Results of Apogee Stadium Fan Survey Released

[UNT 90 Grad]

7 hours ago, UNTFan23 said:

Mean Green Brigade pre-game and half-time shows are liked by a significant majority.

6 hours ago, MDH said:

But did the lady ask if a stall neighbor could spare a square?

[Maduro]

10 hours ago, UNTFan23 said:

Mean Green Brigade pre-game and half-time shows are liked by a significant majority.

I've done the math and solved the equation for how that could have been feasible.

green brigade = 400

survey = 797

[PlummMeanGreen]

I'll go on record & say I just love that amazing Apogee Stadium which former Dallas Cowboy Super Scout; that is, the one who introduced the computer to the NFL draft, i.e. , Gil Brandt called...... "the Taj Mahal of NCAA football stadiums (& I've seen them all)."

[Ben Gooding]

2 minutes ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

I'll go on record & say I just love that amazing Apogee Stadium which former Dallas Cowboy Super Scout; that is, the one who introduced the computer to the NFL draft, i.e. , Gil Brandt called...... "the Taj Mahal of NCAA football stadiums (& I've seen them all)."

I like the stadium. I think the view from any seat in the house is a quality one. I just want to see that thing full one day in the near future. This is the 6th season of its existence and we have had exactly 0 sellouts. It's embarrassing in that regard alone. But if you consider the size of our school, alum base, location size it just makes it that much more embarrassing. I mean we can't get 30K students, casuals, alum, etc. interested in attending a game at the same time in a geographical location where we are surrounded by only 7+ million people. I hate to keep bring up this dead horse, but RV set us back so far it's unbelievable. And the FACT that there were people on the defense for him all the way to his "resignation" (firing) speaks volumes of the thought process of the fans and the current AD staffers still employed. I'm a confronter, it's just my nature. It took every ounce of my being not to confront him at events when he was AD because I honestly didn't know if I would be able to keep my composure and it scared me. So I stayed as far away from him as I possibly could when he would grace events with his presence. This is a bit of a tangent, but we can't just forget what or who steered us into this dog pile of shit. 

[PlummMeanGreen]

8 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

This is the 6th season of its existence and we have had exactly 0 sellouts. 

Apogee's debut game vs UH there was absolutely no excuse for that one to have not been a sellout.  You basically had 9 months to focus on ticket sales for that one game to make sure it would sellout.  In a lifetime you don't have many stadium grand openings to purchase tickets for.  

Oh well...it's a brand new era. 

GMG!

PS: Roads in & out Apogee & the Mean Green Village until rectified it really is going to be a booger when we do have sell outs.  Bonnie Brae's condition  is not worthy of the stadium that its adjacent to. 

[Ben Gooding]

12 minutes ago, PlummMeanGreen said:

Apogee's debut game vs UH there was absolutely no excuse for that one to have not been a sellout.  You basically had 9 months to focus on ticket sales for that one game to make sure it would sellout.  In a lifetime you don't have many stadium grand openings to purchase tickets for.  

Oh well...it's a brand new era. 

GMG!

PS: Roads in & out Apogee & the Mean Green Village until rectified it really is going to be a booger when we do have sell outs.  Bonnie Brae's condition  is not worthy of the stadium that its adjacent to. 

I agree, but I believe there is plan to fix that. When all is said and one with the i35 expansion project along with the little city projects in the area it will be a very nice area and a great stadium to call home. We just have to get other people to buy in. That's it. 

[emmitt01]

17 hours ago, Tyler Maryak said:

This is somewhat of a tangent, but it is related to the AD hearing and responding to fan feedback. Joe Greene's birthday, the survey, and the consultant's findings got me thinking about it and I thought now might be as good a time as any to go ahead and message The Wren® about the Joe Greene statue. Here is the correspondence, for those interested (with certain names redacted to prevent triggers).

"...we don't seem to have a long-term holistic plan for any element of our department"

Shots fired!!  (Hank and Batchelder slowly move toward the door)

[UNTFan23]

15 hours ago, SilverEagle said:

Obviously none of them ever went to a real college football game. Besides, how many of the same participants would have rated our former AD "satisfactory" in how he did his job if the same survey had been  handed out two years ago?

Sheep

Changing how the band performs I don't think is going to be that big of a driver to getting people to the games, much less into the stadium sooner. Having a winning football program will far outweigh how the band performs for pre-game and half-time.

Edited September 30, 2016 by UNTFan23

[SilverEagle]

1 hour ago, UNTFan23 said:

Changing how the band performs I don't think is going to be that big of a driver to getting people to the games, much less into the stadium sooner. Having a winning football program will far outweigh how the band performs for pre-game and half-time.

Winning gets some to come back, and some to come to games out of curiosity. The band sets the tone for the crowd and keeps them at a more energetic level. When they (the band) show up with a  "Damn people! It's time to get this thing going!! entrance, that gives the fans a "participatory opportunity" it goes a very long way to making sure (win or lose) those people come back. 

People remember their participation in a raucous football atmosphere (started by and driven by the band) more than most of the highlights of the game. 

Edited September 30, 2016 by SilverEagle

[Stan R]

2 hours ago, UNTFan23 said:

Changing how the band performs I don't think is going to be that big of a driver to getting people to the games, much less into the stadium sooner. Having a winning football program will far outweigh how the band performs for pre-game and half-time.

I don't really agree with this.  I agree with Silver Eagle's "pageantry is life" shirt.  This isn't even taking into consideration the year 2035 when The United Countries of AmeriCanaMex agree to tri-laterally ban contact sports and replace them with musical, robotic and or arts based competitions only.  When that happens we will have Robot or cyborg based marching competitions during the "games" and at halftime the alumni from each school will play an intense game of  flag football to determine the winner of the competition.  

[Aldo]

9 minutes ago, Stan R said:

I don't really agree with this.  I agree with Silver Eagle's "pageantry is life" shirt.  This isn't even taking into consideration the year 2035 when The United Countries of AmeriCanaMex agree to tri-laterally ban contact sports and replace them with musical, robotic and or arts based competitions only.  When that happens we will have Robot or cyborg based marching competitions during the "games" and at halftime the alumni from each school will play an intense game of  flag football to determine the winner of the competition.  

But will those robots and cyborgs be in t-shirts and shorts...?

[UNTFan23]

36 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

Winning gets some to come back, and some to come to games out of curiosity. The band sets the tone for the crowd and keeps them at a more energetic level. When they (the band) show up with a  "Damn people! It's time to get this thing going!! entrance, that gives the fans a "participatory opportunity" it goes a very long way to making sure (win or lose) those people come back. 

People remember their participation in a raucous football atmosphere (started by and driven by the band) more than most of the highlights of the game. 

I guess my time spent in high school being in the band has ruined the experience. I had fun and all but it never felt like the band contributed all that much to the fans' experience. The band is there to entertain but it will never ever take the place of what happens on the field.

When it comes to watching college games on TV I tend to just tune out the band to try to focus on the commentators. The band playing in the background is more or less white noise to me.

Me personally, I'm much more likely to remember and enjoy my experiences based on (1) what happened on the field; and (2) those people around me (friends and family). What the band does or plays is strictly ancillary to me. I couldn't tell you what the band played outside of the fight song, pep songs, and school song when North Texas played New Mexico State when the Mean Green clinched the conference championship and a New Orleans Bowl bid in 2002 in front of about 20,000 fans at Fouts Field in November. I also remember that my brother and then girlfriend weren't there and missed out on a lot of fun and a great game. Perhaps the most memorable moment from that game was late into the 4th quarter on a key 3rd down, some student turns around to the crowd and yells "This [play] is for the Conference Championship!" and the student section went ape shit crazy.

It's fine that for some the Band is uber important to their experience at a football game but I suspect for a majority of fans it's not.

[emmitt01]

3 hours ago, UNTFan23 said:

Changing how the band performs I don't think is going to be that big of a driver to getting people to the games, much less into the stadium sooner. Having a winning football program will far outweigh how the band performs for pre-game and half-time.

You know we should be capable of walking AND chewing gum

[MeanGreenTexan]

4 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

"...we don't seem to have a long-term holistic plan for any element of our department"

Shots fired!!  (Hank and Batchelder slowly move toward the door)

Hank should hang around in the RTVF dept teaching PxP, and continue to have a role in the AD calling games.    No need for him to be a 'deputy AD' or whatever his title is though.

[SilverEagle]

3 hours ago, UNTFan23 said:

I guess my time spent in high school being in the band has ruined the experience. I had fun and all but it never felt like the band contributed all that much to the fans' experience. The band is there to entertain but it will never ever take the place of what happens on the field.

When it comes to watching college games on TV I tend to just tune out the band to try to focus on the commentators. The band playing in the background is more or less white noise to me.

Me personally, I'm much more likely to remember and enjoy my experiences based on (1) what happened on the field; and (2) those people around me (friends and family). What the band does or plays is strictly ancillary to me. I couldn't tell you what the band played outside of the fight song, pep songs, and school song when North Texas played New Mexico State when the Mean Green clinched the conference championship and a New Orleans Bowl bid in 2002 in front of about 20,000 fans at Fouts Field in November. I also remember that my brother and then girlfriend weren't there and missed out on a lot of fun and a great game. Perhaps the most memorable moment from that game was late into the 4th quarter on a key 3rd down, some student turns around to the crowd and yells "This [play] is for the Conference Championship!" and the student section went ape shit crazy.

It's fine that for some the Band is uber important to their experience at a football game but I suspect for a majority of fans it's not.

My high school band experience (Decatur) was completely different. We were a raucous hell raising band who "enhanced" the cheering  and kept the crowd's energy up. The cheerleaders and pep squad expected it of us.

Our town/school developed a very, very hard line rivalry with one of our conference mates......Jacksboro (the Tigers). They had humiliated us during most of the early to mid-sixties, until Decatur put together a very tough (albiet young) team in 65. The game was @ Jacksboro that year and we had a feeling that it would be a slug fest, but close. We had a new band director who was mainly interested in the marching band getting a 1 at marching contest, so he didn't mention the upcoming rivalry game too much. But when he became fully aware of how much this game really meant to the town and the school, he said "fine, we can do our part". So the band learned the old jazz tune "Tiger Rag", which he had the band play incessantly all through the game (beginning only at the "Hold that Tiger" portion) much like SMU plays their fight song. 

The cheerleaders and the fans loved it........except for the Jacksboro fans. By the end of the game (which we won by an upset.....on their home turf) I thought the Jacksboro fans were going to come over with pitchforks and torches and run the band out of town. But after both bands played their respective Alma Maters and all the fans were filing out of the stadium, we had one more insult. Our director had us serenade the Jacksboro fans with  "A Spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down" as they were leaving the stadium. 

THAT is a rivalry.  And THAT is a football band!

Edited September 30, 2016 by SilverEagle

[oldguystudent]

My only bent with Apogee -- If I had a few million to give, I'd have permanent chairbacks installed between the 40s and put bench backs on the rest of the stadium like SMU has (which is, in my opinion, otherwise a boring, nondescript stadium with shitty sight lines from the endzone). 

I'm old.  It's hard for me to sit up straight on an aluminum bench for a few hours. 

[UNTFan23]

30 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

My high school band experience (Decatur) was completely different. We were a raucous hell raising band who "enhance" the cheering  and kept the crowd's energy up. The cheerleaders and pep squad expected it of us.

Decatur is way different than Fort Worth. Rural towns tend to be much, much more involved in community events than big cities.

[SilverEagle]

52 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

Decatur is way different than Fort Worth. Rural towns tend to be much, much more involved in community events than big cities.

So true. So, the lesson here is for North Texas to be more like small towns and their fans, than big city fans. 

[KingDL1]

Do you think we can teach the cheerleaders not to lead cheers when the offense is lining up or in a huddle, I know it is crazy but some home stadiums even get quiet for the home team offense. Maybe educate the masses as well? 

[TIgreen01]

I think the band is absolutely a huge part of the experience.  They're night and day better during actual game action (firing up the crowd noise  on 3rd down), but the overall pregame needs major work.  If they do nothing else, I just want them to find a way to close the 10 minute gap from when the pregame show ends and the team runs out.  Its a momentum killer and I've never traveled to an away game where our opponents had this issue.  Many other schools are able to time it better, so why can we not?! I'm also sure the responsibility here may not lie with the band....

[Matt from A700]

On 9/29/2016 at 0:59 PM, greenminer said:

Interesting to see "fans" outnumber students?

Probably not many students even knew about this survey, just the ones who actively keep up with sports, and that number is unfortunately low. I'm not going to yell at all the art, music, or film students though. A lot of students don't give one flying duck about athletics and a majority belong to those majors.

[Greenrex]

18 hours ago, SilverEagle said:

So true. So, the lesson here is for North Texas to be more like small towns and their fans, than big city fans. 

Interesting side note~
Green Bay, Wisconsin population: 105,207
Denton, Texas Population: 123,099

[UNTFan23]

19 hours ago, SilverEagle said:

So true. So, the lesson here is for North Texas to be more like small towns and their fans, than big city fans. 

As much as Denton likes to pride itself as a small town, they do a poor job of supporting many of their community partners like UNT and TWU. I think if Denton behaved more like a small town, we'd have had a sell out in Apogee by this time.

[Cerebus]

2 hours ago, Matt from A700 said:

Probably not many students even knew about this survey

They were handing out the survey cards at the student entrance gates.  So the ones who came to the first game knew about it at least.  The one who didn't come probably didn't have much feedback to give anyway.

However, to make sure that a larger % of the students who attended filled out the form, you would have needed good enough wifi for them to do it right then and there.  

[Matt from A700]

53 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

They were handing out the survey cards at the student entrance gates.  So the ones who came to the first game knew about it at least.  The one who didn't come probably didn't have much feedback to give anyway.

However, to make sure that a larger % of the students who attended filled out the form, you would have needed good enough wifi for them to do it right then and there.  

I'm a student and nothing was handed to me.