Season ticket number per CUSAabbs twitter

GMG24 · July 8, 2017

Holy crap, ouch.

AustinFromUNT · July 8, 2017

I would like to see 15-16-17 numbers. I think that would be more telling about the current state of C-USA.

GrandGreen · July 8, 2017

Relatively old numbers, but kind of surprising that NT was only ahead of Rice by about a hundred in 2014. We knew it was bad, but if these numbers are close to actual; it was awful. The 2013 season was the best in decades and NT's attendance went down the next year.

Edited July 8, 2017 by GrandGreen

GMG24 · July 8, 2017

26 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Relatively old numbers, but kind of surprising that NT was only ahead of Rice by about a hundred in 2014. We knew it was bad, but if these numbers are close to actual; it was awful. The 2013 season was the best in decades and NT's attendance went down the next year.

That was what shocked me the most. I really wish we would release those numbers yearly to keep our department accountable.

greenminer · July 8, 2017

For worse than any of his coaching hires, this (and likely MGC participation, too) are the black eye(s) of the RV tenure. My opinion.

Cr1028 · July 8, 2017

35 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Relatively old numbers, but kind of surprising that NT was only ahead of Rice by about a hundred in 2014. We knew it was bad, but if these numbers are close to actual; it was awful. The 2013 season was the best in decades and NT's attendance went down the next year.

7 minutes ago, GMG24 said:

That was what shocked me the most. I really wish we would release those numbers yearly to keep our department accountable.

I'd be interested in seeing these numbers compared to the Dodge years. He never got it done on the field but I understand he was a hell of a hand shaker and baby kisser.

GMG24 · July 8, 2017

2 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

I'd be interested in seeing these numbers compared to the Dodge years. He never got it done on the field but I understand he was a hell of a hand shaker and baby kisser.

He did come from SLC, should have been used to it. 😳

meanrob · July 8, 2017

3 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

I'd be interested in seeing these numbers compared to the Dodge years. He never got it done on the field but I understand he was a hell of a hand shaker and baby kisser.

Considering RV and his staff bragged about any percentage increase in anything (a practice that WB has used at least once) if there would a been a big jump in season ticket sales under Dodge, RV would've flown a banner to tell us about it.

Cr1028 · July 8, 2017

2 minutes ago, meanrob said:

Considering RV and his staff bragged about any percentage increase in anything (a practice that WB has used at least once) if there would a been a big jump in season ticket sales under Dodge, RV would've flown a banner to tell us about it.

That's probably true. Good point.

Mean Green 93-98 · July 8, 2017

58 minutes ago, AustinFromUNT said:

I would like to see 15-16-17 numbers.

I don't think I would. After the '14 and '15 seasons, there weren't a whole lot of folks at UNT interested in buying season tickets.

10 minutes ago, meanrob said:

RV would've flown a banner

Heh. Funny choice of promotion, MR. I imagine RV has nightmares of airplanes pulling banners.

UNT86 · July 8, 2017

The year before RV arrived, our average attendance was 14,180. Within 3 years, the average attendance was 18,694. The last 2 years in Fouts were 18,228 and 17,718 for two teams that won a combined 5 games.

He got us a new stadium built, and still 2 of the top 5 years in average attendance in NT history were under RV at 21,030 in 2013 and 19,271 in 2014.

He had his faults , but attendance was one of the least of his problems.

AustinFromUNT · July 8, 2017

I would LOVE to see a ticker on the website that shows the number of season tickets purchased. I think it would be a great idea. Imagine watching the number tick up throughout the year and maybe more people will buy if they see other people buying into the idea of season tickets.

All About UNT · July 8, 2017

3 hours ago, UNT86 said:

The year before RV arrived, our average attendance was 14,180. Within 3 years, the average attendance was 18,694. The last 2 years in Fouts were 18,228 and 17,718 for two teams that won a combined 5 games.

He got us a new stadium built, and still 2 of the top 5 years in average attendance in NT history were under RV at 21,030 in 2013 and 19,271 in 2014.

He had his faults , but attendance was one of the least of his problems.

so he stagnated a long time ago .....got it.

ChristopherRyanWilkes · July 8, 2017

3 hours ago, UNT86 said:

The year before RV arrived, our average attendance was 14,180. Within 3 years, the average attendance was 18,694. The last 2 years in Fouts were 18,228 and 17,718 for two teams that won a combined 5 games.

He got us a new stadium built, and still 2 of the top 5 years in average attendance in NT history were under RV at 21,030 in 2013 and 19,271 in 2014.

He had his faults , but attendance was one of the least of his problems.

I hope you're not in marketing.

Arkstfan · July 8, 2017

7 hours ago, Cr1028 said:

I'd be interested in seeing these numbers compared to the Dodge years. He never got it done on the field but I understand he was a hell of a hand shaker and baby kisser.

If you are a Texas resident should be a simple public records request.

bstnsportsfan3 · July 8, 2017

The numbers from 2013 to 2014 are shocking. Coming off that season and bowl game and we f'd it up horribly

wardly · July 8, 2017

14 hours ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

I hope you're not in marketing.

If you knew where we were before he got here you might cut RV some slack. Also, I must have slept thru WB's marketing approach, as I have seen nothing earthshattering. The bottom line is that we are D.A.L. in season ticket sales and contributions to out athletic department. While it would certainly help if we put a decent product on the field, a lot of the schools ahead of us haven't exactly been tearing up the gridiron. We seem to be more mouth than money when it comes to Athletics.

greenminer · July 8, 2017

18 hours ago, UNT86 said:

The year before RV arrived, our average attendance was 14,180. Within 3 years, the average attendance was 18,694. The last 2 years in Fouts were 18,228 and 17,718 for two teams that won a combined 5 games.

He got us a new stadium built, and still 2 of the top 5 years in average attendance in NT history were under RV at 21,030 in 2013 and 19,271 in 2014.

He had his faults , but attendance was one of the least of his problems.

Given our local alumni plus what this school graduates every calendar year color me unimpressed with those gains quoted above. In 2000-2001 year, we awarded 4,776 degrees. In 2015-2016, over 8,000. A 16 year tenure that saw at least 4K+ graduate every year equates to well over 64,000 new alumni under his watch.

If you want to point out that the teams were terrible, then you still have to acknowledge those coaching hires were RVs. Either way you look at it, our attendance problems - more specifically, new alumni retention - are tied to RV and his staff.

Assuming 10-15% retention between new alumni and athletics, we can have over 800 additional butts in seats each year. Having said that, I don't know what percentage is reasonable.

We have to realize how big this school actually is and how ridiculous our AD history is. I'm just not interested in any pre-RV comparison.

If Wren can't do better than RV then IMO we have to reevaluate him too.

Edited July 8, 2017 by greenminer

GrandGreen · July 8, 2017

3 minutes ago, wardly said:

If you knew where we were before he got here you might cut RV some slack. Also, I must have slept thru WB's marketing approach, as I have seen nothing earthshattering. The bottom line is that we are D.A.L. in season ticket sales and contributions to out athletic department. While it would certainly help if we put a decent product on the field, a lot of the schools ahead of us haven't exactly been tearing up the gridiron. We seem to be more mouth than money when it comes to Athletics.

Not sure why you are defending RV, he presided over most of the ineptness at NT since the return to fb football. I very well know were NT was before RV and believe he squandered most of a 15 year tenure. I really don't blame him as much as an administration that hired him with very few qualifications and continued to renew his contract despite the deteriorating state of the program.

meanrob · July 9, 2017

Two other things I noticed from that chart-

UAB sold 45% more season tickets than we did in the year they decided to shut down the program.

We need to hire the sales guy at FIU. 12K in 2013?! They only averaged 15K at the gate that year. So a lot of tickets aren't being used but they sure do sell a fair share.

wardly · July 9, 2017

5 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Not sure why you are defending RV, he presided over most of the ineptness at NT since the return to fb football. I very well know were NT was before RV and believe he squandered most of a 15 year tenure. I really don't blame him as much as an administration that hired him with very few qualifications and continued to renew his contract despite the deteriorating state of the program.

So lets draw the line in the sand and go from here. Its Business 101: "Where are we now? Where are we going,? How are we going to get there?" We need to learn from the past, not dwell on it.

meanrob · July 9, 2017

1 minute ago, wardly said:

So lets draw the line in the sand and go from here. Its Business 101: "Where are we now? Where are we going,? How are we going to get there?" We need to learn from the past, not dwell on it.

Those are all good questions. I'd love to hear the answers straight from the horse's mouth.

NT93 · July 9, 2017

6 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Not sure why you are defending RV, he presided over most of the ineptness at NT since the return to fb football. I very well know were NT was before RV and believe he squandered most of a 15 year tenure. I really don't blame him as much as an administration that hired him with very few qualifications and continued to renew his contract despite the deteriorating state of the program.

Agree. I just picked up the new Texas Football magazine and there is an article on Tom Herman. He (accurately) believes that coaching is only part of the winning formula. He strongly believes that the administration has a big part in a winning program. That may play a big role in the decades of losing at UNT.

untjim1995 · July 9, 2017

Quite simply, the only school where RV would have been allowed to be the AD after the Dodge Debacle and the Bumford Bungling was sadly here. RV was genius in one simple way--he knew what he had to do to keep his job and he did it. The BOR said to stay in budget and don't make a stink about it publically. Then, when he knew he needed extra funds, he got the UNT 17 to fund the extra stuff while selling them on "access", as if it was the exact same thing that their Aggie and Longhorn buddies couldn't do for their higher donations. And those 17 helped further insulate RV's job security until the 2014-2016 calendar years saw us have to buy out two contracts, including Mac's $2.1 million buyout. Then, it just became clear that Benford was never going to turn anything around and Smatresk just could not keep him around with that poor of a record of hiring coaches and little substance on season tickets or attendance. Add in scheduling FCS spares to play at the brand new stadium that only passed because he was basically told to stay away from the stealth campaign that UNTFlyer got passed, he was just too rotten to keep around. But it was well after the pain was inflicted at a time that basically meant we were never gonna get to move up any further on the FBS Conference totem pole than many schools that would have never passed us by if we had even mediocre AD leadership.

RV'd...very hard