City of Denton Attendance

Venson · December 10, 2017

I am sure this has been brought up before, but as a person who was raised in Denton, I find it kind of embarrassing the lack of support that they give to UNT athletics. We have a major university in our city that competes on the D1 level and attendance by people of Denton sucks. Football, Volleyball, Soccer, and Women's Basketball are all playing very well this year and it's difficult to get the people in the city to come out. I know we complain about students attendance and that is understandable, but I don't understand the cities apathy. I got it that not everyone from Denton went to UNT, but damn, you would think a city over 130K could show better attendance. Just my thoughts and me venting. I think if they attended more, maybe it would help bring awareness to the UNT brand and eventually that will translate into more money for the University and the city.

drex · December 11, 2017

UNT does a heck of a lot more for Denton than Denton ever does for UNT.

MattMakesLoans · December 11, 2017

This doesn't sound like #NewDenton. On game day, I've parked at the square, and taken the shuttle to the game. The square was decked out with banners, and there was game day posters on windows of every business.

We get a lot further my looking for ways to partner with city and blame the city. The key to these types of business relationships is money.

As fans we need to support the businesses that support the team.

meaniegreenie · December 11, 2017

I've said several times that UNT should start trying to embrace other nearby cities, most especially Frisco. Make them feel like UNT is their local university.

Venson · December 11, 2017

1 hour ago, MattMakesLoans said:

This doesn't sound like #NewDenton. On game day, I've parked at the square, and taken the shuttle to the game. The square was decked out with banners, and there was game day posters on windows of every business.

We get a lot further my looking for ways to partner with city and blame the city. The key to these types of business relationships is money.

As fans we need to support the businesses that support the team.

I agree the businesses support the team, but I am talking about the citizens of Denton who are not the business owners.

PlummMeanGreen · December 11, 2017

❇️Fact is (at least to me) that Denton was a fun town to live in the 7 years I was there.

❇️The Denton Mean Green supporters we do have are some of the best in college football.

❇️ I just don't get it (never have) why a larger number of their fellow Denton'ites just don't get on the bandwagon; but to be fair & balanced, why more of our enormous DFW alumnus base don't either .

Maybe if we keep scheduling more high profile name schools at Apogee who bring fans (Army was a blast) & then...win. win, win?

GMG!

Edited December 11, 2017 by PlummMeanGreen

CMJ · December 11, 2017

I grew up in Denton too. The town didn't even really get behind their HS teams when I was a kid to be honest, so it's not a shocker the support for NT was lukewarm.

UNTexas · December 11, 2017

16 hours ago, meaniegreenie said:

I've said several times that UNT should start trying to embrace other nearby cities, most especially Frisco. Make them feel like UNT is their local university.

I'm not really sure why anyone down voted you. UNT needs to get people in the area involved. UNT is doing a good time advertising at the Star these days. It's mostly advertising for UNT though, not really sports related.

Edited December 11, 2017 by UNTexas

wardly · December 11, 2017

16 hours ago, meaniegreenie said:

I've said several times that UNT should start trying to embrace other nearby cities, most especially Frisco. Make them feel like UNT is their local university.

Well, we do have a small campus across from the FORD CENTER which is a start. How about playing a game at the Toyota Stadium?

BTG_Fan1 · December 11, 2017

The problem is the % and the number of people. TCU is in Fort Worth all alone, similar to UNT but the population differences.

Just googling the population of Ft. Worth, it comes out to be 854,113 in 2016.. Denton’s population is 133,808... We need to focus outside of just Denton and expand our brand into other areas..

Also, I really do believe WB and the ticket office should offer a season ticket package that covers all sports all year. Get the tickets into the fans now and make it so they realize they spent the money and it’s not an excuse for them not to go.

UNTFan23 · December 11, 2017

21 minutes ago, wardly said:

Well, we do have a small campus across from the FORD CENTER which is a start. How about playing a game at the Toyota Stadium?

why?

BTG_Fan1 · December 11, 2017

17 hours ago, meaniegreenie said:

I've said several times that UNT should start trying to embrace other nearby cities, most especially Frisco. Make them feel like UNT is their local university.

Totally agree.. Frisco would be a great city to focus on because of the $, and it’s growth.

How UNT did the City of Argyle Day, it needs to be expanded to other cities..

UNTexas · December 11, 2017

38 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

why?

Texas Tech played their Spring game at the Star in Frisco. Their were a lot of fans and recruits there. It was pretty cool. Heck, Rice and Stanford played in Australia. Several teams have played in the UK too.

UNTLifer · December 11, 2017

39 minutes ago, BTG_Fan1 said:

The problem is the % and the number of people. TCU is in Fort Worth all alone, similar to UNT but the population differences.

Just googling the population of Ft. Worth, it comes out to be 854,113 in 2016.. Denton’s population is 133,808... We need to focus outside of just Denton and expand our brand into other areas..

Also, I really do believe WB and the ticket office should offer a season ticket package that covers all sports all year. Get the tickets into the fans now and make it so they realize they spent the money and it’s not an excuse for them not to go.

TCU also has an enrollment around 10,000 or a little over 1% of the population. UNT has an enrollment of around 38,000 or 28% of the population, so that really off sets the difference in population. We should easily get 10,000 students to a football game and at least half that to our basketball games.

I have always wondered why we didn't let TWU students in for 1/2 price GA tickets. This would be for football and men's basketball since they have other sports.

I also grew up in Denton and loved growing there, but they have never fully supported any of their teams. Bronco field used to fill up, but it is pretty small. I was always baffled at the lack of attendance at the Denton Ryan games and the lack of interest in UNT. My hope is that with an administration in place that embraces athletics, maybe the community will react to the commitment that has never been there before.

UNTLifer · December 11, 2017

4 minutes ago, UNTexas said:

Texas Tech played their Spring game at the Star in Frisco. Their were a lot of fans and recruits there. It was pretty cool. Heck, Rice and Stanford played in Australia. Several teams have played in the UK too.

Texas Tech was catering to their DFW alums and using it as a recruiting tool to the Metroplex. Considering Frisco is 30 minutes away, I would rather draw the alums to Denton and Apogee.

Cerebus · December 11, 2017

2 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

TCU also has an enrollment around 10,000 or a little over 1% of the population. UNT has an enrollment of around 38,000 or 28% of the population, so that really off sets the difference in population. We should easily get 10,000 students to a football game and at least half that to our basketball games.

Student attendance and city attendance are two different issues.

All those numbers mean is that over 1/4 of the population of Denton is moving out every 4 years. So going heavy after Denton make even less sense. Denton needs to be part of what is marketed to, but the greater North Texas area, especially that area north of the Lake Lewisville bridge, is what we need to target.

UNTLifer · December 11, 2017

Oh, I agree, but we have to do a better job, and I think the effort is there, to engage our students. Yes, they turn over every 4 or 6 years, but many stay in the DFW area.

UNTFan23 · December 11, 2017

1 minute ago, UNTexas said:

Texas Tech played their Spring game at the Star in Frisco. There were a lot of fans and recruits there. It was pretty cool. Heck, Rice and Stanford played in Australia. Several teams have played in the UK too.

Spring Game <> regular season game though. Also, I think the NCAA put an end to schools playing scrimmages in the Spring away from their home stadium.

The problem I see with playing a game at a neutral site less than 30 minutes away from Apogee are:

Toyota Stadium holds 20,500 versus 30,500 at Apogee. We're trading a larger venue for a smaller venue.
We'd have to rent the facility from the City of Frisco. We'd be at the whim of their rules for things like tailgating.
We won't make as much as the gate due to extra costs/smaller venue (see #1 and #2).
We likely won't get any money made from things like parking and concessions.

I think with the Rice/Stanford game, the host site of the game, sponsors, or ESPN paid for those two schools to travel to those destinations. Without that, most programs will balk at playing a game at a site that far away from home.

UNTFan23 · December 11, 2017

Also, if we're going to play a game inside DFW at a neutral site, it needs to be as a 7 "home" game. We should never trade one of our 6 home games for a local neutral site game.

BTG_Fan1 · December 11, 2017

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

TCU also has an enrollment around 10,000 or a little over 1% of the population. UNT has an enrollment of around 38,000 or 28% of the population, so that really off sets the difference in population. We should easily get 10,000 students to a football game and at least half that to our basketball games.

I have always wondered why we didn't let TWU students in for 1/2 price GA tickets. This would be for football and men's basketball since they have other sports.

I also grew up in Denton and loved growing there, but they have never fully supported any of their teams. Bronco field used to fill up, but it is pretty small. I was always baffled at the lack of attendance at the Denton Ryan games and the lack of interest in UNT. My hope is that with an administration in place that embraces athletics, maybe the community will react to the commitment that has never been there before.

We have a student base of 38k... the most student to collect a ticket for a football game this year was less than 10k, around 9,800 was the max i heard... The AD office has not been pushing the basketball games for some reason yet this semester it seems like either. I haven't seen signs or anything about basketball like you did last year, but maybe I'm missing them.

The difference between UNT and TCU is UNT has a LARGE number of students that drive up to denton for classes, work on the weekend, or go home on the weekends... TCU im going to assume doesn't have a majority of students working on weekends since mom and dad are footing the bill, living on/near campus because of mom/dad, and students stay on the TCU campus for the weekend instead of going home because Football and the many things to do in FTW instead of Denton where we have Fry street and 4/5 bars..

The numbers you're talking about the campus enrollment vs total population has nothing to do with it.. Venson was talking about getting the city to support the program, but yet it is far easier when you have a far larger customer base. Getting 1% of FTW to show up is 8500 people and 1% of Denton is 1,300 and that is a HUGE difference in terms of people to market to and capture.

The best way to attract people to the games is tying the game in with events/activities that the local community would enjoy... Sounds dumb but doing some art gallery thing that students could sale art in the concourse, embracing and inviting more Denton youth leagues, etc.. The question is though, do you want butts in the seats or do you want to make money?

Green Mean · December 11, 2017

If we can't get our own people and alumni to care about sports then asking the city of Denton and around it to support is asking for a lot. Like with apathetic alumni the same applies to people not affiliated with the school....give them a reason to come...having a winning season won't do much...win and win big and consistently. You do that everyone takes notice and wants to try it out and come.

BTG_Fan1 · December 11, 2017

2 minutes ago, Green Mean said:

If we can't get our own people and alumni to care about sports then asking the city of Denton and around it to support is asking for a lot. Like with apathetic alumni the same applies to people not affiliated with the school....give them a reason to come...having a winning season won't do much...win and win big and consistently. You do that everyone takes notice and wants to try it out and come.

Preach it... close games are nice such as this football season.. If you want to impress fans, next year needs to see those 1,3,7 point wins turn into 17, 21,28 point wins...

aztecskin · December 11, 2017

I think the new AD + marketing department is doing a decent job. We need to win, and I would encourage everyone to simply enjoy what is happening fully. Share your joy with your friends. Joy is contagious.

Harry · December 11, 2017

16 minutes ago, aztecskin said:

I think the new AD + marketing department is doing a decent job. We need to win, and I would encourage everyone to simply enjoy what is happening fully. Share your joy with your friends. Joy is contagious.

Well stated. Fretting over things beyond your control sort of takes away from the fun you are having yourself. That is why I always hate the "ATTENDENCE" threads on the board after a big win. It's like let's find something to bitch about no matter how good things are.

UNTFan23 · December 11, 2017

40 minutes ago, Harry said:

Well stated. Fretting over things beyond your control sort of takes away from the fun you are having yourself. That is why I always hate the "ATTENDENCE" threads on the board after a big win. It's like let's find something to bitch about no matter how good things are.

I want to +1 this so, so bad.