24/25 MBB Attendance Tracker

[Matt from A700]

2,979 announced tonight against UAB. These past two games against UAB and HCU have looked the most full on the sidelines, but it seems like we are reporting closer to the number of tickets scanned than we were at the beginning of the season, when it felt like we were announcing tickets distributed.

It appeared there was a bus load of prospective students wearing "UNT 25" shirts in the student section. None of them were standing, but at least it made those sections look decent. Kudos to whoever sold that group.

We've got one more home game on the break, then the marketing team needs to kick it into overdrive for the last seven games. By that point, football season will be done.

[keith]

Wow...what a way to send 2024 to the history books!  If they didn't before, UAB must really hate us now.  We looked like it was all over but the crying in the first half and then stormed back in the second half with Wright knocking down the buzzer beater for the win.  Really proud of this team showing something for the way they fought back. 1-0 to start the conference campaign.  

On the attendance front, not so good.  Our 4th sub-3000 home game in a row and 5th for the season.  425 (if we had hit our first 8 average) missed a hell of a game.  Maybe they were watching on the U.  We are now down 12.6% through the first 8 games and down 28.6% compared to last year's full year average.  We have some work to do just to get back to respectability.  

 

 

 

[meangreenfaninno]

1 hour ago, keith said:

Wow...what a way to send 2024 to the history books!  If they didn't before, UAB must really hate us now.  We looked like it was all over but the crying in the first half and then stormed back in the second half with Wright knocking down the buzzer beater for the win.  Really proud of this team showing something for the way they fought back. 1-0 to start the conference campaign.  

On the attendance front, not so good.  Our 4th sub-3000 home game in a row and 5th for the season.  425 (if we had hit our first 8 average) missed a hell of a game.  Maybe they were watching on the U.  We are now down 12.6% through the first 8 games and down 28.6% compared to last year's full year average.  We have some work to do just to get back to respectability.  

 

 

 

Appreciate your insight and analysis always 

[keith]

5th game in a row and 6th for the season where we could not bring in more than 3K.  This time for an in-state battle against an 11-4 and 2-0 in conference Rice.  Only 2,836 showed up for a team that just took a top-25 Memphis team to the limit on the road on national TV.  We are now down an average of 869 or 22.79% compared to the first 9 home games last year.  The 7,239 in attendance for last year's SMU game is now in the mix which accounts for the huge deficit we face.  When compared to last year's full-year average attendance we are now down 1,181 or 28.6% per game.  This is for a team that is 9-0 at home this season!

The coaching staff and players are doing their part.  Really, really, really disappointed in the inability of the AD to do its job.  Sure, the students are still out, but last year we brought in 3,376 for Tulane on 1/6.  Where did 540 fans go?

 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

I posted this in the game thread, but it fits better here:

 

Dominating win in front of a tiny sleeping crowd in a canvas of a facility. Love the win. Hate the aesthetics. Easily the worst attended game/atmosphere I have watched on TV save for Grambling at TX Southern the other night. Yay. UNT has to do better at treating every game in "revenue" sports as if it's the Wyoming at North Texas football game. Frankly, it's teetering on downright embarrassment. Fix the attendance. 

 

I get that our alum, students, and fans are clearly a part of the problem. We have always been a huge part of the problem. But the athletic department has shown the ability to market and boost attendance when they feel like it(?). They seemingly don't do much do market this success, these athletes or this coaching staff. And the result of that is the nightmare TV environment we witnessed last night. 

[MeanGreenZen]

Thank you for tracking this.
The 8 pm start on a weeknight with bad weather predicted on the horizon certainly didn’t help. But I made the 2+ hour round trip drive to be there. It feels like we have more games this year during the winter break when students aren’t here. Is that true?

[UNTLifer]

12 minutes ago, MeanGreenZen said:

Thank you for tracking this.
The 8 pm start on a weeknight with bad weather predicted on the horizon certainly didn’t help. But I made the 2+ hour round trip drive to be there. It feels like we have more games this year during the winter break when students aren’t here. Is that true?

Excuses.  The SP seats just shy of 10,000 people.  Between the community, alumni in the area and students, it should be a minimum of 8k per game.

Thank you for making the round trip drive to be there.

[CMJ]

I realize that brutal cold was about to settle in, but the low attendance was very disappointing.  

[keith]

2 hours ago, MeanGreenZen said:

Thank you for tracking this.
The 8 pm start on a weeknight with bad weather predicted on the horizon certainly didn’t help. But I made the 2+ hour round trip drive to be there. It feels like we have more games this year during the winter break when students aren’t here. Is that true?

I believe we have had more games without classes in session.  If someone has the academic calendar handy for this year and last, I can work up the exact numbers.

Knowing we would have more games played during the academic break (and the horrible slate of games the AD put together) is exactly why it was critical for the AD to work extra hard getting the surrounding community to the games.  I live too far away to know if they've done anything, but based on the results, I don't know if they have...certainly nothing that's moved the needle.  It's like they just take time off when students aren't around.  We need the so-called t-shirt fans from in and around Denton.  What has the AD done to generate excitement and stimulate demand for the program?  Whatever it is, it's been a complete failure IMHO.  We have a team and program on the rise.  It's WINNING games on a regular basis.  Based on the last few years, we had a lot of momentum going into this season and it's been squandered in epic fashion.  I doubt they are doing anything and just running out the clock waiting for the students to return so they can continue to do nothing.

Here's an idea...It seems Jared enjoys his court-side seat.  How about running a "switch seats with the AD" promotion?  Each half one lucky attendee is drawn and gets to sit court-side and Jared moves to the cheap seats.  Who knows, maybe you only get a handful of extra tickets out of it, but we're moving in the wrong direction.  

[NT80]

3 hours ago, MeanGreenZen said:

Thank you for tracking this.
The 8 pm start on a weeknight with bad weather predicted on the horizon certainly didn’t help. But I made the 2+ hour round trip drive to be there. It feels like we have more games this year during the winter break when students aren’t here. Is that true?

Yes, the local media was really hyping the Blizzard of the Century coming today.  I could also tell by the hoarding going on and low stock on shelves at the grocery stores.

[Matt from A700]

38 minutes ago, keith said:

I believe we have had more games without classes in session.

Here's the breakdown for this year's 9-game home slate:

5 games on Winter Break

2 against NAIA

1 on Election Night 

1 on Thanksgiving Break

[NorthTexasWeLove]

5 hours ago, keith said:

I believe we have had more games without classes in session.  If someone has the academic calendar handy for this year and last, I can work up the exact numbers.

Knowing we would have more games played during the academic break (and the horrible slate of games the AD put together) is exactly why it was critical for the AD to work extra hard getting the surrounding community to the games.  I live too far away to know if they've done anything, but based on the results, I don't know if they have...certainly nothing that's moved the needle.  It's like they just take time off when students aren't around.  We need the so-called t-shirt fans from in and around Denton.  What has the AD done to generate excitement and stimulate demand for the program?  Whatever it is, it's been a complete failure IMHO.  We have a team and program on the rise.  It's WINNING games on a regular basis.  Based on the last few years, we had a lot of momentum going into this season and it's been squandered in epic fashion.  I doubt they are doing anything and just running out the clock waiting for the students to return so they can continue to do nothing.

Here's an idea...It seems Jared enjoys his court-side seat.  How about running a "switch seats with the AD" promotion?  Each half one lucky attendee is drawn and gets to sit court-side and Jared moves to the cheap seats.  Who knows, maybe you only get a handful of extra tickets out of it, but we're moving in the wrong direction.  

Yeah, it's been downright pathetic marketing. Jared should be questioned about this on a public forum, like X. It's not even a team thing anymore. This PROGRAM deserves 5k a night. It doesn't matter if they're playing Denton High. The program has earned my respect. I love everything they do, the pace they play, the players they're able to nab. We're basically running the double flex in basketball and it's working and has been working for almost a decade. 

As for your idea, I like it. Also, students and old folks love free stuff. Buy 5K worth of $400 TV's and give one away every home game via drawing. And for the love of me, will SOMEONE get the greeks actually interested in UNT athletics?!?! 

Students like free tuition.

A diehard would love to 'cup a coffee with coach'

A diehard would like 'lunch with a player' 

The problem as I have observed over the years will always be the problem. To my knowledge, there is not a good % of UNT people working for UNT. Get UNT people back to UNT. And UNT might be the best version of itself. Until then, we are a revolving door for people trying to stepping stone us. 

 

 

[MeanGreenZen]

7 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Excuses.  The SP seats just shy of 10,000 people.  Between the community, alumni in the area and students, it should be a minimum of 8k per game.

Thank you for making the round trip drive to be there.

I’m not making excuses. I’m disgusted by it. It is a hell of a product and I can’t believe people aren’t showing up to see it. They are missing out. 
There are a lot of creative ideas you could try to fill that place up. I’ve been pretty pro-Jared since his hire, but this is a pretty embarrassing flaw and ultimately he is the one getting paid the most to make the athletic program succeed. And good attendance is part of that success. 

Edited 2 hours ago by MeanGreenZen

[NorthTexasWeLove]

3 minutes ago, MeanGreenZen said:

I’m not making excuses. I’m disgusted by it. It is a hell of a product and I can’t believe people aren’t showing up to see it. They are missing out. 
There are a lot of creative ideas you could try to fill that place up. I’ve been pretty pro-Jared since his hire, but this is a pretty embarrassing flaw and ultimately he is the one getting paid the most to make the athletic program succeed. And good attendance is part of that success. 

I am not being belligerent here, just simply asking, but what has Jared done for you to be pro-Jared? 

[MeanGreenZen]

5 hours ago, keith said:

Here's an idea...It seems Jared enjoys his court-side seat.  How about running a "switch seats with the AD" promotion?  Each half one lucky attendee is drawn and gets to sit court-side and Jared moves to the cheap seats.  Who knows, maybe you only get a handful of extra tickets out of it, but we're moving in the wrong direction.  

That is actually a pretty fun idea. Both Wren and RV were more of a “sales” guy than Jared, who seems like an “operations” guy. That is fine, but you need to hire someone else to be that sales person who promotes the program and builds excitement for the program. Jared has made some homerun hires in basketball, but is it still a homerun if no one is there to see it?

[MeanGreenZen]

1 minute ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

I am not being belligerent here, just simply asking, but what has Jared done for you to be pro-Jared? 

He made two amazing basketball coaching hires. 

[NorthTexasWeLove]

Just now, MeanGreenZen said:

He made two amazing basketball coaching hires. 

Yes. To me, 2 positive outcomes come to mind with Mosley. The women's basketball hire* and the singular 7 figure donation I am aware of. 

We can give him a sliver of credit for pulling the trigger to promote Ross after Grant left, but a monkey in a sweatsuit would've made that move. 

To me, the football hire is proving to be a huge problem. Complete lack of facility upgrades, lack of major donations (outside of the one that they publicly paraded), miniscule marketing efforts outside of the Wyoming at UNT football game are all hard to ignore. Those are fundamental, top bullet point job requirements of being an athletic director. I mean, c'mon, there are legitimately high school basketball games that draw more than 2.5k while we are sitting here as a top 60 NET D1 basketball program with almost a decade of sustained success trying to compete with that number. 

*Maybe taboo to touch on this, but women's basketball hires ain't saving jobs.