digital-only approach to ticketing. Many questions the virtual assistant is now handling for the staff are pertaining to digital tickets assistance, as a result.

“That particular part of the virtual assistant was really applicable, but in general, we built our virtual assistant with the idea that it could be helpful on game days, but also leading up to game day,” Castle said. “The platform of the virtual assistant is versatile enough to answer and help them. Satisfi is so good at anticipating what’s going to be asked, but also reacting to questions and adapting along the way. It’s just a spectacular product.”

With three home games left in the season, Castle and the rest of Georgia Tech’s ticketing staff will be proud to continue to provide their fans with high quality service made possible, in part, by their partnership with Satisfi Labs. 

“I’m most proud of our ability to anticipate situations and problems that fans may encounter so that we can have a solution for them,” Castle concluded. “If we weren’t able to answer it from the first person, make sure that the second, third, fourth, fifth person, and everybody else that asks gets an appropriate response and has the best customer experience.”

Learn more about Satisfi Labs

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Oklahoma's John Mateer warms up during football practice for the University of Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, Okla., Wednesday, Aug., 6, 2025.

Cybersecurity Experts Warn Athletes Against Public Venmo Accounts

Venmo “can expose patterns of spending, locations, and relationships.”
Middle Tennessee wide receiver Cam'ron Lacy (86) catches a pass and carries the ball during the season final home football game against New Mexico State on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024.

How Middle Tennessee State Added $668,000 to Its NIL Budget

The Blue Raiders are creating a new blueprint for cutting costs.
Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Brendan Sorsby (2) attempts to gain possession of the ball against West Virginia Mountaineers players in the second quarter of a college football game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and West Virginia Mountaineers, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati.

Power 4’s Next Era: Will Player Availability Reports Fuel Betting Ties?

The Big 12 became the final Power 4 conference to require injury reports.
Michgan football
exclusive

Fox Unlikely to Let ESPN Use Big Ten Games for College Football..

The network doesn’t want to cannibalize its own rights, sources say.

Featured Today

Bridgewater American 12U Little League player Micah Poulter holds a District 7 pin during a send-off rally to the New England regional tournament in Bristol, Connecticut, from Legion Field on Friday, August 2, 2024.

Inside the Little League World Series Pin Trade

The rare little collectibles fuel a frenzy in Williamsport each summer.
Schultz of Israel-Premier Tech
August 12, 2025

Rice Krispies Treats Are Upending the Billion-Dollar Athlete-Fuel Wars

The world’s most elite athletes are eating like first graders.
Dec 14, 2019; Philadelphia, PA, USA; President Donald Trump wave during the second quarter of the game between the Navy Midshipmen and the Army Black Knights at Lincoln Financial Field
August 9, 2025

‘Political Gold’: Trump Putting His Stamp on College Sports 

Trump has embraced executive action on hot-button college sports issues.
August 3, 2025

Inked Under Anesthesia: Athletes Getting $50,000 Tattoos

High-end studios, elite artist teams, and hours under anesthesia.
Sponsored

Game the Green: Transforming Fan Experiences at TPC Sawgrass

As fans gather at THE PLAYERS Championship, Comcast Business will be keeping spectators and the PGA TOUR connected like never before.
Sponsored

How Sportradar and the NBA Are Shaping the Future of Immersive Fan..

By transforming raw data into tailored, interactive content, Sportradar helps turn the NBA’s enormous fanbase into active participants.
February 3, 2025

Super Bowl Ticket Prices Crash As Hotel Rooms See Historic Rate Hike

Prices sink by about 30%, due in part to a lodging crunch.
Sponsored

‘Run With the Competition’: Ultra Trail Runner Lotti Brinks Is Back With..

Ultrarunner Lotti Brinks is ready to make her first Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix podium in her HOKA Mafate 5s.
October 8, 2024

NBA GMs Rank Salary-Cap Apron As Rule That Needs to Change Most

Schedule changes finished second with 17% of the vote.
Sponsored

Trend Report: Chiefs-Chargers, Tobacco Road Rivalry, Nebraska Sellout Streak

According to data from TickPick, some games this week will prove to be wallet-busters, climbing into the four figures.
September 8, 2024

US Open Breaks Attendance Record

Top-seeded Jannik Sinner beat No. 12 Taylor Fritz in straight sets Sunday.
Sponsored

Mastercard’s Foodies & Fairways: Where Golf Meets Gourmet at the TOUR Championship

This year’s TOUR Championship in Atlanta isn’t just about world-class golf—it’s also a celebration of local flavors.