UNT has record crowd for 2018 SMU win

[Matt from A700]

Based on this picture, I think the reported attendance is fair. Definitely had as many if not more people in the Wing Zone. I was front row of the young alumni section, but it looked like the upper level on the east side was pretty full too.

[Matt from A700]

2 hours ago, TreeFiddy said:

Maybe, but smoo brought their entire fanbase last night.

Give them some credit. It was very brave of them to venture outside of the Loop.

[KingDL1]

I sat in the tailfin this game and there was plenty of room. For every 10 seats I counted there were 4-5 seat or more open. At the tips even more seats were vacant as was both sides of the alumni and student sects. Most of the top of the alumni section just under the club was wide open. In sections that looked full I counted seats and it was about 2 out of every ten seats were vacant and in lighter areas more. 

I been to full cowboy games in texas stadium, I been to the old cotton bowl before the add on and playoff hockey games and the final four and elite eight, all sold out or close to sold out games. There is not that many seats sitting vacant not by a long shot, and still tons of people out milling around the mezzanine area or at concessions and going to the bathroom. 

I do basically statistical analysis for a living and I know how to observe without being on the koolaid, and I can tell with no doubt in my mind that we were nowhere near the 96% full mark they announced last night, That means that for every 25 seats in the entire stadium only one would be vacant. We had entire areas where no one sat  the duration of the game that would make up twice those milling around and more, let alone for normal movement of the more crowded sections. 

[JRock]

I believe the numbers. LOTS of people on concourse, bathroom and in club up top. 

[Greendylan]

We would probably need to have 2000-3000 beyond Apogee's capacity AND have everyone actually sitting in seats (as in not congregating elsewhere throughout the stadium) at any given time to fill the Wing Zone.  It will never look full even during a sellout.  People who buy GA seats won't actually sit at the top of the "wing" since there are always FAR better options to squeeze in across the whole student side.

[Cerebus]

My row in the club has 12 seats, last year we had 4 people in it, never have had more than 6 in any year.

Last night there was 10, and the two empty seats were at a wedding.  I know for sure club sales are way up and that is huge because you don't get to sit up there without writing a check of some size.

[LongJim]

Yeah, I'm not denigrating the crowd or the noise or whatever it is.  I was just stating the attendance as a fact.  And it's wrong, or it was taken wrong.  And now it's all this.

[97and03]

I am not sure I understand your mission to disprove the attendance number, @KingDL1.  What does it matter?

We know two things:  1) Attendance figures do not reflect butts in seats. 2) Our announced attendance figures are the second most accurate in the conference at 69% (butts in seats/announced).

Watching this on TV, which is how most people that saw this game would have seen it, the crowd looked AMAZING (especially the tail/wing) and sounded loud. 

Not 100% sure on whether or not this was the biggest crowd in our history (sure seemed like it), but it seemed to be the BEST crowd ever, especially since it was almost all NT fans and we were not relying on visiting fans to fill it up.

[outoftown]

47 minutes ago, KingDL1 said:

I sat in the tailfin this game and there was plenty of room. For every 10 seats I counted there were 4-5 seat or more open. At the tips even more seats were vacant as was both sides of the alumni and student sects. Most of the top of the alumni section just under the club was wide open. In sections that looked full I counted seats and it was about 2 out of every ten seats were vacant and in lighter areas more. 

I been to full cowboy games in texas stadium, I been to the old cotton bowl before the add on and playoff hockey games and the final four and elite eight, all sold out or close to sold out games. There is not that many seats sitting vacant not by a long shot, and still tons of people out milling around the mezzanine area or at concessions and going to the bathroom. 

I do basically statistical analysis for a living and I know how to observe without being on the koolaid, and I can tell with no doubt in my mind that we were nowhere near the 96% full mark they announced last night, That means that for every 25 seats in the entire stadium only one would be vacant. We had entire areas where no one sat  the duration of the game that would make up twice those milling around and more, let alone for normal movement of the more crowded sections. 

There was an article just this week about how announced attendance in CFB is usually a good deal higher than actual tickets scanned. For UNT they gave on average 69% which is actually ahead of the average G5 program (If SMU would have to report tickets scanned, that would look real ridiculous). So no, yesterday there probably weren't 29k in the stadium and we may never know if butts-in-seats was actually higher than for Houston (although it should at least be similar as that was also true for the Houston game). However one shouldn't get too down about that.

The closer you get to having sold and distributed all the tickets, the higher that percentage of actually used tickets usually becomes (people who are deciding late have to start looking for folks who got a ticket they don't use, which makes those tickets valuable). Moreover if at least some sections really sell out, it forces people who want to sit together, or who don't want to sit in the tail-fin to buy-in earlier, creating earlier buzz and plannable revenue. The earlier people buy-in, the better attendance becomes again (you going? definitely yes! ok, I guess I'm coming too). Even if the number of butts in the seats is only 85% or so (guessing, do not know) of anounced attendance, games like yesterday are clear steps in the right direction, not just because of the result on the field.

 

Edited September 2, 2018 by outoftown

[Green Lantern]

Watching the replay right now. The crowd looks great and sounds insane on TV. Apogee is such an awesome venue. Man, I’m still on a high after yesterday. What an awesome experience.

[KingDL1]

13 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

I am not sure I understand your mission to disprove the attendance number, @KingDL1.  What does it matter?

We know two things:  1) Attendance figures do not reflect butts in seats. 2) Our announced attendance figures are the second most accurate in the conference at 69% (butts in seats/announced).

Watching this on TV, which is how most people that saw this game would have seen it, the crowd looked AMAZING (especially the tail/wing) and sounded loud. 

Not 100% sure on whether or not this was the biggest crowd in our history (sure seemed like it), but it seemed to be the BEST crowd ever, especially since it was almost all NT fans and we were not relying on visiting fans to fill it up.

No mission just not a number I was anywhere near comfortable with. I would love to see how loud it gets when it is really full of crazy mean green fans. 

[MEANGREENCOACH2]

This is my thought on the entire thing.. I can only think of one other time I had anybody yell out "looking for extra tickets" to a UNT football game.. there were actual scalpers at this game UNBELIEVABLE.  more than just one actually about 5 working the lines walking up to the stadium from across the bridge.

[KingDL1]

2 minutes ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

This is my thought on the entire thing.. I can only think of one other time I had anybody yell out "looking for extra tickets" to a UNT football game.. there were actual scalpers at this game UNBELIEVABLE.  more than just one actually about 5 working the lines walking up to the stadium from across the bridge.

there are almost always scalppers there I bought an extra ticket from one last year and it didn't scan. Had to go to the ticket office afterward to get it resolved. The scalper stayed with us though, I saw these scalpers just on the student side near the ticket windows. 

[akriesman]

First, I agree with those that say last night was a slightly bigger crowd.  Matt's picture above should prove that.  And, I was at both games like most here.

I also agree that there were a lot of people milling around out of their seats.  And, I think there was a good reason for that.

The game could not have gone better (except for the garbage TD's).   But, the staff, vendors and even us fans were obviously not prepared for the crowd last night.

I went with my son who had to work in the afternoon.   I picked him up and arrived near Apogee at 5:55pm and we thought we had plenty of time because our parking was in the blue lot.  But, we did not get to a parking spot until 6:45pm.   Almost 1 hour stuck in traffic that barely moved.  And, there was an endless line of cars behind us still waiting to get in at 6:45pm.    While in traffic I saw people getting angry, yelling at the attendants and making crazy driving moves (as the game started) trying to gain an edge.

About 8 minutes before half, we hit the concessions to grab some food, realizing that halftime was going to be nuts.    It didn't matter.   The food lines were crazy and it was the middle of halftime before we got our food.   And, the place we got our food from first ran out of pizza, then the chicken nugget platter and drinks kept running out.  This is even before the halftime crowd.  What was even crazier was that I saw 3 different shouting matches  between fans the the concessions vendors because of service issues.    I have never been to a game at Apogee where I saw tempers flaring like they did yesterday.

I never even got my beloved game day beer, because I didn't want to miss any more of the game ( I made up for it once I got home to celebrate...LOL).

Anyway, I think a lot of people missed a good portion of the game being stuck in traffic and concession lines.  That aspect was worse than the Houston opener IMO.   That might explain stadium never looking completely full at any time.   Too many people out of their seats.

I was thrilled with the crowd, atmosphere and results.  But, we may have lost some fans because of the problems with traffic and concessions.      If you not arriving early enough to tailgate, I certainly don't recommend the blue lot these days.   I would rather park in the orange lot and walk any day.   

One thing I will add.    The TV's at the concession lines are a must.    There would be nothing more frustrating than missing any of the game in the concession line.    Some of the TV's were out, but most were working.  

In the end though, these are problems that I am sure can be worked out if we continue to get good attendance.  

One more comment.....While the total attendance between last night and the Houston opener may be close.  I think we can all agree that there were more UNT fans last night than ever.   It is embarrassing that SMU, with their location in Dallas, cannot bring more fans than Houston did.  But, looking at Matt's picture, SMU brought 1/2 as many as Houston.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2018 by akriesman

[Cerebus]

Last night was the first game I tried to buy an extra club ticket and was told there were none available.

[FirefightnRick]

I was at Fouts at its first sellout against SFA in 1988.

I was at its second sellout against SMU in 1990.

I was there at Fouts for the Baylor game in 2003.

I was at Apogee for the Houston game in 2011.

And I was there last night and that was BY FAR...HANDS DOWN...the largest collection of NT fans to attend on campus event I've ever witnessed.  

Congratulations to WB and company.  Y'all just set another bar never reached before.  Let's keep climbing!

Rick

[MEANGREENCOACH2]

In other threads we were wanting people to get into the stadium prior to kickoff maybe missing the first part of the game because traffic and such will be just what is needed to get people to their seats for the start of the game.

[EagleMBA]

10 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

I was at Fouts at its first sellout against SFA in 1988.

I was at its second sellout against SMU in 1990.

I was there at Fouts for the Baylor game in 2003.

I was at Apogee for the Houston game in 2011.

And I was there last night and that was BY FAR...HANDS DOWN...the largest collection of NT fans to attend on campus event I've ever witnessed.  

Congratulations to WB and company.  Y'all just set another bar never reached before.  Let's keep climbing!

Rick

Concur!! I was also at those games, except SFA. At two or three points during the game, I stood up and looked around at the crowd in the stadium. While not a total sellout, my impression was that was the biggest assembly of Green fans I have experienced at UNT.

Edited September 2, 2018 by EagleMBA

[Green Lantern]

7 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

And I was there last night and that was BY FAR...HANDS DOWN...the largest collection of NT fans to attend on campus event I've ever witnessed.  

Congratulations to WB and company.  Y'all just set another bar never reached before.  Let's keep climbing!

Rick

The best part of yesterday and the recent CBI finals games at the Super Pit in hoop was that the heavy lifting with our record crowds was done by mainly North Texas fans. Opponents didn’t bring huge numbers. Tons of green.

[rws69]

I am in club seats, and I do mean outside and not inside. Club seats have simply not been available the last couple of weeks. They were sold out. As I looked across to the student / visitor side, there were more students standing behind the last row in the lower section  than there were empty seats in the top section. I estimated maybe a hundred empty in the upper visitor section. Lower visitor section was full.

The wing seats were used almost all the way up in the middle, where the top row is much lower than the ends; but the ends were occupied maybe two thirds the way up. Glancing at the empty rows, I figured maybe up to 400 empty seats in the wing. Lower sections on west side looked full from my view, but I could not see the highest seats under the overhang. 

To summarize, that was up to 500 empty seats that I could see. Not being able to see under the overhang, I said to friends 28 plus. The 29.5 did not surprise me.

Edited September 3, 2018 by rws69

[meanrob]

14 hours ago, meanrob said:

Sorry, no way. 

Is there a downvote record? C'mon guys let's break it!

[South Texas Green]

There's no way to know exactly how many people were there, but regardless, who cares? 

We still had a great showing in front of a great, big North Texas crowd. 

And we kicked our rival's butts in the process.  

Comparing past large attendances to last night's is a bit like splitting hairs isn't it? 

The bottom line is last night's attendance is going down as the record. That's something to be celebrated, as is the impressive showing the team put on in front of all those fans. 

[Mike Jackson]

14 hours ago, KingDL1 said:

 

Not sure anyone is poo-pooing but the actual attendance was not  that  big clearly, there were way more people many more people at the Houston game opener. 

I was very pleased with the crowd but you are correct.  Plenty of good seats available in the 50 yard line region on the alumni side.  Maybe the club levels had higher attendance that what we saw.  It might have been the biggest non-homecoming attendance level for students to.  

[EagleMBA]

I swear this sounds incredible but from my seat I can see the hill area and the paths/sidewalks leading to the gate area on the east side. I saw MANY people out there making their way toward the stadium and it was toward the end of the first quarter! Tailgate stragglers? Parking nightmare survivors? No sabe.

No sermon about being timely here, just an observation. That's why I tend to support the announced number.

[Cooke County Kid]

Best attended home game I have attended ever.  I graduated in 1980.  The bottom bowl was full all around the stadium.  Best attendance on the west side of Apogee since it opened.  This week, since we filled the place ourselves, lets see how we can do when we Beat the Cardinals.  Those that were there come back and those that were not come joins us for a special year!!.  How many home games have we won in a row, 9-10?