C-USA Attendance (What should our goal be?)

[Harry]

Here are the C-USA numbers for 2014:

Conference USA average attendance

Texas-El Paso, 28,377

Texas-San Antonio, 27,576

Marshall, 27,461

Southern Miss, 22,739

Alabama-Birmingham, 21,841

Old Dominion, 20,118

Louisiana Tech, 20,054

North Texas, 19,271

Rice, 18,562

Middle Tennessee, 17,408

Western Kentucky, 16,306

Florida Atlantic, 14,122

UNC Charlotte, 13,272

Florida International, 11,966

So we were #8 out of 13.  I do not realistically see us moving past UTEP, Marshall or UTSA.  I do think we could and should move up this year and honestly there is no reason why we could not be #4.

I think our standing in this is VERY important and something that needs to be focused on.

Edited July 13, 2015 by Harry

[MeanGreenTexan]

Here are the C-USA numbers for 2014:

Conference USA average attendance

Texas-El Paso, 28,377

Texas-San Antonio, 27,576

Marshall, 27,461

Southern Miss, 22,739

Alabama-Birmingham, 21,841

Old Dominion, 20,118

Louisiana Tech, 20,054

North Texas, 19,271

Rice, 18,562

Middle Tennessee, 17,408

Western Kentucky, 16,306

Florida Atlantic, 14,122

UNC Charlotte, 13,272

Florida International, 11,966

 

So we were #8 out of 13.  I do not realistically see us moving past UTEP, Marshall or UTSA.  I do think we could and should move up this year and honestly there is no reason why we could not be #4.

Rice's 18,562 is partly propped up by their game against us (probably a 2:1 ratio of green:blue in the stands), and partly propped up by SMU attendance counting schematics.

[Ben Gooding]

25k a game needs to be the norm considering our stadium capacity and conference alignment. 

[GreenTexan13]

Thanks for posting Harry! we should definitely take UAB's spot. I do believe UTEP's numbers, man they travel well too. They had way more fan's show up then a  41 mile away distance SMU. Probably the most epic football game of my life (besides Rice) was the North Texas vs. UTEP game at Apogee in 2013. I was shocked at how many fans were there representing El Paso. I think we had over 26k that day? if we can pull off a good season, I bet we will have a attendance record setting game in November. (winning season)

[forevereagle]

So we were #8 out of 13.  I do not realistically see us moving past UTEP, Marshall or UTSA.  I do think we could and should move up this year and honestly there is no reason why we could not be #4.

I don't see us moving up past UTSA, but they could move down past us. They are such a new program that it is difficult to predict how their attendance will be impacted by their results from last season. Just not enough history to know what the impact will be this season and into the future.

[Side Show Joe]

If we were coming off a second straight bowl game, I believe we would be averaging 25,000 of better this season. But, we didn't get close to bowling last season. If we can find some early success, our attendance should see a boost due to all the C-USA Texas programs visiting Apogee. If we win at SMU, fans will show up for the Rice game. But, we will have to pull a split on the road (@Iowa,@Southern Miss), in order to pull a descent crowd for our home stand against Portland State and WKU. If we aren't at least 2-2 going into the Portland State game, our attendance will suffer for the rest of the season.  If, God forbid, we lose to UTSA again, it will be interesting to see the size and attitude of the crowd for the UTEP game over the Thanksgiving weekend. To address the topic, 22,000 seems realistic, if we have a bowl team.

[Cerebus]

  If, God forbid, we lose to UTSA again...

[foutsrouts]

My goal would obviously be a sellout or close to it, but I guess that's a little unrealistic without 10 game winning seasons plus an occasional "body bag" type win. Realistically I would say that we should average 25k with the right promotions. Hell, it seems like we only have to promote for 5 Saturdays a year these days, so why can't a solid 25k be doable? The Incarnate Words of the world probably won't do much to prop up that average though.

[Harry]

I would be extremely interested to see what the student uptick has been over say the last 3-4 years.  Remember, the freshmen are being indoctrinated into attending games from a very early point.  Greeks seem to be growing and responding as well.  I would bet we are adding on average 500-1000 new student attendees every year.  That's just a guess but it is a good thing and one that we should try to match on the alumni side. 

[Ben Gooding]

Yes, but winning is imperative in keeping these current students and recent grads interested. 

[Side Show Joe]

I would be extremely interested to see what the student uptick has been over say the last 3-4 years.  Remember, the freshmen are being indoctrinated into attending games from a very early point.  Greeks seem to be growing and responding as well.  I would bet we are adding on average 500-1000 new student attendees every year.  That's just a guess but it is a good thing and one that we should try to match on the alumni side. 

You bring up an interesting point. Mac and RV have really done a great job of getting students out to games. I think the athletic department should think up some kind of promotion to see which class (Sr, Jr, Soph, Fr) can bring out the most students to the home games. Just a thought.

[mgfan]

What was our attendance during the 2013 season when we went to the bowl game?

[cogido]

Bottom line for this whole discussion,  Mac, UNT,  needs a winning season. 

[North Texas Shep]

Hear me out here... I know they offer recent alumni discounts and that is great, but they need to go further. recent almuni should only have to pay $10 a game for reserved seats. I believe this would really help fill seats and after 5 years jack them up to normal price. At that point they might have more money to pay more, or a new young alumni will just fill the seat. This could really help and we need it. 

[VideoEagle]

Hear me out here... I know they offer recent alumni discounts and that is great, but they need to go further. recent almuni should only have to pay $10 a game for reserved seats. I believe this would really help fill seats and after 5 years jack them up to normal price. At that point they might have more money to pay more, or a new young alumni will just fill the seat. This could really help and we need it. 

i don't think this is a good idea for two reasons. First, a big reason for home game ticket prices is the need for revenue. Multiple times through the years I've been told by athletic department folks that if attendance got up to the 22k average per game the need for a money game goes away. The ticket prices have varied for that, but the number was always around 22k as recently as 2012. Secondly, you can't raise prices very fast. No one can, not even the pro sports. Cost of NT games should be a barrier if compared to any other FBS school. Some are a little lower, but not much. Most are higher and the P5 are drastically higher. 

[Harry]

I agree with Cogido -- it's not the ticket price.  If it were I'd be all over changing them.  I do think the Wing zone presents some unique challenges that the AD could assist with in terms of promotion and ticket price... frankly they should be charging $5 to get in the Wing Zone until they start filling it...or something.  It's got to be steered to younger folks, as getting up and down those stairs is not easy for the older ones. 

But back to the main key point @cogido makes, we have had ONE winning football season in 10!  That is the issue here folks... you can blame the alumni, students etc.. but the fact is the product is important in this age of HD TV and air conditioning.

Amenities are also important.  We named our stadium after an internet company and we have old school modem level internet in the damn stadium... people want to stay connected this has to be fixed.

Schedule is important as well.  C-USA screwed us last season with two Florida schools in the same year. They don't bring squat and there is not a lot of interest locally.  Game days (yes the thursday games hurt attendance) and weather can play into it as well.

[NTXCoog]

What was our attendance during the 2013 season when we went to the bowl game?

21,030

[Green Crazy]

our short term goal should be 80% capacity, so about 24k.  our long term goal unless/until we get more seats should be between 27k-28k.  there is no reason we shouldn't sell out at least one game a year.

[GreenTexan13]

there is no reason we shouldn't sell out at least one game a year.

Spot on!, especially since we play 4 Texas Teams and 3 at home. Two of which bring a fairly decent crowd to Denton. (UTSA, UTEP)

Edited July 14, 2015 by GreenTexan13