Athletics State of the Department is Tonight

[meangreen11]

37 minutes ago, MeanGreen22 said:

Could cut the ice sculpture budget for the HUB Club and save atleast $6k a season. 

I would buy some as well even if we are out of area and can’t attend.  Whats the link ?

[greenjoe]

This is exactly what Jared was asking for.

[97and03]

6 hours ago, meanrob said:

Not trying to be critical but if someone signs up for $25 what engagement do they get besides emails? 
 

This is the problem that has plagued the MGC or MGSF. People sign up, don’t feel like they’re getting anything to be part of something. The AD puts on events and gets frustrated by the lack of engagement and doesn’t feel like it’s worth it in time and money. Both parties have a legitimate gripe. 
 

 

 

 

You try to bring in new donors at any level. This is a common practice in the fundraising world. You have to get people to give anything to create a habit of giving. If it’s only $25 that’s fine; it’s $25 you didn’t have before. And then you try to multiply that by a few thousand donors. 
Back in the day, George Mason did a drive for 100,000 new donors at only $10. Ten bucks is absolutely nothing for 99% of people but if you get that many people doing it, that’s a MILLION dollars. That’s real money.
We have the donor base to pull that off. Ten thousand new donors at $25 minimum means $250K. That funds a lot of scholarships, which is what the MGSF is about. It’s not about fan perks or some rah rah bullshit. It’s about providing scholarships for these kids we all claim to love and support. Yet so many expect something in return for their donations - as if they don’t understand the meaning of the word “donation.”  It’s literally a gift to the school without expectation of something in return.
People really need to keep that in mind. The Mean Green Club was no different. And despite what some here have said, I don’t really see any difference between the two groups. If anything, engagement has improved over the last few years. Again, I am almost never around so my impressions are based on AD communications and my parent’s experiences at games and events (they use my perks and tickets when they can) so I am open to hearing other perspectives. But generally the AD has done a pretty good job of keeping us informed. 
Again, the key is people need to stop thinking of their donations as an entitlement and recognize what it really is: support for our university and its student athletes. 

[TheReal_jayD]

5 hours ago, NT80 said:

So, there is not a $25 season ticket?   

No 85

[NT80]

59 minutes ago, TheReal_jayD said:

No 85

The on-line site has an $80 Football season ticket, which is still super cheap.

The $25 deal must be for the Baseball season tickets! 😎 

Edited June 19, 2023 by NT80

[DentonLurker]

1 hour ago, 97and03 said:

Again, the key is people need to stop thinking of their donations as an entitlement and recognize what it really is: support for our university and its student athletes. 

I would also love to hear the ideas of what someone should get for a $25 donation, besides emails. I don’t get it.

[MCMLXXX]

3 minutes ago, DentonLurker said:

I would also love to hear the ideas of what someone should get for a $25 donation, besides emails. I don’t get it.

Perhaps they should get a coupon for a free T-shirt that can be picked up inside Ryan Stadium at the first game they attend.

[DentonLurker]

6 minutes ago, MCMLXXX said:

Perhaps they should get a coupon for a free T-shirt that can be picked up inside Ryan Stadium at the first game they attend.

I’m sure that $5 heavy cotton t-shirt will get them to come back. LOL 

[NT80]

4 hours ago, UNT 90 Grad said:

They also announced that all game coverage will be carried on the ESPN family of networks and streaming services.  No more games on Facebook/Stadium. 

This is excellent news!!  

[Harry]

8 hours ago, NT80 said:

This is excellent news!!  

Agreed!  Won't be as hard to find games for fans in the future.

[MCMLXXX]

51 minutes ago, Harry said:

Agreed!  Won't be as hard to find games for fans in the future.

He also noted that we had to improve our Stadium facilities for ESPN and invested over $1 million to renovate space to accommodate their needs. I can't remember the exact amount (maybe $1.8 million?).

[MGNation92]

I'm sure this comes as no surprise to most of you, but until UNT is no longer viewed as a "last option commuter campus", student and fan engagement, as well as donating to athletics will continue to be low.

I graduated in 2015, have some family that graduated 2019, as well as a bunch of friends who graduated in and around that timeframe. I've donated before in the past (buying a house and growing family the last couple of years has made time/money a little tighter) and plan to do so again in the future. The biggest difference? I grew up in Midland, a 5 hour drive from Denton. The others? Plano, Keller, Sachse, Carrollton etc.

I lived, studied, worked in Denton(and even a few years after graduating). A lot of them went back home every day and might not even have a second thought about Denton or the university on the weekend or the days they didn't have class. This kind accessibility, while great for convenience and growth of the university at the academic level, cultivates a poor athletic and school spirit foundation for students. You go to a Tech/A&M? You live, study, work in Lubbock or College Station, you're around it every day, and you're constantly surrounded by university and athletic paraphernalia. Meanwhile we get a billboard on 75 and a few shirts in a Rally House off the DNT.

Couple that with generally poor athletic performance in major revenue sports, particularly football, and it's no wonder people don't want to give back. They drove 30-45 minutes to go to class twice a week, and didn't bother to come back for games that more often than not had disappointing results.

No idea how to change any of this other than to win so much people have to pay attention.

Edited June 19, 2023 by MGNation92

[NT80]

14 minutes ago, MGNation92 said:

I'm sure this comes as no surprise to most of you, but until UNT is no longer viewed as a "last option commuter campus", student and fan engagement, as well as donating to athletics will continue to be low.

I graduated in 2015, have some family that graduated 2019, as well as a bunch of friends who graduated in and around that timeframe. I've donated before in the past (buying a house and growing family the last couple of years has made time/money a little tighter) and plan to do so again in the future. The biggest difference? I grew up in Midland, a 5 hour drive from Denton. The others? Plano, Keller, Sachse, Carrollton etc.

I lived, studied, worked in Denton(and even a few years after graduating). A lot of them went back home every day and might not even have a second thought about Denton or the university on the weekend or the days they didn't have class. This kind accessibility, while great for convenience and growth of the university at the academic level, cultivates a poor athletic and school spirit foundation for students. You go to a Tech/A&M? You live, study, work in Lubbock or College Station, you're around it every day, and you're constantly surrounded by university and athletic paraphernalia. Meanwhile we get a billboard on 75 and a few shirts in a Rally House off the DNT.

Couple that with generally poor athletic performance in major revenue sports, particularly football, and it's no wonder people don't want to give back. They drove 30-45 minutes to go to class twice a week, and didn't bother to come back for games that more often than not had disappointing results.

No idea how to change any of this other than to win so much people have to pay attention.

An upgrade in Conference to the AAC will help.  We are who we associate with.  More name-recognition of opponents and more Regional opponents are good.  Students didn't really care about seeing FIU, Old Dominion, et al. 

Games with Tulane, Tulsa, Rice, UTSA, Smut, UAB will all help to build rivalries and hatred of opponent, lol. 

Also, being in Texas, football gains the most media attention.  We need to beat Cal.  This would start to regain some fans lost during the Seth era of mundane-ness.  Winning the NIT also gives UNT great athletic credibility.  Changing the radio broadcast for football to a station that covers all the metroplex is huge. 

Fans will come as opponents improve, success improves, and media improves.  But it will also take more speeches, more communication, more marketing, easier access to the processes of buying tickets and attending games.  

[greenminer]

I've seen a lot of bars/restaurants (service industry) do CRAZY deals to get people in the door upon grand opening.  Basically, take a loss to get the initial traffic.  Make an impression.

[Zeleny' Orel]

Are the Maniacs a basketball only group?  They seemed to have increased some student interest in basketball.  Might translate to football.

[bstnsportsfan3]

It would be awesome if we could fund 100 season ticket packages here on GMG to give to new fans. That would be 100 new people who could get connected to North Texas football, and in turn may donate and buy their own tickets next year and so forth. Maybe GMG could find a partnership with the athletic department and even make their own small section in the end zone or wing. It could become a yearly thing if it’s a success. I know I’d be willing to donate 80$ to make it happen. Would just need 99 others. Plus those 100 people could buy concessions, merch and other revenue drivers (like orange lot parking)

Edited June 20, 2023 by bstnsportsfan3

[Tommy Gadberry]

18 minutes ago, bstnsportsfan3 said:

It would be awesome if we could fund 100 season ticket packages here on GMG to give to new fans. That would be 100 new people who could get connected to North Texas football, and in turn may donate and buy their own tickets next year and so forth. Maybe GMG could find a partnership with the athletic department and even make their own small section in the end zone or wing. It could become a yearly thing if it’s a success. I know I’d be willing to donate 80$ to make it happen. Would just need 99 others. Plus those 100 people could buy concessions, merch and other revenue drivers (like orange lot parking)

This seems totally doable!!

[THOR]

On 6/18/2023 at 11:22 PM, DentonLurker said:

I’m sure that $5 heavy cotton t-shirt will get them to come back. LOL 

that is not the point.  the point is that they get something for their ´membership´....get them into the stadium, give them something for free and it is all good.  who knows what will happen next

[NT80]

15 minutes ago, THOR said:

that is not the point.  the point is that they get something for their ´membership´....get them into the stadium, give them something for free and it is all good.  who knows what will happen next

This is the key target...get new people into the stadium any way we can.    I'd bet over 90% of Denton has never been to a UNT game at Apogee.   The atmosphere and the game will sell itself.  The first, most important step, is just getting them into the stadium.

[Wag Tag]

On 6/17/2023 at 10:17 PM, DeepGreen said:

2,000 (tickets) x $25.00 per ticket x 6 (games) = $300,000 ?

I wasn’t in attendance.  Just going by previous posts.  $300K seems like a low bar.

That would be guaranteed monies. Poor weather conditions are a killer for attendance.

[Mike Jackson]

On 6/17/2023 at 10:52 AM, NT80 said:

What is the solution?  More in-person meetings, more tweets, an online site from the AD for current info?   Connection and communication from Athletics to Fans has to be the #1 priority in the future.  It is the foundation for visibility, increasing more attendance, more donors, more interest in general to our sports programs!

They definitely need a more robust and active presence on YouTube and similar free outlets.  They need a weekly UNT athletics show on YouTube weekly from late August till graduation.  I just checked the official University of North Texas, YouTube channel and it only has a little less than 9000 subscribers.   The last video that mentioned any sport was the announcement of the new basketball coach. That was about two months ago.   Our marketing on the Internet, and outside of the Denton area has to get better.

[DentonLurker]

3 hours ago, THOR said:

that is not the point.  the point is that they get something for their ´membership´....get them into the stadium, give them something for free and it is all good.  who knows what will happen next

I get what you’re saying. I think the difference is that I would like to see us get away from people expecting something for a donation that costs the department money. You decrease the benefit to the department as soon as they have to buy something to give people. And honestly, I’m just not convinced most people are going to be super jazzed about the cheap $5 or less gift they would get in exchange for a $25 donation. If they want to give away a free ticket to a game, fine. If they want to even throw in a free parking pass, fine. Those things don’t cost the department money, which is what I’m really against.

[UNTLifer]

1 hour ago, Mike Jackson said:

They definitely need a more robust and active presence on YouTube and similar free outlets.  They need a weekly UNT athletics show on YouTube weekly from late August till graduation.  I just checked the official University of North Texas, YouTube channel and it only has a little less than 9000 subscribers.   The last video that mentioned any sport was the announcement of the new basketball coach. That was about two months ago.   Our marketing on the Internet, and outside of the Denton area has to get better.

I loved the old coach’s shows when I was a kid. Loved the one for OU because Switzer was so over the top. I would love to see one on YouTube where they show highlights of the previous game and breakdown the plays. I don’t know if that would attract a lot of viewers but I would love it. 
 

I like the idea of purchasing and giving away season tickets. Have a raffle/drawing for them. That way you capture the information of all of these people, win or lose, and heavily market to them. They are all now part of your prospect base. 

[Pavlovs Eagle]

On 6/18/2023 at 7:01 PM, MeanGreen22 said:

Could cut the ice sculpture budget for the HUB Club and save atleast $6k a season. 

Or they could incorporate an "ice luge" into the sculpture and start selling Western Son Ice Luge shots from the sculpture at $5 a pop.  

Give me Verde Catering's phone number. I'll get it all sorted out!