BB teams deal with low attendance

NT03 · December 6, 2014

Well, we got a DJ now

Contract is signed, I just became the official Dj for the North Texas Men's Basketball Team. #ThankTheLord #INeedYourSupport #IWantToSeeYou
— DJQuestionMark?1 (@DJQuestionMark1)
December 5, 2014

eulessismore · December 7, 2014

Well, we got a DJ now

I mean, what the hell do we have an "official dj" for? Not that I've attended a bb game for over 2 years, but don't we still have a basketball band? Or does anyone outside the College of Music know that musicians come here from around the world because it's their "first choice"?

Army of Dad · December 7, 2014

I mean, what the hell do we have an "official dj" for? Not that I've attended a bb game for over 2 years, but don't we still have a basketball band? Or does anyone outside the College of Music know that musicians come here from around the world because it's their "first choice"?

This, so much this. I have only missed one or two games over the past two seasons (no need to give us a medal) and I do not think that we need a DJ or basketball games.

Eta: we don't need a DJ, we need a better basketball coach.

Edited December 7, 2014 by Army of Dad

NT80 · December 7, 2014

Eta: we don't need a DJ, we need a better basketball coach.

The product attempted to be sold to paying fans as entertainment should be a good, well-coached home basketball team.

Some fans (~400) will always show up just because of the home uniform the players wear. Those don't care about the quality of play or coaching ability.

Most attendance however does value quality of play and coaching thus the decline of attendance in the Benford era. It will only improve when the product and coaching improves. And a quality opponent helps attendance too, playing cupcakes does not entice fans to fight rush-hour traffic to see the game.

Edited December 7, 2014 by NT80

Andrew · December 7, 2014

They are tired of trying to pander to fickle fans and rather get students out. If NT90 or a few older fans do not show up because of a DJ that is fine as long as the pit crew gets back into the action. They are trying to get the students out and hopefully it works. The stud was support the team regardless. Older fans seem more fickle. The fans just need to shownup, cheer, and have some fun.

Edited December 7, 2014 by Andrew

UNTFan23 · December 7, 2014

They are tired of trying to pander to fickle fans and rather get students out. If NT90 or a few older fans do not show up because of a DJ that is fine as long as the pit crew gets back into the action. They are trying to get the students out and hopefully it works. The stud was support the team regardless. Older fans seem more fickle. The fans just need to shownup, cheer, and have some fun.

Hiring a DJ won't fix what's happening on the court.

Andrew · December 7, 2014

Hiring a DJ won't fix what's happening on the court.

Most people are not interested in winning and losing. They want to have fun at a sporting event. Winning helps but this is meant to being fans in. Brining fans in will bolster the teams effort. This will lead to more wins at home, which will help us toward aching a 20 win season.

That is the goal at least.....students do not care about winning (most of them). I was a student once and they showed up to every miserable football game and at basketball games they mostly talked and maee it a social event. Butts in seats is the key. That is where the winning starts.

FirefightnRick · December 7, 2014

I wished I could get paid to attend the games so I can then go around complaining about fans who refuse to pay and attend the games.

What a great job that would be.

Rick

UNTFan23 · December 7, 2014

Most people are not interested in winning and losing. They want to have fun at a sporting event. Winning helps but this is meant to being fans in. Brining fans in will bolster the teams effort. This will lead to more wins at home, which will help us toward aching a 20 win season.
That is the goal at least.....students do not care about winning (most of them). I was a student once and they showed up to every miserable football game and at basketball games they mostly talked and maee it a social event. Butts in seats is the key. That is where the winning starts.

That's odd because there has been an direct relationship between student attendance and the number of wins we've seen in the the past couple of years. A DJ won't fix what's going on on the court.

The operation might be a success but the patient still dies.

Andrew · December 7, 2014

That's odd because there has been an direct relationship between student attendance and the number of wins we've seen in the the past couple of years. A DJ won't fix what's going on on the court.
The operation might be a success but the patient still dies.

True but my guess is that the word is not getting out. They worked hard to get the word out for football and the students showed up in droves to watch a losing football team. To me basketball is far more exciting than football, but that's my opinion. I think students if they showed up would have fun. The only thing holding college basketball back is the far to long shot clock (24 seconds would be best) and the media timeouts (understandable). I really wish they would change the shot clock. The pace of the game would definetly pick up making more fun to watch.

greenminer · December 8, 2014

Most people are not interested in winning and losing. They want to have fun at a sporting event. Winning helps but this is meant to being fans in. Brining fans in will bolster the teams effort. This will lead to more wins at home, which will help us toward aching a 20 win season.
That is the goal at least.....students do not care about winning (most of them). I was a student once and they showed up to every miserable football game and at basketball games they mostly talked and maee it a social event. Butts in seats is the key. That is where the winning starts.

Edited December 8, 2014 by greenminer

UNT90 · December 8, 2014

They are tired of trying to pander to fickle fans and rather get students out. If NT90 or a few older fans do not show up because of a DJ that is fine as long as the pit crew gets back into the action. They are trying to get the students out and hopefully it works. The stud was support the team regardless. Older fans seem more fickle. The fans just need to shownup, cheer, and have some fun.

I don't show up because this AD hired this coach, who has destroyed this program.

Guess what, Skiver? Students won't come out for a DJ if the basketball still sucks.

Plain and simple.

Andrew · December 8, 2014

I don't show up because this AD hired this coach, who has destroyed this program.
Guess what, Skiver? Students won't come out for a DJ if the basketball still sucks.
Plain and simple.

Then why do they show up to the football games?

Obviously winning will bring people out, however winning usually brings out the alumni. Students are already on campus and can easily go to games if they choose. They need to be convinced to go to the games for the fun environment. Winning will follow.theteam is not terrible. This team is no different talent wise than an team we have out in the court in the past decade other then Josh and Tristan's senior year and when we had CJ and Tony for Tony's final year. We have played 3 bad halves of basketball all year. All three happened to be loses to good teams. We roll out any roster over the past decade and we still lose those games. They may have been closer or larger losses but our record would remind the same. That's wha happens when you put tough teams on a schedule. We are just not use to seeing 4 or 5 good teams in out of conference play.

eulessismore · December 8, 2014

Most people are not interested in winning and losing. They want to have fun at a sporting event. Winning helps but this is meant to being fans in. Brining fans in will bolster the teams effort. This will lead to more wins at home, which will help us toward aching a 20 win season.
That is the goal at least.....students do not care about winning (most of them). I was a student once and they showed up to every miserable football game and at basketball games they mostly talked and maee it a social event. Butts in seats is the key. That is where the winning starts.

This is a pretty bizarre Line of...reasoning? I guess I did first attend North Texas basketball becuse my geography professors "suggested" it. It did help having a winning coach like Bill Blakeley.

UNT90 · December 8, 2014

Then why do they show up to the football games?
Obviously winning will bring people out, however winning usually brings out the alumni. Students are already on campus and can easily go to games if they choose. They need to be convinced to go to the games for the fun environment. Winning will follow.theteam is not terrible. This team is no different talent wise than an team we have out in the court in the past decade other then Josh and Tristan's senior year and when we had CJ and Tony for Tony's final year. We have played 3 bad halves of basketball all year. All three happened to be loses to good teams. We roll out any roster over the past decade and we still lose those games. They may have been closer or larger losses but our record would remind the same. That's wha happens when you put tough teams on a schedule. We are just not use to seeing 4 or 5 good teams in out of conference play.

I don't even know why I engaged.

A lot of people come out for the tailgating comradery. A lot go to the game, a lot don't.

There isn't tailgating for basketball.

Get it?

Andrew · December 8, 2014

This is a pretty bizarre Line of...reasoning? I guess I did first attend North Texas basketball becuse my geography professors "suggested" it. It did help having a winning coach like Bill Blakeley.

Again how can 8k students shown up and watching a losing football team play boring football and not have half that number show up to watching a basketball game in doors at a good time of the day? Again I am bias towards baskebtall, but even so attendance should be up. Alumni may not show due to a variety of reasons (traffic, time of the games, our recod, or who we play), while students live close and should have many reasons to show. Hopefully the athletic department is working on ways to get them to show up.

Andrew · December 8, 2014

I don't even know why I engaged.
A lot of people come out for the tailgating comradery. A lot go to the game, a lot don't.
There isn't tailgating for basketball.
Get it?

I get it, I just was never into tail gating and most of my friends were not. My wife's sorority would though. That's the only time I ever did. Again I am bias because I could watch basketball and play basketball for hours on end.

NT80 · December 8, 2014

They are tired of trying to pander to fickle fans and rather get students out. If NT90 or a few older fans do not show up because of a DJ that is fine as long as the pit crew gets back into the action. They are trying to get the students out and hopefully it works. The stud was support the team regardless. Older fans seem more fickle. The fans just need to shownup, cheer, and have some fun.

You do realize this is not a junior high dance? It's supposed to be a Division I basketball game.

Andrew · December 8, 2014

You do realize this is not a junior high dance? It's supposed to be a Division I basketball game.

I guess I am not following. So far the arguments I have heard for why people show up to football games over the past months have been the half time show, the band, the atmosphere, and the tail gating. None of the reasons included putting on a good product or winning. If it's good enough for football than it should be good enough for basketball. Not only that, but to me the basketball games are at a better time and location (in doors). Basketball itself is also a far superior sport and more like a chess match. None of the responses have delt with a winning product in football so basketball should be held in the same logic base.

Regardless I am sure we can all agree that we want more people at the basketball games and we want the team to win. That is the same across the board for all UNT sports.

Edited December 8, 2014 by Andrew

UNTFan23 · December 8, 2014

I guess I am not following. So far the arguments I have heard for why people show up to football games over the past months have been the half time show, the band, the atmosphere, and the tail gating. None of the reasons included putting on a good product or winning. If it's good enough for football than it should be good enough for basketball. Not only that, but to me the basketball games are at a better time and location (in doors). Basketball itself is also a far superior sport and more like a chess match. None of the responses have delt with a winning product in football so basketball should be held in the same logic base.
Regardless I am sure we can all agree that we want more people at the basketball games and we want the team to win. That is the same across the board for all UNT sports.

In basketball we have 18 home games compared to 6 in football. It's far easier to make attending a football game an event whereas basketball it is not. With fewer games in football, it's easier to get emotional wrapped up in what goes into a game or even a season.

Part of the reason people like college sports is because it's not the NFL or NBA. You go on and on about how people go to be entertained and while that is the case, I would say more people go to watch some good football or basketball to be played.

If no one cared about the product on the court/field, there would be no coaches being fired every season. This message board wouldn't be such a soul crushing place to read about Mean Green sports.

Getting a DJ to play some music between breaks at least shows someone is trying to think a little outside the box but it still won't do a thing to do with the root cause of the attendance glut we're in. I'm pretty sure it won't get more season or even regular tickets sold.

ColoradoEagle · December 8, 2014

They are tired of trying to pander to fickle fans and rather get students out. If NT90 or a few older fans do not show up because of a DJ that is fine as long as the pit crew gets back into the action. They are trying to get the students out and hopefully it works.

I can't speak for the current students, but when we started the Pit Crew years ago, it was because we wanted to win. We were tailgating before games to try and drum up support for the team, and Johnny Jones stopped by before one of the games and gave us a box of T-shirts and thanked us for our support. That's how you start a fire. with a great coach who connects with fans. Not with a DJ.

Edited December 8, 2014 by ColoradoEagle

Andrew · December 8, 2014

I am just saying its a start and at least they are trying. I do not know what the administration or Benford does on campus do get people to games, but I hope they are also trying to drum ipmaupport there as well. Winning is important, but you have to start somewhere. You have to show effort and it seems like they are trying to show effort.

UNT90 · December 8, 2014

We also live in Texas. Texans like football about 100x more than basketball.

I thought this was common knowledge...

oldguystudent · December 8, 2014

I mean, what the hell do we have an "official dj" for? Not that I've attended a bb game for over 2 years, but don't we still have a basketball band? Or does anyone outside the College of Music know that musicians come here from around the world because it's their "first choice"?

I'm going to agree with you on this with great fervor.

I've mostly been lukewarm toward the Mean Green Brigade. It frustrates me to see these great musicians playing such a regimented and subdued repertoire. Feels like driving a Ferrari through a school zone.

The basketball band, on the other hand, those kids come to play. They're wacky, wild, the tubas dance the do-se-do. They get into the game and interact with it. It's greatness. No DJ is going to top that.

Also, please get the hell off my lawn and go fetch my dentures with that hip-hop nonsense today's DJs like to "spin" (read: Push the apple iButton).

Army of Dad · December 8, 2014

Another plus 1 for the best damn basketball band in the land. I fail to see how a DJ could improve anything the band does to add atmosphere to the Pit.