Heart of Dallas Bowl Under Fire

[UNTexas]

I know its one writer's opinion but it is a problem. The turnout for this game has been really bad. I'm not sure how long this bowl game will be around. 

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/03/13/nice-bowl-game-fair-park-every-year-dallas-keeps-coming-bg-loser

 

Edited March 13, 2018 by UNTexas

[southsideguy]

i think a smaller venue would be better because it does look awful when there is not texas vs ou game going on.

[Green Lantern]

HOD Committee made a horrible decision to horse trade CUSA out of that game and over to Ft. Worth for the Armed Forces Bowl this past year.  If UNT, La Tech or UTSA were matched up against a P5 opponent in that game, they'd have had good  (or at least respectable) attendance for a non marquee bowl.  As it was, the place looked abandoned on game day.

 

[UNTexas]

5 minutes ago, southsideguy said:

i think a smaller venue would be better because it does look awful when there is not texas vs ou game going on.

I tend to lean your way on this. I know the Frisco Bowl got a lot of negativity here on GMG but we would sell it out. The headline of a sell out is way better then a turnout of 30k in a big stadium. The HOD crowd did look really sad last season. I'm not sure how long this bowl will be around with last year's results.

[DeepGreen]

Refresh my memory.  Who played in the last HOD bowl game and what was the attendance?

[Mean Green 93-98]

31 minutes ago, DeepGreen said:

Refresh my memory.  Who played in the last HOD bowl game and what was the attendance?

Utah vs. WVU, 20,507.

[Green Lantern]

 From last year’s game. Pretty brutal.

[DeepGreen]

Yeesch!  That’s sad.

[CMJ]

4 hours ago, southsideguy said:

i think a smaller venue would be better because it does look awful when there is not texas vs ou game going on.

Except a large part of why it was started in the first place was so it could be played at the Cotton Bowl.  I'm not sure they'd WANT to play it somewhere else.

[Salsa_Verde]

It seems that whoever still owns the Cotton Bowl got desperate after the Cotton Bowl left for Jerry’s World as well as the Texas and OU rivalry game. They rolled the dice on having a P5 Bowl game. 

[oldguystudent]

First of all, Robert Wilonsky really sounds like one of those "That money could've been spent on organic quinoa for the homeless!" types in this article.  

Now then:

 

Quote

It was even worse the previous year, when the University of North Texas played in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. 

Ouch, baby.  Ouch. 

[MrStrange18]

Has anyone ever heard if there has been any interest in Apogee hosting a bowl game in the past or possibly one day in the future?

[GMG_Dallas]

46 minutes ago, oldguystudent said:

Ouch, baby.  Ouch. 

Worst because our fans didn't need hotels. Attendance is much better with UNT in the game though so concession and ticket sales are much better. I'm assuming that also translates to other things such as tailgating costs that do go to the local stores and post game celebrations (restaurants and bars) pumping some money in as well. While I'm not sure you can quantify all of that, I would like to see all the numbers indicating it was "worst." Certainly the only area it was worst in was in regards to housing.

I would think the solution is a local team (g5 or p5) against a regional P5. A combo of teams like UNT, Texas Tech, Arkansas would probably garner great returns. It's not bringing in UNT that hurts, its UNLV on the other side that does.

[wardly]

The HOD is in a catch 22. If they get a local team like UNT attendance is up but hotel reservations are down. If they get two P5 teams that no one really cares about attendance is down but they get a few hotel reservations. It would appear that the driving force behind HOD is more about getting out of town fans that spend the weekend in Dallas. Bottom line is the HOD is probably DOA.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Part of the problem is that there are way too many bowls in the DFW area to get much local support.  I attended the Sun Bowl one year, and there were easily 20,000 locals in attendance who had no attachment to either team.  They just wanted to watch a bowl game.  DFW has what--4 bowl games?  In an area that's not remotely a winter tourist destination.

[MCMLXXX]

3 hours ago, MrStrange18 said:

Has anyone ever heard if there has been any interest in Apogee hosting a bowl game in the past or possibly one day in the future?

We should try to get the FCS championship game from Frisco. More seats without being to big, a true football stadium, club seating, etc. We just need to take down Fouts and get more parking.

[UNTexas]

20 minutes ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

Part of the problem is that there are way too many bowls in the DFW area to get much local support.  I attended the Sun Bowl one year, and there were easily 20,000 locals in attendance who had no attachment to either team.  They just wanted to watch a bowl game.  DFW has what--4 bowl games?  In an area that's not remotely a winter tourist destination.

EP has nothing else going on. I lived there. I also knew people who worked for the Sun Bowl too. It's the only show in town. Of course 20k will attend. El Paso has 700,000 people and it's the only show in town. When you live there you run out of things to do pretty quickly.  DFW has over 7 million people with tons to do.  

As far as the HOD, for me anyway, the Cotton Bowl is awful. I dont like Fair Park at all. The stadium is kind of gross too. It's not exactly somewhere I want to go to.  Especially when I usually watch games at Apogee Stadium, Toyota Stadium, AT&T Stadium, The Star, or even Ford Field. The Cotton Bowl is underwhelming to say the least. Sure, I love us playing in a bowl no matter what but I'm not going there to watch anybody else. 

[UNTexas]

29 minutes ago, MCMLXXX said:

We should try to get the FCS championship game from Frisco. More seats without being to big, a true football stadium, club seating, etc. We just need to take down Fouts and get more parking.

That's not gonna happen. Frisco rolls out the red carpet big time for that game. Denton doesn't support two universities located in Denton. 

Frisco knows how to attract teams and events. Hell, the PGA is moving to Frisco now.

[UNTLifer]

4 hours ago, oldguystudent said:

First of all, Robert Wilonsky really sounds like one of those "That money could've been spent on organic quinoa for the homeless!" types in this article.  

Now then:

 

Ouch, baby.  Ouch. 

I think your comment is misleading.  If one were to read your comment, you would think this was a shot at UNT, but it isn't.  It was making a statement of how the city's hotels lose out on revenue when a local team, like UNT plays.

"It was even worse the previous year, when the University of North Texas played in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. There were more people in the stands. But those were locals who didn't need a hotel. "

[Mean Green 93-98]

25 minutes ago, UNTexas said:

EP has nothing else going on. I lived there. I also knew people who worked for the Sun Bowl too. It's the only show in town. Of course 20k will attend. El Paso has 700,000 people and it's the only show in town. When you live there you run out of things to do pretty quickly.  DFW has over 7 million people with tons to do.  

All that is very true, and it further underlines the point that DFW has no business hosting 4 bowl games (plus the FCS championship game).

[MattMakesLoans]

My take away:  Boycott the Dallas Hyatt Regency.  They think they are too good for local money.

[DT 90]

You gamble big time with the weather on a bowl game in Dallas. More times than not the weather is horrible. Even when it was the "Cotton Bowl" with Heisman Trophy winners and the SWC, you froze your ass off pretty much every year.  

[DeepGreen]

Cotton Bowl (Stadium) is so old Dallas.

[TreeFiddy]

I still say put a dome over Apogee. Be new for IPF plus would be the only domed stadium for hundreds of Miles that could hold a nice crowd for football during any weather and holds more than the AAC for concerts. It would also allow the university to tear down the coliseum and build a smaller venue specifically for BBall and VBall. 

I wonder what it would cost?  Wouldn’t be surprised if it would cost nearly as much as original Apogee. Never happen, but would be way cool. 

[NT91]

Peterbilt bowl played at Apogee!!,