24/25 MBB Attendance Tracker

[keith]

5,032 came out to attend the 12th home game of the season against UTSA.  So far, the highest attended and first 5K+ of the season.  Through the promotional efforts of the AD, attendance was increased by 1,317 butts in seats compared to the 3,715 that attended the most recent home game against FAU on 1/26.  It's kind of sad, but eclipsing 5K for a UNT basketball game is a significant accomplishment.  Excluding the 2022 game against LaTech (8,522) and the 2024 game against SMU (7,239), we have had only four 5K+ attended games in the last 4 seasons (a stretch of 55 home games with 4 more to go this season).  We are still down (significantly) on the attendance front, down 18.19% and 727, on average, per game compared to last season.  Well done getting the community and students out for the game, but don't let up. 

As for the game....for anyone that's been following Mean Green athletics for any amount of time, the outcome was painfully predictable.  You could see it coming from a mile away.  I don't know what it is, but any time we go out of our way to hype a game (I would not go as far to call this an "opportunity" game), we under perform and lay an egg in front of a nice home crowd.  Here's a hot sports opinion.  It seems when we increase the promotional efforts around a game, it affects our team negatively.  They buy into the hype and it takes them out of their normal routine and playing in front of a noticeably bigger crowd takes them off their game.  That's why I think it's important from a team psyche perspective to have consistency throughout the season in terms of promoting games. Every game is important.  Playing in front of a large crowd should not feel different.  

Not sure what that first half was about (nerves?).  UTSA seemed to play our type of defense and really frustrated us.  We showed some meddle battling back in the second half, but we simply dug ourselves too big of a hole in that first 20 minutes.  We also seemed to pass up good shots trying to set up perfect shots (or go for some Sports Center highlights) that we never got off or turned over with an errant pass.  Frustrating, but our path to a tournament bid really hasn't changed.  Stay healthy and get back on a winning streak so we go into the conference tourney with some momentum and a good seed.

 

 

[MeanGreenGlory]

4 hours ago, keith said:

5,032 came out to attend the 12th home game of the season against UTSA.  So far, the highest attended and first 5K+ of the season.  Through the promotional efforts of the AD, attendance was increased by 1,317 butts in seats compared to the 3,715 that attended the most recent home game against FAU on 1/26.  

You mean promoting games generates a measurable increase in attendance?

Weird how that works, eh?

They should keep doing it!

[untcampbell]

"As for the game....for anyone that's been following Mean Green athletics for any amount of time, the outcome was painfully predictable.  You could see it coming from a mile away.  I don't know what it is, but any time we go out of our way to hype a game (I would not go as far to call this an "opportunity" game), we under perform and lay an egg in front of a nice home crowd."

 

Marketing's fault.

 

GMG

[keith]

21 hours ago, untcampbell said:

"As for the game....for anyone that's been following Mean Green athletics for any amount of time, the outcome was painfully predictable.  You could see it coming from a mile away.  I don't know what it is, but any time we go out of our way to hype a game (I would not go as far to call this an "opportunity" game), we under perform and lay an egg in front of a nice home crowd."

 

Marketing's fault.

 

GMG

Hahaha....not directly.  It meant in a more subtle way than that.  When you have a good thing going and are in a grove, you want to stay in that grove, avoid distractions and not make changes to your routine.  It's anecdotal (however it's been observed over a long period of time), but it seems whenever our teams get into a grove and have a good thing going, we go out of our way to change the atmosphere around the team.  Not always, but more often than not, we don't respond well.  I'm not suggesting that we should not market or promote the team.  I'm saying our timing is often horrible.  We really should be promoting the team consistently all season long so that there isn't a drastic/noticeable change to the atmosphere surrounding a particular game day.  I realize that's not easy to do and there will be some natural changes when students return.   

[untjim1995]

On 2/2/2025 at 8:23 AM, keith said:

5,032 came out to attend the 12th home game of the season against UTSA.  So far, the highest attended and first 5K+ of the season.  Through the promotional efforts of the AD, attendance was increased by 1,317 butts in seats compared to the 3,715 that attended the most recent home game against FAU on 1/26.  It's kind of sad, but eclipsing 5K for a UNT basketball game is a significant accomplishment.  Excluding the 2022 game against LaTech (8,522) and the 2024 game against SMU (7,239), we have had only four 5K+ attended games in the last 4 seasons (a stretch of 55 home games with 4 more to go this season).  We are still down (significantly) on the attendance front, down 18.19% and 727, on average, per game compared to last season.  Well done getting the community and students out for the game, but don't let up. 

As for the game....for anyone that's been following Mean Green athletics for any amount of time, the outcome was painfully predictable.  You could see it coming from a mile away.  I don't know what it is, but any time we go out of our way to hype a game (I would not go as far to call this an "opportunity" game), we under perform and lay an egg in front of a nice home crowd.  Here's a hot sports opinion.  It seems when we increase the promotional efforts around a game, it affects our team negatively.  They buy into the hype and it takes them out of their normal routine and playing in front of a noticeably bigger crowd takes them off their game.  That's why I think it's important from a team psyche perspective to have consistency throughout the season in terms of promoting games. Every game is important.  Playing in front of a large crowd should not feel different.  

Not sure what that first half was about (nerves?).  UTSA seemed to play our type of defense and really frustrated us.  We showed some meddle battling back in the second half, but we simply dug ourselves too big of a hole in that first 20 minutes.  We also seemed to pass up good shots trying to set up perfect shots (or go for some Sports Center highlights) that we never got off or turned over with an errant pass.  Frustrating, but our path to a tournament bid really hasn't changed.  Stay healthy and get back on a winning streak so we go into the conference tourney with some momentum and a good seed.

 

 

Everyone is dead-on about marketing and promotion being terrible here, but think about what the locals are saying to you about how much they care about UNT hoops.

2019-2020--First in CUSA, season ends due to COVID

2020-2021--Win CUSA Tournament, beat Purdue in First Round of NCAA Tournament for first victory ever in that tournament.

2021-2022--Win CUSA Regular Season title, win first round game in NIT over Texas State, lose second round game at home to UVa by two points

2022-2023--finish behind Final Four Florida Atlantic for 2nd place, win the NIT

2023-2024--first year of Ross Hodge and in the American, still finish with a winning record and qualify for NIT, where you win at LSU, then lose at eventual NIT champion Seton Hall

2024-2025--surprise season where we are in 2nd place in the AAC, behind only ranked Memphis

And we are thrilled to no end because a crowd of just over 5000 show up for a game against an in-state rival in your 10k seat arena...posters here call it baby steps and this is because we don't let people know about the games at the Super Pit. My question is why doesn't the winning and the accomplishment do that heavy lifting on its own, to the point that marketing and promotions SHOULD be simple? I mean, seriously, what else does it take to get those students to care enough to show up? What else does it take to get local Denton and Denton County folks to show up? I'm not even counting alumni in the DFW counties that would (gasp) have to drive between 45-60 minutes to the game at the Super Pit? To me, that's the problem that I just don't see ever being overcome--I've been around since 1990 and this is what its basically been since then.

[untcampbell]

1 hour ago, keith said:

Hahaha....not directly.  It meant in a more subtle way than that.  When you have a good thing going and are in a grove, you want to stay in that grove, avoid distractions and not make changes to your routine.  It's anecdotal (however it's been observed over a long period of time), but it seems whenever our teams get into a grove and have a good thing going, we go out of our way to change the atmosphere around the team.  Not always, but more often than not, we don't respond well.  I'm not suggesting that we should not market or promote the team.  I'm saying our timing is often horrible.  We really should be promoting the team consistently all season long so that there isn't a drastic/noticeable change to the atmosphere surrounding a particular game day.  I realize that's not easy to do and there will be some natural changes when students return.   

It is easy to visualize those big crowd losses because there are a lot of them, but the truth is we lose a lot of games in front of small crowds also. I do think many of our most memorable games (football) happened in front of our smallest crowds. Lance Dunbar vs MTSU always comes to mind but maybe it is just the spirit of camaraderie when there are only a few of us standing in the rain, freezing our arses off or even decent weather games played by a really bad football team. I am a yeller and it is kind of fun to see someone in a distant section of the stadium laughing or clapping at something you say....because every fan that speaks in anything louder than normal conversation can be heard anywhere else in the stadium. And when there are only a few people watching and your team gives you (relative) football gold, you feel like each and every one of those with you is a friend and shares your passion and commitment to the team.

 

GMG