24/25 MBB Attendance Tracker

UNTLifer · February 14

16 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Def a department plant.

I thought the same

UNTLifer · February 14

3 hours ago, LittleGreen_Birdie1 said:

a much better environment

Go fix the Taco shirt shooter.

wardly · February 14

4 hours ago, NT80 said:

If you cram 2400 people into a small gym, it doesn't make it a better environment simply because they all sit on top of each other.

You're obviously not 60 either given your distain for them. But if you took them away, there may only be 500 people at our games. Majority of Wichita State fans are easily over 60. We need more of all-age fans!

Seats 2,900 but they can cram 3,100 in with a shoehorn.

NorthTexasWeLove · February 14

5 hours ago, NT80 said:

If you cram 2400 people into a small gym, it doesn't make it a better environment simply because they all sit on top of each other.

You're obviously not 60 either given your distain for them. But if you took them away, there may only be 500 people at our games. Majority of Wichita State fans are easily over 60. We need more of all-age fans!

I agree. But if you cram 5500 UNT basketball fans into UNTs future 5500 seat arena in a tight ball game bet your bottom dollar it would make for an absolutely awesome environment.

UNTLifer · February 14

11 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

I agree. But if you cram 5500 UNT basketball fans into UNTs future 5500 seat arena in a tight ball game bet your bottom dollar it would make for an absolutely awesome environment.

Build, if needed, for where you want to go not where you are.

NT80 · February 14

9 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

I agree. But if you cram 5500 UNT basketball fans into UNTs future 5500 seat arena in a tight ball game bet your bottom dollar it would make for an absolutely awesome environment.

Yes a full arena is great, but you're turning away fans from the games that drew over 5500.

Tarp off the upper deck of the Pit if it bothers people to see it.

Plus that $100mil (that we don't have anyway) for an additional arena, could be used for many better things for athletics and fans.

greenminer · February 18

Greendylan · February 20

On 2/17/2025 at 7:04 PM, greenminer said:

It's funny because this feels like something George would have come up with for the Yankees.

NorthTexasWeLove · February 20

On 2/14/2025 at 2:09 PM, UNTLifer said:

Build, if needed, for where you want to go not where you are.

I want a crown jewel to recruit the best available basketball players that we possibly can while watching them play in front of loud and fun environments.

The Super Pit won't last forever. What are we on, 6th decade of existence? Only a matter of time.

meangreenfaninno · February 20

9 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

I want a crown jewel to recruit the best available basketball players that we possibly can while watching them play in front of loud and fun environments.

The Super Pit won't last forever. What are we on, 6th decade of existence? Only a matter of time.

Yes absolutely this times 100. We should not accept that we must keep old facilities in place because it's the way UNT has always done things.

UNTLifer · February 20

48 minutes ago, meangreenfaninno said:

Yes absolutely this times 100. We should not accept that we must keep old facilities in place because it's the way UNT has always done things.

And we shouldn't just build to build. There are a number of great basketball venues across the country that are not new. Personally, I think the SP has aged well. Could it use some more "bells and whistles"? Sure, but it is not a bad looking arena. I have heard that there are some issues with the mechanical systems, etc. but don't know if that is true or not.

NT80 · February 20

1 hour ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

The Super Pit won't last forever. What are we on, 6th decade of existence? Only a matter of time.

The Super Pit is fine. It's not even in the Top 50 oldest college arenas.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/42117016/what-oldest-active-college-basketball-arenas

Tulane's arena is from 1933...

Devlin Fieldhouse – Tulane Green Wave

greenminer · February 20

Things that would compel me to believe we need a new facility:

"The current one is too old." The Super Pit is not.
"Better recruits will come." Didn't Apogee prove this to be false?
"We need a more appropriate/scaled size." I think the SP could be smaller. I also hope we can build crowds into what it is. What if we just use curtains to hide the upper deck and give the illusion we need?
"We don't own the Super Pit." Correct, the facility belongs to the university, and not athletics.
"The current one looks/feels awful!" This is why you renovate, not just replace. Now that I think about it, however, someone tried to explain a few years ago that it was cheaper to replace than to repair? Not sure if that's true.

...IMO, a new arena would be a tremendous investment, and we need to check off at least 4 of the above 5 to have a legitimate argument for a new facility.

If ya ask me, get baseball first and invest more resources and effort into local advertising.

NT80 · February 20

5 minutes ago, greenminer said:

If ya ask me, get baseball first and invest more resources and effort into local advertising.

Yes. The AD should focus on filling the Pit, not building another venue. Not sure the marketing end of Athletics is pulling their weight. Maybe that's what really needs replaced?

The Pit would still be used for graduations and other events for the University, it's not getting demolished.

NorthTexasWeLove · February 20

5 minutes ago, greenminer said:

Things that would compel me to believe we need a new facility:

"The current one is too old." The Super Pit is not.
"Better recruits will come." Didn't Apogee prove this to be false?
"We need a more appropriate/scaled size." I think the SP could be smaller. I also hope we can build crowds into what it is. What if we just use curtains to hide the upper deck and give the illusion we need?
"We don't own the Super Pit." Correct, the facility belongs to the university, and not athletics.
"The current one looks/feels awful!" This is why you renovate, not just replace. Now that I think about it, however, someone tried to explain a few years ago that it was cheaper to replace than to repair? Not sure if that's true.

...IMO, a new arena would be a tremendous investment, and we need to check off at least 4 of the above 5 to have a legitimate argument for a new facility.

If ya ask me, get baseball first and invest more resources and effort into local advertising.

What does too old mean?

Football and basketball is never measurable to one another.

Athletics does not own the Super Pit.

The current isn't awful.

If we're adding baseball soon then a bew basketball arena can certainly be kicked down the road. But I know we're not, at least not soon. I know we're not because we still can't fund an Athletics center expansion.

NorthTexasWeLove · February 20

3 minutes ago, NT80 said:

Yes. The AD should focus on filling the Pit, not building another venue. Not sure the marketing end of Athletics is pulling their weight. Maybe that's what really needs replaced?

The Pit would still be used for graduations and other events for the University, it's not getting demolished.

When the athletic department gets serious about filing up The Pit to 50% capacity with consistency we can sit down the new arena conversation. Until then, the conversation should have legs.

greenminer · February 20

13 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

What does too old mean?

Football and basketball is never measurable to one another.

Athletics does not own the Super Pit.

The current isn't awful.

What does "6th decade of existence, it's only a matter of time." mean? I know you're not saying "it's too old" right now but, you're implying it will get too old, right? So, when is that for you?

No, I don't rule this out because the crowd sizes/budgets are different between different sports. Why are you ruling it out? Up front, this seems like a blanket statement/generalization.

It would be nice to have our own facility. This is definitely a "checked" box, but by itself is not the reason you should build.

Edited February 20 by greenminer

THOR · February 20

i've never liked the oval court area of the pit. i like nice rectangles where people are right on top of the action.

NT80 · February 20

11 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

When the athletic department gets serious about filing up The Pit to 50% capacity with consistency we can sit down the new arena conversation. Until then, the conversation should have legs.

The conversation is fine; facilities are a window to an Athletic Department's status.

But, like you mention, the conversations wouldn't be as often if attendance was better. Attendance/marketing is cheaper and easier to fix than funding a new arena (with potentially the same attendance problems).

Other AAC schools need a new arena far greater than UNT does.

Much more can and should be done to encourage/drag students to games. That is the weak link in all this facility talk.

NorthTexasWeLove · February 20

11 minutes ago, greenminer said:

What does "6th decade of existence, it's only a matter of time." mean? I know you're not saying "it's too old" right now but, you're implying it will get too old, right? So, when is that for you?

No, I don't rule this out because the crowd sizes/budgets are different between different sports. Why are you ruling it out? Up front, this seems like a blanket statement/generalization.

It would be nice to have our own facility. This is definitely a "checked" box, but by itself is not the reason you should build.

It becomes too old when it starts to disconnect our alum, fans, and community rather than bringing them together AND/OR starts to be an anti-recruiting tool.

I rule out the comparison because it's not comparable. 5k avg is a manageable and doable figure that we can't seem to touch. For the sake of comparing I'm asking what would be a 15k football attendance for basketball, comparatively. And we can't do that because someone in our horribly ran athletic department decided to not prioritize it.

greenminer · February 20

3 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

It becomes too old when it starts to disconnect our alum, fans, and community rather than bringing them together AND/OR starts to be an anti-recruiting tool.

I hear that, I just don't think the disconnect is BECAUSE of the Super Pit, and a new facility isn't going to be the connection/fix.

UNTFan23 · February 21

6 hours ago, greenminer said:

I hear that, I just don't think the disconnect is BECAUSE of the Super Pit, and a new facility isn't going to be the connection/fix.

I just want new scoreboards. The ones we have now have to be close to 30 years old. I'm pretty sure those were already there before I was a freshman in 97.

UNTLifer · February 21

21 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

It becomes too old when it starts to disconnect our alum, fans, and community rather than bringing them together AND/OR starts to be an anti-recruiting tool.

What does this even mean? How does a building start to disconnect people?

Green Otaku · February 21

22 hours ago, NT80 said:

The Super Pit is fine. It's not even in the Top 50 oldest college arenas.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/42117016/what-oldest-active-college-basketball-arenas

Tulane's arena is from 1933...

Doing a quick search Devlin Fieldhouse has had 2 major renovations, once in 1988 and again in 2011, how many renovations has the SP had? That's a genuine question, not some sarcastic jab. I can only think of the time we hung the center scoreboard, but that wasn't structural or did they reinforce the roof?

Green Otaku · February 21

22 hours ago, greenminer said:

Things that would compel me to believe we need a new facility:

"The current one is too old." The Super Pit is not.
"Better recruits will come." Didn't Apogee prove this to be false?
"We need a more appropriate/scaled size." I think the SP could be smaller. I also hope we can build crowds into what it is. What if we just use curtains to hide the upper deck and give the illusion we need?
"We don't own the Super Pit." Correct, the facility belongs to the university, and not athletics.
"The current one looks/feels awful!" This is why you renovate, not just replace. Now that I think about it, however, someone tried to explain a few years ago that it was cheaper to replace than to repair? Not sure if that's true.

...IMO, a new arena would be a tremendous investment, and we need to check off at least 4 of the above 5 to have a legitimate argument for a new facility.

If ya ask me, get baseball first and invest more resources and effort into local advertising.

Other posters know the specifics more, but renovation would involve major structural work and a complete tear down which would make it just as or more expensive than a new structure. @NorthTexasWeLove is right that it's only a matter of time with a building this old, the structures and supports need renovating or replacing eventually, so UNT will have to make that choice one way or the other.