UNT v. Baylor enrollment,

[FirefightnRick]

I was at the game FirefightnRick shows the picture of and there was no more than 25,000 in the stands for that game and not nearly that many on the field afterwards.  I have attended many UNT games and their fan support is poor at best for the numbers enrolled and alumni.  Even during the seasons where they won the Sun Belt the stands were never completely full and the stadium only holds 30,000.  I enjoy watching and listening to UNT football but there is no way they should be compared to Baylor or any other Big 12 school as far as fan base.  I think some posters should probably check the numbers in attendance when Baylor was playing in the SWC before talking about the number of fans that would attend a home Baylor game if they were not in the Big 12.

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I agree that comparing NT to Baylor's attendance may not be the best for comparison. However, I never said there was 25,000 in the stands that night nor did I give an estimate of how many were on the field afterwards. In fact, there was less than 25K in attendance that night as I recall a number around 22K? But the plain and simple fact this picture shows is that we can see what CAN happen at North Texas when the students and fans get an opportunity to have something to be excited about?

That game was against New Mexico St. and was played for the conference championship. Yes, it should have been sold out, but our conference is still in it's infancy and our school has not had the luxuries Big 12 schools have had with relation to name teams helping increase home attendance. My reason for showing the above picture is that I look at it as an advance in attendance for NT compared to the previous time New Mexico St. had played at Fouts:

....a game played only three years earlier at the same exact time of the year: The last game of the season. A game in which most of us who were there estimated the crowd at around 900? That's Nine Hundred!

In comparing other schools to attendance with ours I think a better comparison would be SMU. Their death penalty followed by being left out of the Big 12 and crappy play possibly parallels our situation the best?

Rick

Edited August 15, 2006 by FirefightnRick

[UNTLifer]

Noth Texas has great student support. It is just that the sunbelt doesn't have anybody that will excite the student population. I gaurantee more excitement for Texas State than Arkansa State.

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The students should come to watch North Texas and not care who we play. The statement above is what pisses me off the most.

[Harry]

Your right Rick. The decision to move to I-AA was the equivalent of the death penalty for us. I like to think that the people responsible for that decision at the time were unaware of the damage they were doing long term to the program.