Expect Low Attendance

[UNTLifer]

On 10/27/2023 at 7:04 PM, rojomojo said:

My fraternity just canceled our tailgate for tomorrow. 

Your fraternity?

Tri-Vags?

[Venson]

On 10/27/2023 at 7:04 PM, rojomojo said:

My fraternity just canceled our tailgate for tomorrow.

C'mon a fraternity? That's all males right? I have to ask in this day and time. You should have told them what we told guys in the Army when they complained about austere conditions. We would tell them to "go and get the sand out of their C**ts." You can add in any two letters you want for the stars, but I am sure you will come up with a similar thing.

[untcampbell]

I am not a special pleader for Talons (though I am an early 80's Talons alum) but there are usually 5-10 Talons around the Model A and they do a good job of making it a focus point for fans. They have the cannon crew personnel and, I believe, the mascot the Mean Green flaggers. 

Where they seem to fail is at the basketball games. Maniacs, thus, took the Spirit lead from Talons there.

 

GMG

[rcade]

9 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

The same kind of people that got a damn white squirrel as a “secondary mascot” for our university, and run that thing out on the field during our homecoming game, are the kind of people that will never show up in droves for football.

The people who ran Hector the Eagle Dog and Agnes the Albino Squirrel for homecoming king and queen in 1989 loved UNT football. I know because my friends and NT Daily coworkers were the ones behind that effort and they were big fans during the Corky Nelson era. Hector and Agnes finished third.

Hector was a dalmatian who was the cheerleaders' mascot and never missed a game.

P.s. Keith Cash was out.

[aztecskin]

I don't know how you make people like football. That's really the thing. You can make everything else easier around the football, but you have to really enjoy the football to want to go in, and watch. 

Because I am a crazy person, I have watched football while sitting on concrete, aluminum (in the sun), in the cold, in the rain, in the cold rain, and any attempt to make it nicer just makes it easier to do the thing I want to do: watch the football. 

 

[Matt from A700]

55 minutes ago, aztecskin said:

I don't know how you make people like football. That's really the thing. You can make everything else easier around the football, but you have to really enjoy the football to want to go in, and watch. 

Because I am a crazy person, I have watched football while sitting on concrete, aluminum (in the sun), in the cold, in the rain, in the cold rain, and any attempt to make it nicer just makes it easier to do the thing I want to do: watch the football. 

I think this is a problem more and more G5's face. Once the SEC/B10 and Big XII I guess turn into 20-team superleagues, I think there will be a lot more indifference by students everywhere else, unless UNT gets ingrained with winning -- like averaging 9 wins/year for 10+ years with bowl or conference championship wins every other year. We already know this new generation has way more interests than live sports, but everyone in general has less and less time for mediocre football.

We all, myself included, like to complain about today's students - and I'm only 27. Like how all of a sudden starting last year, it's a big issue to walk all the way to Apogee. But our students really aren't worse or more unknowledgeable than other similar schools. I was very underwhelmed with the student section at LA Tech this season. I thought that was supposed to be a rivalry? Similar to our students, they liked talking $h!t to our team, but didn't know when to be loud.

[Rudy]

On 10/29/2023 at 3:59 PM, UNTLifer said:

Your fraternity?

Tri-Vags?

[untjim1995]

3 hours ago, aztecskin said:

I don't know how you make people like football. That's really the thing. You can make everything else easier around the football, but you have to really enjoy the football to want to go in, and watch. 

Because I am a crazy person, I have watched football while sitting on concrete, aluminum (in the sun), in the cold, in the rain, in the cold rain, and any attempt to make it nicer just makes it easier to do the thing I want to do: watch the football. 

 

This is my take. You cannot make people care about something that the culture that surrounds the place discourages any interest to the sport even if you like the sport. In that regard, the university rally attracts the student that either doesn't care about sports or absolutely loathes its existence here. Not much you can do about it.

[NT80]

1 hour ago, untjim1995 said:

This is my take. You cannot make people care about something that the culture that surrounds the place discourages any interest to the sport even if you like the sport. In that regard, the university rally attracts the student that either doesn't care about sports or absolutely loathes its existence here. Not much you can do about it.

I think most campus students, especially new or transfer students are "followers".  They are looking to others to take the lead in what to do or where to go.  If it becomes "cool" for those friend-group leaders to go to the game, then the sheep will follow. 

[untjim1995]

16 minutes ago, NT80 said:

I think most campus students, especially new or transfer students are "followers".  They are looking to others to take the lead in what to do or where to go.  If it becomes "cool" for those friend-group leaders to go to the game, then the sheep will follow. 

Maybe so…but it hasn’t been cool for as long as I’ve followed the program, which is since 1990. And I can’t imagine it was much better if we couldn’t get a ranked 9-2 team back in the 70s into a bowl game because of lack of support back then, causing Fry to leave to Iowa.

[meaniegreenie]

Back in the 80s, I knew lots of students that were big T-shirt fans of Tamu, UT, etc. that had very little interest in NT football.  I'm sure that's even worse today, adding a few SEC schools into that list.

[NT80]

33 minutes ago, meaniegreenie said:

Back in the 80s, I knew lots of students that were big T-shirt fans of Tamu, UT, etc. that had very little interest in NT football.  I'm sure that's even worse today, adding a few SEC schools into that list.

In 1988 we took thousands of NT students and fans to Austin, and beat UT.  It was magical….until the refs stole the game. 

[Aquila_Viridis]

I too was taken aback at first by the comment on the hike to the stadium. However, it does point out the stark contrast with places like Auburn and Tennessee where the stadium IS the center of campus. Despite their frequent disappointments,  those places have some rabid fans.

[rcade]

1 hour ago, meaniegreenie said:

Back in the 80s, I knew lots of students that were big T-shirt fans of Tamu, UT, etc. that had very little interest in NT football.  I'm sure that's even worse today, adding a few SEC schools into that list.

I don't know about that. NIL, the transfer portal and constant conference cannibalism have disillusioned a lot of fans about college football as a whole. I wouldn't expect the people rooting for schools they never attended to love the sport more now than they did 10 or 20 years ago.

[untjim1995]

15 minutes ago, rcade said:

I don't know about that. NIL, the transfer portal and constant conference cannibalism have disillusioned a lot of fans about college football as a whole. I wouldn't expect the people rooting for schools they never attended to love the sport more now than they did 10 or 20 years ago.

I can’t stand the sport anymore. I follow it, but it’s a terribly boring sport when half the teams can’t compete for a national championship, and within the other half, there are about 8 schools that have any shot for the playoff. 

[NT80]

56 minutes ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

I too was taken aback at first by the comment on the hike to the stadium. However, it does point out the stark contrast with places like Auburn and Tennessee where the stadium IS the center of campus. Despite their frequent disappointments,  those places have some rabid fans.

Seriously, a hike?  Many schools can only dream of our stadium and athletic facilities setup, with even more land still available.

UCLA beat Colorado with 71,000 fans Saturday, their largest crowd in several years.  Their stadium is 26 miles from campus.  Somehow a few of the students even managed to get there.  How, why?  

[Salsa_Verde]

5 hours ago, NT80 said:

Seriously, a hike?  Many schools can only dream of our stadium and athletic facilities setup, with even more land still available.

UCLA beat Colorado with 71,000 fans Saturday, their largest crowd in several years.  Their stadium is 26 miles from campus.  Somehow a few of the students even managed to get there.  How, why?  

Because it’s cool to go to these games. 

[rcade]

1 hour ago, Salsa_Verde said:

Because it’s cool to go to these games. 

What's cool about UCLA football? They haven't won a bowl game since 2014 and haven't won the PAC-12 since 1998.

[GMG_Dallas]

7 hours ago, NT80 said:

Seriously, a hike?  Many schools can only dream of our stadium and athletic facilities setup, with even more land still available.

UCLA beat Colorado with 71,000 fans Saturday, their largest crowd in several years.  Their stadium is 26 miles from campus.  Somehow a few of the students even managed to get there.  How, why?  

UCLA's average home attendance from 2019 to 2022:

"2019: 43,848

2020: COVID year 

2021: 45,818

2022: 41,593

The modern capacity for the Rose Bowl is said to be 92,542."

Source: https://www.si.com/college/ucla/football/ucla-football-bruins-eye-home-attendance-revival-as-2023-season-unfolds-jf1989

UCLA game-by-game home attendance for 2023:

Coastal Carolina - 43,705

NC Central - 38,343

Washington State - 35,437

Colorado - 71,343

Source: https://uclabruins.com/sports/football/stats/2023#game

The average UCLA home attendance is below 50% capacity.

My question to you: did 71000 go to watch UCLA or did about 30k of that go watch the Deion hype train for what's likely to be the only time before they split conferences?

[UNTLifer]

3 hours ago, rcade said:

What's cool about UCLA football? They haven't won a bowl game since 2014 and haven't won the PAC-12 since 1998.

Smog?  Traffic jams?  Cheerleaders in their little tank outfits?

Edited November 1, 2023 by UNTLifer

[Salsa_Verde]

3 hours ago, rcade said:

What's cool about UCLA football? They haven't won a bowl game since 2014 and haven't won the PAC-12 since 1998.

I agree! Hahaha. But they got a long history of winning, it’s a name brand…people want to be seen at a UCLA tailgate and in the stadium and at the end of the day they still do post a winning record more often than not. 

[MrAlien]

The schools that do it right use football games for more then just a game.  They put the entire school on display, student groups, academic achievements, donors and sponsors showing off.  It is utilized as a major networking event between students, alumni, the professional world, and potential students.  

I have friends and business colleagues take me to games at other universities (P5 and G5 level) and there is a lot more going on then just a game.  UNT has not had that for many years now.

[Coffee and TV]

23 hours ago, aztecskin said:

I don't know how you make people like football. That's really the thing. You can make everything else easier around the football, but you have to really enjoy the football to want to go in, and watch. 

Because I am a crazy person, I have watched football while sitting on concrete, aluminum (in the sun), in the cold, in the rain, in the cold rain, and any attempt to make it nicer just makes it easier to do the thing I want to do: watch the football. 

 

Especially when like 70% of our student population comes from Texas. Like wasn't this a Friday night tradition for most of you already? 

On 10/29/2023 at 3:59 PM, UNTLifer said:

Your fraternity?

Tri-Vags?

It's cool how casually people on this board throw out the misogyny as soon as there's an opportunity to call a man weak. 

[NT80]

3 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

My question to you: did 71000 go to watch UCLA or did about 30k of that go watch the Deion hype train for what's likely to be the only time before they split conferences?

I agree the majority were there to see the Deion Circus in town.  But 26 miles to the stadium in L.A. traffic is a hike from their campus, so I would understand students complaining about that. 

But for us, for students to complain about walking over a bridge across I-35 to tailgate is nothing but a lame excuse not to go.

[NT80]

12 hours ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

I too was taken aback at first by the comment on the hike to the stadium. However, it does point out the stark contrast with places like Auburn and Tennessee where the stadium IS the center of campus. Despite their frequent disappointments,  those places have some rabid fans.

I had visited Stanford a couple months ago.  Very large campus, great weather all the time, large student community on campus.   Upscale shopping and residential outside the campus, affluent area.

Stanford Stadium is not in the center of campus, more on the edge of campus near the main drive/entrance and most student housing.  The stadium holds 50,000.  Stanford is a National brand, high academics and well known university, similar to Notre Dame.  Their home games this season have drawn:

Sacramento State:  23,000

Arizona:  38,000

#9 Oregon:  32,000

#25 UCLA:  30,000

#5 Washington:  24,000

So, even being a "Name brand", in a P5 conference, playing Top 25 opponents, they have issues drawing 60% capacity.