O.K. North Texas Athletic Department

ADLER · January 5, 2006

On Saturday, January 28, Sun Belt Western Division rival South Alabama comes to Denton. South Alabama is a favorite to possibly win the division. It is also the last weekend before National Signing Day when the North Texas football team will be hosting football recruits at the game.

MAKE A STATEMENT!

SELL OUT THE SUPER PIT!

Get people there and make them want to keep coming to more games in the future.

As a token of appreciation, mail reserved North Texas Basketball Tickets for that game to every person that has purchased season tickets for North Texas football. Give them the best seats possible in hopes that they will desire to buy basketball season tickets in future seasons. Include in the mailout an invitation for each of those people to participate in the Green Room activities, or better yet, move the 'Green Room' to a big tent outside at concourse level where even more people can get involved. We have got to let people know what they are missing.

Promote the game to student organizations; dorms, Greek organizations etc. Get in contact with Fraternity/Sorority officers NOW to make sure that this gets added to their activities schedules before something else gets scheduled that night.

Include Spirit Trophys and/or cash prizes for spirit displayed and shooting contests. Complete the cash contests at the end of the game to insure that the groups remain until game's end.

If possible, bring the entire Green Brigade to the game, not just the Pep Band. The Pit rocks like thunder when the entire Brigade, including the Drum Line is playing in there.

Bring in for recognition all the athletes that had exceptional grades in the Fall semester. It looks good to recruits when they see other athletes are succeeding, and it shows the fans that our athletes are working hard in the classroom.

Make sure there is a full contingent of Cheerleaders and Songleaders for the game and that they will be supplied with 10X as many give-away tee shirts than at usual games.

Put searchlights outside the Pit. It helps the game to look like a major event.

Open and stock all concession stands so it will not take an excessive amount of time to get refreshments.

If there was a video to display on the big screens showing the recent avancements including the new womens facilities, new soccer field, new tennis complex, completed athletic center, rebuilt softball facility and other advancements, it may get more of the students/fans on board with the program. An update to all the fans by the A.D., possibly between warm-ups and gametime, which would inform of any recent developments and any future plans would go a long way in making more people feel informed and involved.

The opportunity to excel is there. Why not do it? It could go a long way towards bolstering the spirits of the North Texas faithful, help with recruiting, and would expose many of our traditionally football only fans to our developing basketball program.

gruu · January 5, 2006

Wow... nice...

January 5, 2006

That is a fantastic idea. That just might give the program the jump start that it needs. Hopefully, we play better in front of a large crowd and that would make a great 'Pack the Pit' occasion.

Did you e-mail RV with your suggestion, Geoff?

ADLER · January 5, 2006

That is a fantastic idea. That just might give the program the jump start that it needs. Hopefully, we play better in front of a large crowd and that would make a great 'Pack the Pit' occasion.
Did you e-mail RV with your suggestion, Geoff?
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First, I hate the 'Pack the Pit' name for the promotion, it flat out sucks. It's like trying to get people to your restaurant by saying 'Pack the Restaurant'. We need to promote the things that people will actually come out to see. We have a good product. We need to sell people on the product which is a good basketball team.

I have not contacted anyone in the Athletic Department, but if anybody would be interested in conveying any of these ideas, please feel free to do so.

I think it's a win-win for everyone involved. It may even be a good time to reveal our potential football schedule for next season and start plugging for additional season ticket sales.

We need to rebuild some of the momentum that was lost this past football season, and this could be a start.

UNTSportsGuy · January 5, 2006

The recruiting class can't get a whole lot better, the class for next yr is ranked 29th in the nation

Mad Hatter · January 5, 2006

Great Idea!!! Does anyone know RV's email? Maybe we could send him a link to this thread?

The ticket give awa to football season ticket holders is an awesome idea! Although true, they wouldn't be making money off the seats, they'd increase revenue of concessions, plus those people might bring non-season ticket holder friends, not to mention possibly gaining some new basketball fans.

I'll try to make it with my family, even if NT doesn't do it, we ought to take it on ourselves to spread the word.

I bet that would help with potential recruits as well.

pruff66 · January 5, 2006

These are very good ideas. NT has a great facility for all sports. I feel that filling the p "Pit" would be worth two wins, if not more, for the team. The energy of the fans is a powerful thing and NT needs to take atvantage of what they have. Do something to get all the students there as well. That's where the spirit is.

drex · January 5, 2006

Adler's ideas are on the right track. I am crushed that he doesn't like the 'Pack the Pit' slogan that we used way back when....how about the theme being ' valiantly attempt to fill the coliseum'...that seems catchy to me. Anyway, seriously, this year's basketball teams deserve promotional excellence.

untbowler · January 5, 2006

I think my wife will be taking her staff to the B-Ball game Saturday, so that should be 11-13 fans there.

Stan R · January 5, 2006

awesome idea!!

ntsumgspe · January 5, 2006

I am crushed that he doesn't like the 'Pack the Pit' slogan that we used way back when....
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I too am a fan of the "PACK THE PICK" slogan. Maybe not for a specific game ...

FOR EVERY GAME !!!

GreenFlag · January 6, 2006

I coined "Pack the Pit" back in the day. I read in Sports Illustrated where some school made an all out effort to sell out their gym and did. I passed it along to the powers that be. And now you know the rest of the story.

Fletch · January 6, 2006

Someone thinking outside the box. How creative and refreshing. I totally think the key to all this though is the students. When they get back from break, the marketing and promotions people should be all over them. Both basketball teams are doing great and have a chance to be really great. However, it would so help them if the pit could be rockin like most college basketball games. The student section, well, is pathetic. And I am not even sure I could tell you where they sit. I think the band idea is great. I think the Athletic Department should attempt to get all of the athletes to attend games more often. I mean, the football team alone would be close to 75 fans. And get them all sitting together and cheering. I don't know if most of you were at the Houston game, but that atmosphere was great. Too bad it was mostly Houston fans but still, if we had something to that affect cheering on our team and getting loud. Man, that would be awesome. So if any of you are students on campus, help get them to games anyway you can. And keep on the athletic department to help sell to them. I mean, alot of kids live on campus. Evacuate their buildings on game nights and make them head over to the Pit. Something. If the students could create a buzz inside that arena, then the general public will be more enticed to come buy tickets and check it out. But the students are the key here. And this will help carry over to football and possibly soccer or volleyball.

Go Mean Green.

j0nat8an · January 6, 2006

Someone thinking outside the box. How creative and refreshing. I totally think the key to all this though is the students. When they get back from break, the marketing and promotions people should be all over them. Both basketball teams are doing great and have a chance to be really great. However, it would so help them if the pit could be rockin like most college basketball games. The student section, well, is pathetic. And I am not even sure I could tell you where they sit. I think the band idea is great. I think the Athletic Department should attempt to get all of the athletes to attend games more often. I mean, the football team alone would be close to 75 fans. And get them all sitting together and cheering. I don't know if most of you were at the Houston game, but that atmosphere was great. Too bad it was mostly Houston fans but still, if we had something to that affect cheering on our team and getting loud. Man, that would be awesome. So if any of you are students on campus, help get them to games anyway you can. And keep on the athletic department to help sell to them. I mean, alot of kids live on campus. Evacuate their buildings on game nights and make them head over to the Pit. Something. If the students could create a buzz inside that arena, then the general public will be more enticed to come buy tickets and check it out. But the students are the key here. And this will help carry over to football and possibly soccer or volleyball.
Go Mean Green.
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i completely agree, but i'm so completely beaten down by having to convince my friends to come with me to the games. every home game i feel like a telemarketer tryin to sell gold that is disguised as turds in a bag. because the marketing doesn't exist, most students have no clue that the bball team is good and after convincing people to come to the football games to watch what our team put on the field this year, getting them to trust me that the bball team is good is tough. it sucks that somehow trying to grow support for the athletes becomes a chore (but i would never stop or get sick of the actual teams/games). i know everyone on this board goes through the exact same thing.

UNTLifer · January 6, 2006

Accept student meal cards at the concession stand. Substitute one meal punch for a hot dog or slice of pizza, fries and a drink.

Cowtown · January 6, 2006

The Tarrant Exes plan on coming up for the game.

We are having a reception in the Alumni center.

untgirl04 · January 6, 2006

Accept student meal cards at the concession stand. Substitute one meal punch for a hot dog or slice of pizza, fries and a drink.
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That's a great idea! The only problem is the way North Texas sells its meal plans. Basically, each student purchases either a 5-day or 7-day meal plan, then can eat at any cafeteria as many times as they like during their meal period. So for instance, if I purchase a 5-day meal plan, I can visit all 8 cafeterias/grab-n-go's all in one day. Translating that to the basketball games, I could go back and get as much food as I wanted. Which means that I could swipe my card for free food for all my friends.

If they could somehow find a way to limit the amount of times you can come get food, and just make sure the student has a decent sized meal the first time around, then it would be an excellent promotion.

Michael Scott · January 6, 2006

That's a great idea! The only problem is the way North Texas sells its meal plans. Basically, each student purchases either a 5-day or 7-day meal plan, then can eat at any cafeteria as many times as they like during their meal period. So for instance, if I purchase a 5-day meal plan, I can visit all 8 cafeterias/grab-n-go's all in one day. Translating that to the basketball games, I could go back and get as much food as I wanted. Which means that I could swipe my card for free food for all my friends.
If they could somehow find a way to limit the amount of times you can come get food, and just make sure the student has a decent sized meal the first time around, then it would be an excellent promotion.
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You'd also have to make sure chuggy bears who (or whoever does it now) and the people who own the coliseum are on board because the AD controls none of that. It have to be sold as part of a sponsorship and university staff outside athletics would have to endorse it... we know how that goes.

(Chuggy Bears would also need card readers and tech for it as well.) Is it worth it or a decent sell for 20 students? It would be a nice perk for who is there and I like the idea, but it seems more for down the road once we reel off a few 20 win seasons.

ADLER · January 6, 2006

What about having $1.00 Hot Dogs, and giving every student that enters a coupon for a FREE Hot Dog. Do this at every game.

Hot Dogs cost considerably less than a dollar, have very little labor involved, and any profit possibly lost through the promotion would be regained through soft drink sales.

ADLER · January 9, 2006

From official Sun Belt site

MEN- Average attendance: 2,760

5,489 Western Kentucky

4,116 Middle Tennessee

3,780 UL-Lafayette

3,197 UALR

3.049 Arkansas State

2,929 South Alabama

2,580 Denver

1,685 North Texas

1,619 Troy

966 FIU

672 New Orleans

This doesn't really look too good. Has anyone heard about any planned promotions for the remainder of this season?

NT80 · January 9, 2006

This doesn't really look too good. Has anyone heard about any planned promotions for the remainder of this season?
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The New Orleans loss really subdued any momentum that was gained with an 8-4 record. Saturday's attendance was 2100+ with 2 more home games Thu and Sat. If we had a 10-4 record heading into the game next Saturday against a good Denver team I could see 3000+ easy, now ?

It's always one step forward then two back. As for planned promotions (?); they need to actively recruit students when classes resume with giveaways or free food, etc. Otherwise there are 2 main ways to attract attendance: 1. win or 2. a quality opponent.

UNTLifer · January 9, 2006

The New Orleans loss really subdued any momentum that was gained with an 8-4 record. Saturday's attendance was 2100+ with 2 more home games Thu and Sat. If we had a 10-4 record heading into the game next Saturday against a good Denver team I could see 3000+ easy, now ?
It's always one step forward then two back. As for planned promotions (?); they need to actively recruit students when classes resume with giveaways or free food, etc. Otherwise there are 2 main ways to attract attendance: 1. win or 2. a quality opponent.
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I would feel confident in stating that there are no promotions for the remainder of the year.

The UNO loss is the equivalent of the Tulsa home loss in football. Good crowds and a chance to capture the crowd with a good showing lost.

January 9, 2006

I would feel confident in stating that there are no promotions for the remainder of the year.
The UNO loss is the equivalent of the Tulsa home loss in football. Good crowds and a chance to capture the crowd with a good showing lost.
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I agree that there are probably no planned promotions for any games this season. Except to see which youth team comes out on top in the next halftime youth game! Who needs promotions when you have that??

And the Tulsa game and New Orleans game were nothing like each other. The Tulsa game was a complete blowout while the New Orleans game went down to the buzzer. The 2000+ in attendance got into the game a few times in the second half and it was actually a pretty good atmosphere, relatively speaking. The team played well below their capability, but from a competitive standpoint the game wasn't bad and it shouldn't have the huge negative effect that everyone seems to think it will.

FirefightnRick · January 9, 2006

Great idea ADLER all around.

Rick

untgirl04 · January 9, 2006

What about having $1.00 Hot Dogs, and giving every student that enters a coupon for a FREE Hot Dog. Do this at every game.
Hot Dogs cost considerably less than a dollar, have very little labor involved, and any profit possibly lost through the promotion would be regained through soft drink sales.
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I like the $1 hot dog idea. It elegantly solves a possibly sticky situation. Since they require students using their IDs to enter only through gate A, it makes it easy to give the students the coupon without worring so much about non students getting the benefits. However, I think periodic "Dollar Hot Dog Nights" are a good idea. They've worked pretty well for the Texas Rangers. Maybe we could do something different than hot dogs every once in a while, and have "Dollar Popcorn Night" or something like that.