Attendance Tracker

[keith]

I tracked this the last couple of years, so thought I'd do it this year as well.  I find it interesting (hopefully others do to).  It may be a decent gauge of growth in the program.  

A couple changes.  I'm only considering regular season home games and eliminating any post-season games we may have hosted in the past two seasons.  I'm also including a comparison of our first x games compared to the previous full season average along with a year over year comparison through the same number of games.  None of this takes other factors that may influence attendance into consideration (day of week, time of day, opponent, traffic, hazardous driving conditions, etc.).

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by keith

[Jason Howeth]

Very interesting, thanks for putting this together! If you happen to look for more to do with this, I'd suggest another graph showing attendance versus each opponent. Since we brought 5 other schools from CUSA there might be some good crossover and over time it will show who the fans come to see. My guess is Wichita St. and anyone who is ranked. Notating a year when an opponent is ranked would also be fascinating. 

[MeanGreenZen]

I’m worried about Game 3. Angelo State at 1 pm on a Sunday after Thanksgiving…

[MeanGreen22]

19 minutes ago, MeanGreenZen said:

I’m worried about Game 3. Angelo State at 1 pm on a Sunday after Thanksgiving…

Just wait til you see what day we play SMU in Dallas. 

[Matt from A700]

16 hours ago, MeanGreen22 said:

Just wait til you see what day we play SMU in Dallas. 

Why? The Cowboys fans aren't gonna be busy that day! 😀

[UNTLifer]

16 hours ago, MeanGreen22 said:

Just wait til you see what day we play SMU in Dallas. 

We beat the Ponies then go watch Dallas beat whoever in the SB

Edited November 14, 2023 by UNTLifer

[keith]

Back from traveling over the last couple of weeks.  Through the first 4 home games, we are at an 8.6% increase in average attendance (+275).  We are entering our seasonal lull, but a home game against UT Arlington on 12/23 may help us through it until we start our home conference slate on 1/6.  Hoping for a strong run in conference play and a solid increase in attendance to go along with it.

 

 

 

[Matt from A700]

Unfortunately with it being a couple of days before Christmas I think the UTA game will look more like that green figure for Game 5, the first of four games over Christmas Break. 😔 Hopefully some more fans here have more days off and are staying local but my wife and I are bouncing back between Waco and Mineral Wells and Waco the 23rd-25th and I have to go back to work the 26th, so my next game won't be till LSU Shreveport.

[southsideguy]

yeah the holiday breaks are brutal on attendance 

[keith]

Fifth home game last season was against FAU on 12/29 with 3,808 in attendance.  We closed out 2022 with 2,934 on 12/31 against FIU.  This year it will be LSU Shreveport on 12/30.  Will we eclipse the FIU total?

 

[Matt from A700]

2 hours ago, keith said:

Fifth home game last season was against FAU on 12/29 with 3,808 in attendance.  We closed out 2022 with 2,934 on 12/31 against FIU.  This year it will be LSU Shreveport on 12/30.  Will we eclipse the FIU total?

 

Not feeling confident about that.

Was the dance/cheer teams and band at the UTA game?

[UNTLifer]

1 hour ago, Matt from A700 said:

Not feeling confident about that.

Was the dance/cheer teams and band at the UTA game?

Yes

[keith]

We improved over the 12/31 FIU game last year by +157.  Through first 6 home games we are +134 or +4.12%.

 

Edited January 2 by keith

[NT80]

Hopefully better conference opponents this season will bring more fans. 

The home non-conference opponents were pretty dull.

[meanJewGreen]

On 1/1/2024 at 10:38 AM, NT80 said:

Hopefully better conference opponents this season will bring more fans. 

The home non-conference opponents were pretty dull.

unfortunately our team also crapped the bed in non con too...

[keith]

We are up slightly +78 average or 2.36% compared to the first 7 home games of the '22-23 season.  We have a strong slate of home contests coming up headlined by SMU, Memphis and the season finale against FAU.  Not withstanding some horrible weather conditions there really is no excuse not to be in the mid-to-upper 4K and 5K+ range the rest of the way.

[cousin oliver]

35 minutes ago, keith said:

We are up slightly +78 average or 2.36% compared to the first 7 home games of the '22-23 season.  We have a strong slate of home contests coming up headlined by SMU, Memphis and the season finale against FAU.  Not withstanding some horrible weather conditions there really is no excuse not to be in the mid-to-upper 4K and 5K+ range the rest of the way.

Great graphic!  I agree this schedule coming up is possibly the best one they have ever had?

[Matt from A700]

Temple is supposed to be "Back to School Night," but do the students know that?

[keith]

For the first time this season we have fallen below our average attendance (-20 or -0.59%) when compared against the same number of home games last season.  Last year, our 8th home game was against Rice on 1/19, a Thursday night after students returned from the winter break.  With 4,015 in attendance for Rice, we cracked the 4K attendance barrier for the first time of the season.  Contrast that to the 3,310 for Saturday's Temple game.  The -705 in attendance makes it the biggest drop-off in game-over-game attendance.  Scheduling quirks from one year to the next renders some of this analysis suspect, but it's better than nothing, I guess.

[MeanGreenZen]

This is interesting data. Thank you for tracking. 
We’ve got to get this program to a point where we are no longer making excuses for attendance over the holiday break. I was at every game with my crew of 4-5 people.

Tech played on Saturday too and they played in front of a sold out arena. And yeah I am comparing us to Tech because we have the potential to get our program to that level. 

[Matt from A700]

5 hours ago, MeanGreenZen said:

This is interesting data. Thank you for tracking. 
We’ve got to get this program to a point where we are no longer making excuses for attendance over the holiday break. I was at every game with my crew of 4-5 people.

Tech played on Saturday too and they played in front of a sold out arena. And yeah I am comparing us to Tech because we have the potential to get our program to that level. 

I agree with you and share your optimism.

Until we get to that point, I think we are at least headed in the right direction. The number may have slipped under last year's average but I think we're headed in the right direction when you consider this year we had 5 home games on Thanksgiving/Winter Break. Last year only 3.

One thing I will say is I hope the Maniacs have a plan for transition of power. This is what, Year 3 or 4 of their program? I'd imagine the leaders are getting close to graduating. The AD can't allow them to lose momentum.

[emmitt01]

5 hours ago, MeanGreenZen said:

This is interesting data. Thank you for tracking. 
We’ve got to get this program to a point where we are no longer making excuses for attendance over the holiday break. I was at every game with my crew of 4-5 people.

Tech played on Saturday too and they played in front of a sold out arena. And yeah I am comparing us to Tech because we have the potential to get our program to that level. 

Here is the key difference:  Tech fans go to games to see Tech, so things like weather, opponent, holidays, what they had for breakfast, etc. don’t keep them away.  Our “fanbase” will wait for the perfect circumstances (AND other people showing up first so it’s cool to be there) before they’ll show up in real numbers.  

[meangreenfaninno]

Guess we’ve arrived at the GMG annual “kick the fans in the nuts” thread.

Edited January 15 by meangreenfaninno

[MeanGreenZen]

16 minutes ago, meangreenfaninno said:

Guess we’ve arrived at the GMG annual “kick the fans in the nuts” thread.

Well, it is hard to criticize the actual basketball team. Those guys are winning and have been winning for years. 
Let’s be a real basketball school. Only thing missing is the fans. 

[Matt from A700]

4 hours ago, meangreenfaninno said:

Guess we’ve arrived at the GMG annual “kick the fans in the nuts” thread.

Annual? Thought this happens far more often than once a year!