Ryan Peck/Chris Baretta Revenue Interview

AustinFromUNT · June 24, 2017

http://sportstao.com/ep-788-ryan-peckchris-baretta-north-texas-athletics/

Good little 20 minute listen.

Harry · June 24, 2017

GMG24 · June 24, 2017

Yup cool to listen to growth and desired progress.

Zeleny' Orel · June 25, 2017

Interesting to hear the business side of athletics and the strategic planning now being utilized...time will tell how it works for UNT Athletics, but sounds promising

GrandGreen · June 25, 2017

I was unimpressed with this interview. NT is paying a lot of money for these gentlemen. It is going to take a lot more than developing basic metrics and variable pricing to move NT up in attendance and attention level. If they are going to up the ticket prices for Tech and UH, they should give away tickets for some of the games scheduled. I am not sure the university of Denver and Chattanooga experience are all that pertinent to NT's situation.

Time will tell, but the only thing that is going to significantly improve attendance and overall support for NT football is consistent winning. Maybe these guys can work some big donations, but I highly doubt they are going to move the masses.

Edited June 25, 2017 by GrandGreen

flyonthewall · June 25, 2017

21 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

I was unimpressed with this interview. NT is paying a lot of money for these gentlemen. It is going to take a lot more than developing basic metrics and variable pricing to move NT up in attendance and attention level. If they are going to up the ticket prices for Tech and UH, they should give away tickets for some of the games scheduled. I am not sure the university of Denver and Chattanooga experience are all that pertinent to NT's situation.

Time will tell, but the only thing that is going to significantly improve attendance and overall support for NT football is consistent winning. Maybe these guys can work some big donations, but I highly doubt they are going to move the masses.

In other words, you are saying fund-raising "coach speak"?

Ben Gooding · June 25, 2017

38 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

I was unimpressed with this interview. NT is paying a lot of money for these gentlemen. It is going to take a lot more than developing basic metrics and variable pricing to move NT up in attendance and attention level. If they are going to up the ticket prices for Tech and UH, they should give away tickets for some of the games scheduled. I am not sure the university of Denver and Chattanooga experience are all that pertinent to NT's situation.

Time will tell, but the only thing that is going to significantly improve attendance and overall support for NT football is consistent winning. Maybe these guys can work some big donations, but I highly doubt they are going to move the masses.

They aren't going to, and after a year on the job they haven't. These were questionable, high overhead hires from the beginning. Stopping the current progress of the track/IPF construction within and of itself suggests they haven't done an admirable job. On the outside looking in, these were bad hires. Like @GrandGreen stated, winning will move the needle. Not this. We can talk in circles about vision. In athletics, only winning can really make vision a reality. Give people a reason, and a big ticket talking head salary isn't going to get most to open up their checkbook. Winning, however, will.

Harry · June 25, 2017

"Quite a few athletic directors"??? Our last one was here 15 years! Do some research man!

Cr1028 · June 26, 2017

3 hours ago, Harry said:

"Quite a few athletic directors"??? Our last one was here 15 years! Do some research man!

Maybe he means we have quite a few assistant/associate ADs. I'm hoping the extra warm bodies are worth the extra salary we are in the hook for and not just collecting a paycheck waiting for the next gig.

Edited June 26, 2017 by Cr1028

Ben Gooding · June 26, 2017

1 hour ago, Cr1028 said:

Maybe he means we have quite a few assistant/associate ADs. I'm hoping the extra warm bodies are worth the extra salary we are in the hook for and not just collecting a paycheck waiting for the next gig.

This is my concern. These are literal made up positions seemingly in a way for WB to get his boys on board. Would anything be worse without them? Is anything really any better with them? What is their value? What have they done that holds substance? I think I would be hard pressed to get anyone to give a legitimate answer to these questions, including WB. If not, cut the excess overhead. This AD doesn't need it.

BTG_Fan1 · June 26, 2017

12 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

I was unimpressed with this interview. NT is paying a lot of money for these gentlemen. It is going to take a lot more than developing basic metrics and variable pricing to move NT up in attendance and attention level. If they are going to up the ticket prices for Tech and UH, they should give away tickets for some of the games scheduled. I am not sure the university of Denver and Chattanooga experience are all that pertinent to NT's situation.

Time will tell, but the only thing that is going to significantly improve attendance and overall support for NT football is consistent winning. Maybe these guys can work some big donations, but I highly doubt they are going to move the masses.

They did give away free tickets to the Southern Miss game, but that is the only thing I can think of off the top of my head..

-----------------

It's disappointing that they didn't toss out any ideas or that the AD office has asked for any ideas.

It sounds dumb but Denton has a # of food trucks, they should have them come up be at the stadium for football games and even basketball. Park them outside of the Superpit. In terms of rising prices, that seems to be dumb but it is a business and UNT has an advantage because the game likely won't be broadcasted either. These guys also talk about how they want to encourage season ticket holders to renew sooner, then they need to do a few things for fans to get into the football mindset. They said they wanted to do move up renews to February, then they need to be doing a big signing day dinner. Have the coaches come up and talk about what they have and what they got and post them then. Push renewals at the spring game, hell at these coaches caravans as well (which I assume that they do). They could even do meet and greets with new coaches in the down months as well to raise money and push it as well.

Edited June 26, 2017 by BTG_Fan1

BTG_Fan1 · June 26, 2017

7 hours ago, Harry said:

"Quite a few athletic directors"??? Our last one was here 15 years! Do some research man!

That and the opening the host says Northern Texas

GrandGreen · June 26, 2017

6 hours ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

That and the opening the host says Northern Texas

The host was horrible and maybe we should give the NT guys a break because of it. It was a blow-away interview and I didn't expect any big revelations, but I just wanted a little more enthusiasm and pr work.

I really thought Baker was way too quick to add another high layer to the department. I know NT is way behind most schools in the number of employees, but judging by the titles and current organization chart: I just wonder what all these people do on a day to day basis.

GreenMachine · June 26, 2017

10 hours ago, Ben Gooding said:

This is my concern. These are literal made up positions seemingly in a way for WB to get his boys on board. Would anything be worse without them? Is anything really any better with them? What is their value? What have they done that holds substance? I think I would be hard pressed to get anyone to give a legitimate answer to these questions, including WB. If not, cut the excess overhead. This AD doesn't need it.

you could ask this of probably 90% of positions in any organization. I don't believe from a business standpoint, WB would bring on dead weight just to give his buddies a job. After all, the entire health of the AD falls on his shoulders. If he can't manage his department from a P&L standpoint, he won't be able to do it at a P5.

Aldo · June 26, 2017

19 hours ago, Ben Gooding said:

On the outside looking in, these were bad hires.

Can you be more specific other than the IPF progress and their salary?

UNTLifer · June 26, 2017

11 hours ago, Ben Gooding said:

This is my concern. These are literal made up positions seemingly in a way for WB to get his boys on board. Would anything be worse without them? Is anything really any better with them? What is their value? What have they done that holds substance? I think I would be hard pressed to get anyone to give a legitimate answer to these questions, including WB. If not, cut the excess overhead. This AD doesn't need it.

Are these bad hires? None of them have been here a full year. Do you know what they do on a day-to-day basis? Do you have the answer to your questions or are you just working in speculation?

MeanGreen_MBA · June 26, 2017

9 hours ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

They did give away free tickets to the Southern Miss game, but that is the only thing I can think of off the top of my head..

-----------------

It's disappointing that they didn't toss out any ideas or that the AD office has asked for any ideas.

It sounds dumb but Denton has a # of food trucks, they should have them come up be at the stadium for football games and even basketball. Park them outside of the Superpit. In terms of rising prices, that seems to be dumb but it is a business and UNT has an advantage because the game likely won't be broadcasted either. These guys also talk about how they want to encourage season ticket holders to renew sooner, then they need to do a few things for fans to get into the football mindset. They said they wanted to do move up renews to February, then they need to be doing a big signing day dinner. Have the coaches come up and talk about what they have and what they got and post them then. Push renewals at the spring game, hell at these coaches caravans as well (which I assume that they do). They could even do meet and greets with new coaches in the down months as well to raise money and push it as well.

The athletic department gave away season tickets to ALL graduate this past year...hopefully, that will show in attendance this year..

As far as putting food trucks at the football and basketball games??? Not sure why we would do that. We sell food at both of those events. We would literally be taking money out of our pockets to do so....

UNTLifer · June 26, 2017

Put the food trucks outside during tailgating.

DeepGreen · June 26, 2017

34 minutes ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

The athletic department gave away season tickets to ALL graduate this past year...hopefully, that will show in attendance this year..

I think that was a good idea. But upon further review, the graduates who received the free season tickets have no skin in the game. Poor performance on the field will mean the graduates may just stay home.

oldguystudent · June 26, 2017

Man, they're killin' me with that right side only in the headphones.

Yeah. I'm done. I can't deal with the cutting off one channel each time one of them speaks. Super poor production on the part of the podcast guy.

As to dead weight hires, I have no problem whatsoever with the AD delegating responsibility and authority for ticket sales and service. Hopefully somebody will pay attention to that now.

Edited June 26, 2017 by oldguystudent

Cr1028 · June 26, 2017

3 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

I really thought Baker was way too quick to add another high layer to the department. I know NT is way behind most schools in the number of employees, but judging by the titles and current organization chart: I just wonder what all these people do on a day to day basis.

Maybe I'm being cynical here but one thing they do is insulate Wren Baker.

MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF · June 26, 2017

1 hour ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

The athletic department gave away season tickets to ALL graduate this past year...hopefully, that will show in attendance this year..

As far as putting food trucks at the football and basketball games??? Not sure why we would do that. We sell food at both of those events. We would literally be taking money out of our pockets to do so....

Exactly. Thank you. Bring competition in against our own vendors where none of the money comes to us? Plus, the concession stands in the stadium are often run by some community organization who benefits from each sale.

4 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

Maybe I'm being cynical here but one thing they do is insulate Wren Baker.

You are not being cynical. We hired a younger guy who already had his lunch eaten by the former Baylor AD at Liberty. Gotta watch him.

2 hours ago, GreenMachine said:

you could ask this of probably 90% of positions in any organization. I don't believe from a business standpoint, WB would bring on dead weight just to give his buddies a job. After all, the entire health of the AD falls on his shoulders. If he can't manage his department from a P&L standpoint, he won't be able to do it at a P5.

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Ben Gooding · June 26, 2017

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Are these bad hires? None of them have been here a full year. Do you know what they do on a day-to-day basis? Do you have the answer to your questions or are you just working in speculation?

Outside of the inevitable delay of facility improvements, pure speculation. But does anything debunk this speculation? If so, please share because I'm all ears.

Many people questioned these hires from the get go. Should we still be questioning them? IMO, yes. Though you're entitled to your opinion as well.

GMG24 · June 26, 2017

23 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

Outside of the inevitable delay of facility improvements, pure speculation. But does anything debunk this speculation? If so, please share because I'm all ears.

Many people questioned these hires from the get go. Should we still be questioning them? IMO, yes. Though you're entitled to your opinion as well.

You rather have a soccer and track complex or a completed IPF and Soccer Track complex? I have heard it does not have to do with funding rather design and aesthetics to get the most for our $.

BTG_Fan1 · June 26, 2017

1 hour ago, MeanGreen_MBA said:

As far as putting food trucks at the football and basketball games??? Not sure why we would do that. We sell food at both of those events. We would literally be taking money out of our pockets to do so....

Because the food trucks give people another experience at the game. It gives more added value to the price of the ticket, even if you don't use it. Also, the food trucks likely wouldn't have the same food choices and would have a slightly higher price. Plus UNT could charge them rent or a % of sales.

35 minutes ago, MeanGreenMailbox said:

Exactly. Thank you. Bring competition in against our own vendors where none of the money comes to us? Plus, the concession stands in the stadium are often run by some community organization who benefits

They could do it outside, or even UNT could rent out space to them. Most food trucks won't put a dent in terms of beverage sales or other simple things like nachos or peanuts etc that the concession stands sale. It's about getting more butts in the stadium. If UNT can sale 1 more ticket because someone's wife or kid wants to go because of XYZ food truck, then UNT won't care if they buy from concessions or from a food truck.