2018 UNT vs. SMU FB Opener Attendance Predictions

[Harry]

What will it be folks?

[MeanGreenTexan]

21 - 24k. 
Labor Day weekend may have folks out of town, and I assume a shellacking in the NO Bowl still has most on-the-fence fans in "show me" mode.   Still, it should be closer to the 24k number than the 21k though.

[EagleMBA]

It IS SMUt, plus the lagniappe, wrestling. The two combined will bring in the die-hards and the casual, "something different" crowd. I'm thinking approximately 27,000, putting attendance in your 25K - 28K range.  Mark it down!

 

[Withers940]

I've been thinking 25k for a while now so thats what I am going to go with. If we get more, I'll be tickled pink if we produce less than 22k I will be very disappointed.

[Ben Gooding]

 I think it will be the largest attended game in school history. Dare I say 500 butts short of a sellout? 

I think the program is out of the "show me" phase unless of course there is a setback this season. We are more in the"let's go see it phase." 

The excitement of football being back is a draw. The opponent is a draw. And for the folks that get their rocks off from fake fighting is another draw. 

Give me 30k and change. 

[Got5onIt]

I predict 2.

George Dunham & Rich Phillips. 

[Withers940]

6 minutes ago, Ben Gooding said:

 I think it will be the largest attended game in school history. Dare I say 500 butts short of a sellout? 

I think the program is out of the "show me" phase unless of course there is a setback this season. We are more in the"let's go see it phase." 

The excitement of football being back is a draw. The opponent is a draw. And for the folks that get their rocks off from fake fighting is another draw. 

Give me 30k and change. 

 

God I hope you're right Ben, That would be freakin awesome 

[KingDL1]

I want a sell out and it should be, I will be a Wren super fan for sure if he can pull that off.

Historically Labor day weekend means people have other plans outside of this Mean Green bastion that thrives on green Kool Aid that Harry has created for us. I think we will see the typical showing depending on the weather and how fickle free it is. You know not too hot and not a threat of thunderstorms. If only SMU could travel 30 miles or so. 

It will realistically be 21-24k, maybe announced higher. Remember 24k is just about 80% full.  

One fine day this will change is it this the year I hope so but I think if all things go well its next year. It feels like with recruiting, Fine's senior year, full development of Seth's recruits and systeem  all things are coming together.  We could and should have Apogee to standing room only, Where the people outside are out there just because there were no more seats available.

[emmitt01]

If this temp prediction holds true, I could see 27k.  

If it is even moderately hot I expect every SMU fan (all 500 of them) to stay home along with 5,500 of the North Texas fans...so it could be 21k

[edcollopy]

I’ll be embarrassed if we don’t draw around 28-30k for this game. Local rival, good buzz, good team, first game of the year, and it’s a long weekend.  Kids won’t be going home one week after school starts.  The heat will be a bitch early on but will be fine by 7:15

[KingDL1]

1 minute ago, edcollopy said:

I’ll be embarrassed if we don’t draw around 28-30k for this game. Local rival, good buzz, good team, first game of the year, and it’s a long weekend.  Kids won’t be going home one week after school starts.  The heat will be a bitch early on but will be fine by 7:15

Get ready to be embarrassed because odds are what they are. 

[KingDL1]

16 minutes ago, KingDL1 said:

Get ready to be embarrassed because odds are what they are. 

It seems to me if the first and the second games were reversed and the SMU game was our second game of the season we would have a bigger turn out and a good tune up game. 

[chrisfisher]

I thought for sure 25 to 28k (or even a sell-out), but then I am Mean Green Homer....I always over-estimate the amount of interest (and attendance) for our football games... Hope that I am wrong, but I went with 21 to 24K to account for the Homer effect. 

[southsideguy]

24 k, i wish i could say more, labor day weekend, the freshman are going to run home for the weekend because they are not use to being away from home.  I remember when I lived in Clark Hall there was never a parking spot during the week but on the weekend you had your pick of parking spots.  Never understood it because i had a great time in Denton and maybe it was cause I was from El Paso and couldnt drive home on the weekends.

Also SMU fans could not fill a short bus to come to Denton. I bet Texas State would bring more fans to a game at Apogee.

[golfingomez]

Give me 24K, Bob!

[UNTcrazy727]

There's very little chance we have under 23K. Even coming off a 1-11 season we had 24,758 for the opener in 2016. It would take some very unfortunate weather to drive attendance below that figure. 

Give me 26,250. Most anticipated season in UNT history + season opener vs SMU = Big crowd! 

[oldguystudent]

How many seats does Fouts still have?  30k plus a sold out spillover crowd in Fouts watching on that archaic video screen.  No extra water from urinal use required! 

[AustinFromUNT]

Give me 25,420

[Cerebus]

The lone 17-20k vote is a UTSA fan.
 

LOL 

 

[UNTLifer]

5 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

The lone 17-20k vote is a UTSA fan.
 

LOL 

 

That's because he realizes we don't have KFC at concessions.

[drex]

We booked this series for its supposed appeal to both sides for a rivalry and short distance to the game.  However, SMU will never acknowledge that this is a rivalry game and that makes it tough for us to really punch up the numbers for this game.  Rivalry is suppose to imply a lot of interest on both sides...we do not have that with SMU.  Why are we constantly under the gun to produce fans in the seats and our visitors never bring any significant numbers.  We do our part when the game is at SMU. Oh well, it is what it is.

[drex]

Addendum.  If we really want to turn this thing into an rivalry game, and we have the troops to do it, run the score up as high as we can on Sept.1st and crush the Ponies so they cannot wait for next year for revenge.

[GrandGreen]

The only games that I can remember that the attendance was better than I expected, were the HOD bowls.   Usually the crowds are less than one would anticipate.  So a game like the SMU match, that should be a sell out will probably be about 25,000.  

"We booked this series for its supposed appeal to both sides for a rivalry and short distance to the game.  However, SMU will never acknowledge that this is a rivalry game and makes it tough for us to really punch up the numbers for this game.  Rivalry is suppose to imply a lot of interest on both sides... do not have that with SMU.  Why are we constantly under the gun to produce fans in the seats and our visitors never bring any significant numbers.  We do our part when the game is at SMU. Oh well, it is what it is."

It is a rivalry game, but you have to realize that SMU has very few fans and only a small portion of them will drive 40 miles for a game. 

I would like NT to absolutely annihilate SMU, but the score of the game is not going to drive attendance of SMU fans. 

 SMU's home attendance is primarily driven by the opponent's fans, thus for financial reasons they scheduled NT.  It gives them a good crowd and when the series was scheduled in their view an easy victory.    My guess if NT starts consistently winning, the series will stop.  

Edited August 21, 2018 by GrandGreen

[Harry]

Here is the cumulative 2017 attendance numbers as a comparison.

September 2	6:00 p.m.	Lamar*	Apogee Stadium • Denton, TX	ESPN3	W 59–14	19,592
September 9	6:00 p.m.	at SMU*	Gerald J. Ford Stadium • Dallas, TX (Safeway Bowl)	ESPN3	L 32–54	24,638
September 16	2:30 p.m.	at Iowa*	Kinnick Stadium • Iowa City, IA	ESPN2	L 14–31	65,668
September 23	5:30 p.m.	UAB	Apogee Stadium • Denton, TX	beIN	W 46–43	20,142
September 30	6:00 p.m.	at Southern Miss	M. M. Roberts Stadium • Hattiesburg, MS	CUSA.TV	W 43–28	21,907
October 14	5:30 p.m.	UTSA	Apogee Stadium • Denton, TX (Rivalry)	ESPN3	W 29–26	23,068
October 21	4:00 p.m.	at Florida Atlantic	FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, Florida	ESPN3	L 31–69	13,277
October 28	5:30 p.m.	Old Dominion	Apogee Stadium • Denton, TX	ESPN3	W 45–38	18,872
November 4	2:30 p.m.	at Louisiana Tech	Joe Aillet Stadium • Ruston, LA	STADIUM	W 24–23	18,504
November 11	4:00 p.m.	UTEP	Apogee Stadium • Denton, TX	ESPN3	W 45–10	26,108
November 18	5:30 p.m.	Army*	Apogee Stadium • Denton, TX	beIN	W 52–49	26,392
November 25	12:00 p.m.	at Rice	Rice Stadium • Houston, TX	ESPN3	W 30–14	17,956
December 2	11:00 a.m.	at Florida Atlantic	FAU Stadium • Boca Raton, Florida (C–USA Championship Game)	ESPN2	L 17–41	14,258
December 16	12:00 p.m.	vs. Troy*	Mercedes-Benz Superdome • New Orleans, LA (New Orleans Bowl)	ESPN	L 30–50	24,904

[greenjoe]

30K

Our Apogee opening game with Houston was 28,000.  I think we exceed that number.  Maybe not a technical sellout but it will look like one. 

GO MEAN GREEN