How Atlanta Strip Clubs Are Surviving in the Age of Social Distancing.

13 comments

• Papi_Chulo

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  4 years ago

  I'm sure TUSCLERs have made a significant contribution to ATL area economics - and I'm sure Follies is a significant portion of the entertainment income of the area
• Eve

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  4 years ago

  Is it weird that I think the picture with the plexiglass set up looks kinda cool? Although during peak business times, I can imagine that can be annoying to walk by.
• winex

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  4 years ago

  I do find it difficult to believe that the $240 million in economic activity eclipses the total from all the sports franchises combined.
  
  The NFL salary cap this season is $198.5 million, and that is for players only. Not coaches, support staff, or everything related to running the Mercedes dome for Falcons games.
• Papi_Chulo

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  4 years ago

  "... I do find it difficult to believe that the $240 million in economic activity eclipses the total from all the sports franchises combined ..."
  
  Yeah - I find that a bit difficult to believe also - perhaps they are referring to how much consumers spend on strip-clubs vs sports - for one, there are way more strip-clubs than sporting events, and SCs are open 7-days-a-week (or at least 6 in some areas); and often open for 14+ hours/day - so adding all the SCs in the area, multiplying by 7 (days a week, or at least 6), and the # of hours with custies spending in them, one can see that perhaps eclipsing what is locally spent in sports.
• goldmongerATL

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  4 years ago

  Some quick guesswork. Looked up the ticket prices.
  Falcons 500K tickets at $104 = $52M. Concessions another $20M. Hotels and meals for $20% out of towners, add $30M. $102M for Falcons.
  Braves 2.6M x $30 tickets = $78M. Concessions and meals at battery another $60M. Hotels and meals for even 5% out of towners is another $40M. $178M for the Braves.
  
  Hawks 545K x $105 tickets is $57M. etc. add in the United. The United ticket sales are about $40M.
  
  So ticket sales alone are just about that $240 figure. Surprising the numbers are even close to each other.
  
• Electronman

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  4 years ago

  Interesting article. I wonder how they calculated the annual strip club revenue. Club admission fees, beverage and food sales would be easy to track. Parking fees would be easy but some clubs "hire" a parking service that actually pays the club a fee for the privilege of charging customers to park and safeguard their cars/trucks.
  
  Some of the revenue streams would be a bit more difficult to track. If not mistaken, some clubs charge a flat fee for each dancer for each shift. Does that go into the annual revenue? Some clubs take a portion of the fee for each lap dance. I wonder if those fees count towards annual revenue?
  
  How about all the stage tipping revenue, which can be substantial at some clubs? How about the "tips" for extra service?
  
  Just shows that I'm pretty naive about the business end of the strip club scene. But it sounds like a pretty lucrative cash flow, some of which would be hard to track.
• shadowcat

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  4 years ago

  Electronman - I know for a fact that Follies hired a valet service that was owned by the son of one of the 2 Follies owners.
• Electronman

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  4 years ago

  Shadowcat: The parking concession must be very lucrative at most clubs, especially Follies.
• winex

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  4 years ago

  Gold,ongerATL - I am not sure about the other sports, but your Falcons numbers sound low.
  
  The stadium seats 74,295. If you count the 8 regular season games and ignore the 2 preseason games plus any potential playoff games, that comes out to 594,360 available seats.
  
  Your average ticket price does look good though according to what I have found.
  
  
• goldmongerATL

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  4 years ago

  I looked up the other attendances, but not Falcons. Falcons are 572K, so bump that number a bit. I also looked up average ticket prices for all teams.
  
  I didn't even include merchandise sales. Not many guys walking around in Follies game jerseys. Maybe we should could sweatpants sales.
• pistola

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  4 years ago

  I heard CLM (Chicken Lives Matter) is trying to set up a protest as too many people order chicken wings at the ATL clubs.
• lameduck

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  4 years ago

  @goldmongeratl but are the tickets sold out at falcons games? Last few times I watched them on TV it looked a bit empty. Also Atlanta United (MLS) has a pretty strong following so that would contribute
• whodey

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  4 years ago

  “What I do like about the adult club industry is that it tends to be an early adopter of advanced technology.”
  
  I'm not sure what kind of fancy strip clubs this guy goes to, but at most of the dive clubs I frequent the only club equipment newer than 1970s technology is a TouchTunes Jukebox.