It may be time to look into expanding Apogee

[SilverEagle]

This is certainly a different era and different economic times, but I always thought it was interesting that back when Fouts was being planned (20,500 capacity) our student population was about 8K. And when Apogee was being planned, our student population was about 31K, not to mention the 100K+ alumni living in the metroplex. 

Obviously the planners of the late 40's were much more optomistic.

[meaniegreenie]

3 hours ago, ADLER said:

Where? Using Jerryworld is cost prohibitive and there are not any other options.

There's one off Mockingbird that's usually empty.  Most seats have never been used.

[Rudy]

Can we expand Bonnie Brae first?

[UNTLifer]

6 minutes ago, Rudy said:

Can we expand Bonnie Brae first?

The City of Denton will do this once Apogee is completely built out, along with the other facilities at Eagle Point and then expand it.  It's what they do.

[SilverEagle]

3 hours ago, ADLER said:

Where? Using Jerryworld is cost prohibitive and there are not any other options.

Get creative and think outside the box.  Contact Eddie Gossage(sp?) and see if we could use the infield of the raceway for a year.

[untcampbell]

WHEN we expand, I would love to see us build a East stands second deck (think that is in the plan) over the student section , as close to the field as possible. Provides shade to the lower level and helps hold the noise in.

GMG

[largekfcbucket]

10 minutes ago, untcampbell said:

WHEN we expand, I would love to see us build a East stands second deck (think that is in the plan) over the student section , as close to the field as possible. Provides shade to the lower level and helps hold the noise in.

GMG

I'm with you on this. I'd also like to see the wing rounded off and filled in. It's a dumb gimmick that doesn't look good, and nobody wants to sit in the top corners of that thing; especially not towards October or November when it gets cold. 

I eventually want us to cap out at 40-50k. I've been to games at McLane and Amon G. Carter stadiums (both 45k capacity) and you honestly can't tell the difference from 70-80k when it gets loud and sound traps. 

Just add a second deck and close off the wing. 

EDIT: Exactly like this.

Edited September 4, 2018 by largekfcbucket

[Cerebus]

[Harry]

2 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

 

[Cerebus]

1 minute ago, Harry said:

 

[KingDL1]

i think it would be a horse shoe stadium

If I remember right there were three phases drawn up originally

I think they need to raise the jumbo tron and incorporate with the deck of the AD building.

Fix and add suites, place outside balcony seats on the front of the suites so more people can make noise. 

The next tear needs some over stack to the bottom two teirs the alumni side. 

Make it loud! 

[NTXAlum2016]

We've  had ONE game that has come close to filling out the stadium... 

[Talon90]

It looks like we won't need to worry about this until 2027, maybe Houston next year.

Future UNT Non-Conference Schedules:

https://fbschedules.com/ncaa/north-texas/

FUTURE NORTH TEXAS FOOTBALL SCHEDULES

2019

• 08/31 - Abilene Christian
• 09/07 - at SMU
• 09/14 - at California
• 09/28 - Houston

2020

• 09/12 - at Texas A&M
• 09/19 - Houston Baptist
• 09/26 - at Houston
• 10/10 - at Army
• TBA - SMU

2021

• 09/04 - Rhode Island
• 09/11 - at SMU
• 10/16 - at Missouri
• 10/23 - Liberty

2022

• 09/03 - Stephen F. Austin
• 09/10 - California
• 09/17 - at Memphis
• TBA - SMU

2023

• 09/09 - at SMU
• 09/16 - Memphis
• 09/30 - Wyoming

2024

• 08/31 - at South Alabama
• 09/07 - SMU
• 09/14 - at Texas Tech

2025

• 09/06 - at Wisconsin
• 09/13 - at Army
• 09/27 - South Alabama
• TBA - at SMU

2026

• 09/05 - at Wyoming

2027

• 09/11 - Texas Tech
• 10/30 - Army

Edited September 4, 2018 by Talon90

[Green Mean]

Apogee has never sold out and we're in year 8.  If we were going to increase capacity we could have and should have just initially built it at a higher capacity as it would have been far more cheaper to do it all at once but since that didn't happen we have plenty of time.  All we need to do is keep on winning and filling up the place in addition to making sure MBB is trending up and we're getting really good crowds at the Super Pit.

[UNT 90 Grad]

26 minutes ago, KingDL1 said:

i think it would be a horse shoe stadium

If I remember right there were three phases drawn up originally

I think they need to raise the jumbo tron and incorporate with the deck of the AD building.

Fix and add suites, place outside balcony seats on the front of the suites so more people can make noise. 

The next tear needs some over stack to the bottom two teirs the alumni side. 

Make it loud! 

I think you are thinking of the fan generated phases that were circulated around.  Not anything official from the university.   I thought afterwards a UNT official said there weren’t plans to get rid of the wing zone.  

[Rev113]

It’s already in the master plan. 

 

https://www.untsystem.edu/sites/default/files/unt_denton_master_plan_2013.pdf

[Legend500]

32 minutes ago, Rev113 said:

It’s already in the master plan. 

 

https://www.untsystem.edu/sites/default/files/unt_denton_master_plan_2013.pdf

Exactly what I was gonna say. It's already planned, but the problem isn't really numbers or visiting teams related, it's that we've got an athletics department which is deeply in debt and needs to dig out of that before it starts thinking about the moon.

Not sure if the long effort to bring baseball would override this - there is a contingent of people who feel that adding men's soccer would be a far wiser long-term goal for the department.

[UNTLifer]

9 minutes ago, Legend500 said:

Exactly what I was gonna say. It's already planned, but the problem isn't really numbers or visiting teams related, it's that we've got an athletics department which is deeply in debt and needs to dig out of that before it starts thinking about the moon.

Not sure if the long effort to bring baseball would override this - there is a contingent of people who feel that adding men's soccer would be a far wiser long-term goal for the department.

Really?

[GrandGreen]

3 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

TCU at SMU .. Tech has also been.. now maybe they are paying big $$$ to get them there. 

 

Sure you find examples that go against the norm. 

TCU vs SMU for example is a series that has an extraordinary history between two frequent conference mates forty miles apart.   

Others play as part of a two or three home to one away series.   Others are lured to destination cities to reward players.   

There are a few P5 teams that just want to have away game experience without playing another P5.  There are a few like Indiana and some lower level P5's that are just looking for wins.  

[Legend500]

16 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Really?

Really really, we're burning through money at the rate of about $4.2 million a year - and we've now got the 5th most expensive program of public schools in the state, with the largest deficit of any school. It's still only about a 13% deficit to income ratio, but that's piling up annually, and needs to get corralled at some point. Startlegram had a good article on it: https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/college/article202356619.html

[KingDL1]

1 hour ago, UNT 90 Grad said:

I think you are thinking of the fan generated phases that were circulated around.  Not anything official from the university.   I thought afterwards a UNT official said there weren’t plans to get rid of the wing zone.  

No before it was even built the press releases talked about future expansions up to 45-50, and I was thinking if we ever get this thing really rolling I would like to see a max of 60k. 

[PlummMeanGreen]

Of course, not needed now, but you can't base this on now, can you....now?

(OK, enough of this color font thing for now--time to get down to Sirius business).

GMG! 

IMO, any expansion has to be based on growth projections for Denton & Denton County, future enrollment numbers at UNT which should be somewhere out in outer space now & the growing alumnus numbers less than 1-2 hours from Apogee. Stadium.  I've heard anywhere from 100K & even 250K North Texas Exes less than 2 hours from UNT's Denton campus. Not sure which numbers to believe.

Edited September 4, 2018 by PlummMeanGreen

[UNTLifer]

34 minutes ago, KingDL1 said:

No before it was even built the press releases talked about future expansions up to 45-50, and I was thinking if we ever get this thing really rolling I would like to see a max of 60k. 

This is also an article that quotes a professor at Central Michigan to support their point of not funding UNT because he rarely hears of us.  The picture is taken when our team was coming off of 5 years of Benford ball and just getting their legs under McCasland.  Let's look at the situation now with a record year of fundraising, increased season ticket sales in football and I would also bet basketball, and let's look forward to what a successful season of the three major sports could do at UNT.  There are many factors involved in revenue and we have sucked at all of them for years, but this new administration has us headed in the right direction.  We are paying for years of neglect.

I also love how they quote students that don't have an interest in sports, so they see zero value in having a successful program.

[Cr1028]

When you can no longer walk up and buy tickets on game day, then and only then will it be time to expand the stadium.

[GrayEagle]

I will trust Wren Baker on this one.  We don't know our chances for another conference.  Wren will be the first to know.  He also knows more about where to raise money. 

We also have to watch the economy.  We are on the threshold of a depression should we revert to unemployment numbers of recent years with no/slow growth.  We also have a boatload of debt that will need to be resolved.  I'd think that we need to tread carefully.

On the other hand, if the economy can stay strong and expansion seems inevitable then we need to be ready with a larger facility.  The Big XII is likely the only conference that will expand.  I believe that 12 is the ideal number for a conference and they're the only P-5 conference with less than 12 members.  So, even if we are able to sustain the impetus that we have started, we have a narrow window for a chance to move up.

As much as I would like to see stadium expansion, I don't believe that we need it unless we can move up to a P-5.  That chance is so fragile that only our president and AD can possibly know if expansion is necessary.  Even a better G-5 conference (AAC, MWC) would not require any major expansion or remodeling.