Attendance Woes…

[Hookset]

We didn’t even make the top 12!?! I’ve been a season ticket holder since the Jones era. Benford destroyed MBB attendance. McCasland has definitely changed the program for the better, yet the attendance has not recovered. I know the administration has made an effort to get the students back (still only 200-300 at each game). What needs to happen to get the community back? Very little press coverage for the best defensive team in the country that has set the program record (2yrs in a row) for wins.

This worries me that we will lose a great coach because of so little community support.

How do we get the community back?

[emmitt01]

I don’t trust the original premise of this post.  It’s based on a list that shows SMU’s arena to be over half full, so the numbers are suspect (at best)

[DentonLurker]

I agree that our attendance is pretty awful for the quality of program we have, but % capacity is a terrible barometer of attendance.

[Hookset]

1 minute ago, emmitt01 said:

I don’t trust the original premise of this post.  It’s based on a list that shows SMU’s arena to be over half full, so the numbers are suspect (at best)

My answer to this is UNT is ranked 9th out of 10 Texas schools for attendance. I believe SMU was 7th. They only had a couple 100 more per game but we were still 9TH OUT OF 10…

[rojomojo]

20 minutes ago, emmitt01 said:

I don’t trust the original premise of this post.  It’s based on a list that shows SMU’s arena to be over half full, so the numbers are suspect (at best)

This is based off the percentage filled of the capacity... UNT has a larger arena so therefore they aren't on the list

[NT80]

32 minutes ago, Hookset said:

My answer to this is UNT is ranked 9th out of 10 Texas schools for attendance. I believe SMU was 7th. They only had a couple 100 more per game but we were still 9TH OUT OF 10…

Not comparing apples to apples.

They hosted New Mexico, Louisiana, Arizona St, Tulsa, Tulane, Cincinnati, Wichita St, USF, Temple, Houston, East Carolina, and Memphis as just part of their home schedule.  We would have easily topped their 3900 per game average (I doubt that's even real people in seats).

 

[Hookset]

22 minutes ago, rojomojo said:

This is based off the percentage filled of the capacity... UNT has a larger arena so therefore they aren't on the list

But we still have lower attendance than 8 other programs including our rivals. 
It’s not just percentage of arena capacity. You can lookup attendance.

[Hookset]

So this is this year’s average attendance for all the responders that didn’t like attendance %. At least we are better than Rice…

Edited March 17, 2023 by Hookset

[MeanGreen22]

I share the same worry. The atmosphere at the Pit has been kind of “blah” this year, with some outliers of course. Something I’ve done recently is while leaving the game I think back at the things that happened that would get a non-basketball person to come back and… it’s not a lot tbh. Halftime entertainment is usually not memorable, overall production leaves something to be desired, and let’s face it we don’t play a sexy type of basketball. And that’s okay! I’d much rather have the wins. But they need to bring in someone with some fresh ideas to boost attendance. 

[NTXDJ]

It would be really nice to get that average up to around 5k.  I wonder how much of a bump we should expect when we move into the AAC?  We should be able to get at least 7,500 for a home game against SMU if it's on a weekend. 

[NT93]

1 hour ago, Hookset said:

So this is this year’s average attendance for all the responders that didn’t like attendance %. At least we are better than Rice…

This list tells me that it’s hard to draw fans if you’re not the only game in town.
Houston and TCU stick out to me as having disappointing attendance considering how good the teams were/are this year.  UTEP and Tech are outliers since neither of those teams were particularly good, yet attendance was pretty good (great in Tech’s case).

[UNT Family Man]

2 hours ago, rojomojo said:

This is based off the percentage filled of the capacity... UNT has a larger arena so therefore they aren't on the list

Yep- but UTEP has a bigger arena, higher % and a worse program. Denton doesn’t turn out and neither do the alumni. 

[cogido]

There used to be significant visible Dallas media coverage of North Texas when it had win streaks and  great seasons for both basketball and football. Living in Dallas then I really looked forward to the tv and hard copy sports reports.  Now there is nothing , even with consecutive win streaks.  Metroplex  NT fans don’t get the excitement from the Dallas press anymore. 
Has the Dallas media been bought off ?  Just sayin...

Edited March 17, 2023 by cogido
word omission

[CMJ]

8 hours ago, cogido said:

There used to be significant visible Dallas media coverage of North Texas when it had win streaks and  great seasons for both basketball and football. Living in Dallas then I really looked forward to the tv and hard copy sports reports.  Now there is nothing , even with consecutive win streaks.  Metroplex  NT fans don’t get the excitement from the Dallas press anymore. 
Has the Dallas media been bought off ?  Just sayin...

Not everything is a conspiracy.

 

Local press in general has been gutted since the internet took over.  They don't have the time and resources for coverage of everything that they used to.  I've noticed in just the last 20+ years since I moved to LA the local press doesn't do as good a job of covering things in the city, much less in the neighboring suburbs.  They don't have the staff/funds/assets.

Edited March 17, 2023 by CMJ

[southsideguy]

WE have drawn better than most teams in the NIT so far in round one. That is sad.  I think I saw FL vs UCF drew a little over a 1000 fans for their game.  Are attendance was not great but with the students on spring break hurt our numbers as well.

Hopefully Sunday we have a bigger louder crowd.

[Arkstfan]

So if TCU, SMU, and UNT are all at home on a given night, that is about 14,000 people watching college basketball, make it 15,000 if UTA is home

[wardly]

12 hours ago, Hookset said:

We didn’t even make the top 12!?! I’ve been a season ticket holder since the Jones era. Benford destroyed MBB attendance. McCasland has definitely changed the program for the better, yet the attendance has not recovered. I know the administration has made an effort to get the students back (still only 200-300 at each game). What needs to happen to get the community back? Very little press coverage for the best defensive team in the country that has set the program record (2yrs in a row) for wins.

This worries me that we will lose a great coach because of so little community support.

How do we get the community back?

So what was the average attendance numbers when Johnny Jones was here? I don't think it was much different than now but could be wrong.

[CMJ]

5 minutes ago, wardly said:

So what was the average attendance numbers when Johnny Jones was here? I don't think it was much different than now but could be wrong.

It was slightly better at the end of his era if I recall, but no it wasn't significantly so.  On the other hand he'd never won a game in the NCAAs (or NIT), so you'd think we'd be drawing way more now!

[RiseUNT]

52 minutes ago, CMJ said:

It was slightly better at the end of his era if I recall, but no it wasn't significantly so.  On the other hand he'd never won a game in the NCAAs (or NIT), so you'd think we'd be drawing way more now!

I feel like JJ had guys play for 4 years. We got to see the teams grow and the average fan knew who everyone was. 
Mac has more success but with JC guys and senior transfers. The average fan doesn’t even know who our second best player is.

I am one of y’all and will watch UNT no matter what but this years OOC home schedule was garbage. Going to the pit is not very fun right now. Long stretches of zero scoring, the band not very organized, zero excitement boosters from admin, old music, pricey for families. 

[DentonLurker]

12 hours ago, Hookset said:

So this is this year’s average attendance for all the responders that didn’t like attendance %. At least we are better than Rice…

 

While I think our attendance should be better, I actually don't think we are far off from where you would expect. If you look at the teams ahead of us, you have arguably the number 1 team in the country (Houston) and teams in arguably the best basketball conference in the country (Big XII). UTEP is really the only surprise to me, but I'm not sure it really should be. They live for their basketball team out there.

[NT80]

3 hours ago, CMJ said:

Local press in general has been gutted since the internet took over.  They don't have the time and resources for coverage of everything that they used to.  I've noticed in just the last 20+ years since I moved to LA the local press doesn't do as good a job of covering things in the city, much less in the neighboring suburbs.  They don't have the staff/funds/assets.

Exactly.  All we get is Vito's lameness.

[NT80]

1 hour ago, RiseUNT said:

I am one of y’all and will watch UNT no matter what but this years OOC home schedule was garbage. Going to the pit is not very fun right now. Long stretches of zero scoring, the band not very organized, zero excitement boosters from admin, old music, pricey for families. 

I still think attendance is backlash from the Benford era disaster that was allowed to linger for 5 years.  Many season ticket holders left and didn't come back...yet.    

The AD does need to up the presentation at the games.  If fans are bored during the whole event it's hard for them to want to bring friends and new fans.  Has anyone been recently to a college game at another school for comparison to ours?  How was UTA's band and non-game entertainment for those that went?

[Hookset]

2 hours ago, wardly said:

So what was the average attendance numbers when Johnny Jones was here? I don't think it was much different than now but could be wrong.

Well, Jones last 2 years I had season tickets almost at the upper level. After the 3rd of Bendord, I moved to the 1st row of the lower level. I still see so many seats available at the lower level.

[Green Otaku]

12 hours ago, NT93 said:

This list tells me that it’s hard to draw fans if you’re not the only game in town.
Houston and TCU stick out to me as having disappointing attendance considering how good the teams were/are this year.  UTEP and Tech are outliers since neither of those teams were particularly good, yet attendance was pretty good (great in Tech’s case).

Houston is at capacity so they are selling out every game. TCU I agree, they started slow and only brought in fans when they started winning. But you know what's nice about that? The fans showed up when the team was winning. 

[aztecskin]

NT didn't play a sexy home schedule. C-USA teams are solid, but there is little name recognition. I mean, I was still telling people who Jelly Walker was at the league tournament so it stands to reason that without a helping of knowledge folks weren't going to pack in the Pit for that game. 

The metroplex has a lot of entertainment and I don't blame folks for choosing like, the Mavericks (Luka/Irving) over C-USA basketball. 

I'll reiterate that NT needs a smaller arena, to maximize the impact the 4K who attend make.