Unt Asks Football Fans To Pay A Premium

[GreenBat]

UNT asks football fans to pay a premium

09:36 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 3, 2007

By BRETT VITO / Denton Record-Chronicle

bvito@dentonrc.com

DENTON – Prime seats at Fouts Field will cost a little more this fall, when former Southlake Carroll coach Todd Dodge makes his debut at North Texas.

Seats in Section E, the area in front of the press box, will require a $500 donation to the athletic department, double what was required last season. The increase is one of several ticket policy changes. UNT has begun prioritizing its season ticket holders through a points system.

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[Keith7]

Its not really a donation if you HAVE to pay it to get the seats.. its more like a $500 ticket

[UNTflyer]

This isn't really news. They've made this known for months.

[NT80]

The article could have mentioned it was not an increase in price for fans renewing from last year. However, too many ticket requests and raising the value of a seat location are good problems to have. Full article:

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UNT asks football fans to pay a premium

09:49 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 3, 2007

By BRETT VITO / Denton Record-Chronicle

bvito@dentonrc.com

DENTON – Prime seats at Fouts Field will cost a little more this fall, when former Southlake Carroll coach Todd Dodge makes his debut at North Texas.

Seats in Section E, the area in front of the press box, will require a $500 donation to the athletic department, double what was required last season. The increase is one of several ticket policy changes. UNT has begun prioritizing its season ticket holders through a points system.

The system rewards fans who have purchased season tickets annually and made donations to the athletic department.

-POLL-

Will you attend more?

UNT football schedule

UNT has been planning to use the system it hopes will raise additional funds for the athletic department for several years and implemented the plan when Dodge arrived at UNT after leading Southlake Carroll to three straight Class 5A state titles.

Single-game tickets are on sale only to fans with priority points until July 20. Tickets will go on sale to the general public later.

"The requests for season tickets are going up, and we wanted to protect those people who have been coming to games and want to continue to be in prime seating," UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal said. "Hopefully our new fans that are coming on board will start to accumulate points that will put them in a better position as time goes on."

Fans earn two points per year for each season they have been football season ticket-holders for up to five years. They receive an additional point for every $100 donated to the athletic department in the same five-year span.

Fans with higher point totals will receive the first opportunity to purchase tickets when UNT receives a limited allotment for away games and postseason contests.

-PHOTO-

GARY PAYNE / DRC

Fouts Field had a good crowd when SMU played at North Texas in September last season.

UNT ticket manager Gabe Kirkpartrick said the school modeled its points system after those in use at other schools.

"What this does is lets our account-holders know where they stand, so if they call in for tickets to the Oklahoma game in football, floor seats in basketball, tickets to the NCAA Tournament or bowl tickets, they will know where they stand among our fans," Kirkpatrick said. "And they know what it will take to get to a higher level."

The priority points policy will have an impact on the first two football games. UNT plays at Oklahoma on Sept. 1 and at SMU on Sept. 8.

Kirkpatrick said the response to the new system has been positive during a time when tickets are in high demand. UNT had sold more season tickets by the end of May than it had all of last season.

Kirkpatrick did not have an exact total for the number of season tickets UNT has sold.

UNT is trying to handle that demand and an influx of new fans while continuing to serve its longtime supporters and raise additional money for the athletic department.

"I always have concerns about fans whose seating will be affected," Villarreal said. "But we have to raise money as we continue to elevate the program and try to bring teams like Navy into our place and make our schedule so it's a better situation for our football team. We have to do that in a number of ways, including season ticket sales and Mean Green Club memberships."

Edited July 4, 2007 by NT80

[GoMeanGreen1999]

So have they sold all of the tickets allotted for the OU and Arkansas games this season?

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Kirkpatrick did not have an exact total for the number of season tickets UNT has sold.

I just love these statements.

[NT80]

So have they sold all of the tickets allotted for the OU and Arkansas games this season?

No. Basically, Zero-U and SMUt are more limited in the size of their "official" UNT sections than are Arkansas (8,000) and other games. Some tickets are already reserved for band, player's parents, staff, students, etc., then priority points will determine other requests, then if any remain they will be opened to the general non-points public.

Edited July 4, 2007 by NT80

[Green Mean]

I'm all for whoring up and making more money but do we really want the school to charge these kinds of prices without TD ever coaching a game and with the reality of how hard it is getting people to come to the stadium? If you want to charge just a little more I am fine I guess but I think we need to get ALL the fans to pack Fouts even if most of them didn't pay anything to get in. Lets pack the place and make it a rowdy and fun environment at any cost.

[NT80]

I'm all for whoring up and making more money but do we really want the school to charge these kinds of prices without TD ever coaching a game and with the reality of how hard it is getting people to come to the stadium? If you want to charge just a little more I am fine I guess but I think we need to get ALL the fans to pack Fouts even if most of them didn't pay anything to get in. Lets pack the place and make it a rowdy and fun environment at any cost.

It's only section E that had a price change this year, and only for new requests, maybe 300 seats were affected? Next year I hear MGC will include D & F. There will always be reduced prices for general admission and students free with ID.

[MeanGreen61]

I'm all for whoring up and making more money but do we really want the school to charge these kinds of prices without TD ever coaching a game and with the reality of how hard it is getting people to come to the stadium? If you want to charge just a little more I am fine I guess but I think we need to get ALL the fans to pack Fouts even if most of them didn't pay anything to get in. Lets pack the place and make it a rowdy and fun environment at any cost.

Whoring up ? Check around, you'll find that Mean Green football is still a bargain.

[DeepGreen]

Whoring up ? Check around, you'll find that Mean Green football is still a bargain.

A bargain indeed. I think NT is saying to it's alumni base, "if you want a very respectable/big time football program here, it's time to pony up".

[the green rokemi]

A bargain indeed. I think NT is saying to it's alumni base, "if you want a very respectable/big time football program here, it's time to pony up".

I thought they were taking Tom Hicks's advice and raising ticket prices when you shouldn't...

[Mad Hatter]

If you go to the DMN website and then click on the COlleges tab under Sports, 3 of the 6 top stories are about UNT. Great press on a holiday.

[emmitt01]

I thought they were taking Tom Hicks's advice and raising ticket prices when you shouldn't...

Not even close. Tom Hicks raises ticket prices without making any concerted effort to improve the product he puts on the field. The Rangers don't seriously try to go after any of the top pitching, continue to accumulate bats and make excuses for why they can't keep up in a division whose other teams are constantly trying to actively participate in the "arms race" going on in baseball. NT on the other hand? Well, all we've done is hire a coach who has given us more buzz than 4 conference titles, opened an entire complex for women's sports, given our fans a trip to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 2 decades, finally put forward in no uncertain terms that quality costs money and that NT plans to strive for better and brought in the makings (at least as of today) of a better recruiting class than most of CUSA, all of the WAC and all of the Sun Belt. Lest we forget, football is the cash cow and the money raised by football benefits the ENTIRE athletic program. We have to come to grips with the fact that if we want to sit at the grown up table and not the kiddy table we have to nut up and pay for the better food.

[GreenN'walinsVet]

Great post Emmitt. To quote the Beerman "A plane wont fly without any fuel" If we really want this thing to take off then we as the fan base need to step up and provide that fuel

[NCMeanGreen]

The reality is that we are finally starting to catch up to what the rest of the Div IA world is doing in terms of policies and ticket sales. We have just not been accustomed to this, but it was bound to change at some point. When I first moved to Raleigh, I was shocked at how much you had to pay just to even buy a season ticket (NC State)...let alone the really nice seats.

Edited July 4, 2007 by NCMeanGreen

[UNTLifer]

UNT had sold more season tickets by the end of May than it had all of last season.

Kirkpatrick did not have an exact total for the number of season tickets UNT has sold.

If you know you have sold more tickets by the end of May than you had all of last year, at least give of last year's number. What's the big secret anyway?

[adman]

If you know you have sold more tickets by the end of May than you had all of last year, at least give of last year's number. What's the big secret anyway?

Last years sales were probably so paltry it would be an embarassment for the athletic department. Best just to say sales are up. A precentage of the increase would be nice to know though and might help increase overall sales.

[tsufan]

It's only section E that had a price change this year, and only for new requests, maybe 300 seats were affected? Next year I hear MGC will include D & F. There will always be reduced prices for general admission and students free with ID.

Troy is doing something very similar....we recognize the need for more $ in order to retain the current coaching staff and better compete in 1-A.

http://troytrojans.com/doc_lib/Warriors-For-Web_06-08-07.pdf

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Why would we want to know a preliminary figure? Tickets to new Mean Green Club donors and season and single ticket holders do not go on sale until July 20. I would like to eventually know, but for now I have mine (well, at least paid for) so I'll let others worry about where they will sit.

What if we have sold 4,000? Would that encourage you to tell others so that we could raise the figute? 10,000? Would that be discouraging to potential buyers in that all of the good seats are gone?

[Censored by Laurie]

Great post Emmitt. To quote the Beerman "A plane wont fly without any fuel" If we really want this thing to take off then we as the fan base need to step up and provide that fuel

Man, that Beerman is modern day Aesop...next thing he'll be instructing us to drink chilled beverages of hops, malt and yeast while at a bar...also way to work in "take off" into the plane analogy.

Oh...and if we sell the tickets, which I believe hasn't been a problem to this point, raising the prices is a good thing.

Forgot I had a point to make amongst my Beerman bashing.

[Quoner]

Last years sales were probably so paltry it would be an embarassment for the athletic department. Best just to say sales are up. A precentage of the increase would be nice to know though and might help increase overall sales.

Maybe ticket Master software isn't advanced enough to track mundane details like total sales. SMU hasn't been able to get a straight number for years.

But...

Everyone will have that ticket increase on their resumes though. Even the Coliseum Janitors.

[UNTLifer]

Last years sales were probably so paltry it would be an embarassment for the athletic department. Best just to say sales are up. A precentage of the increase would be nice to know though and might help increase overall sales.

So, don't publish your totals out of embarrasment? Give me a break. NT has never stated their season ticket sales.

[adman]

So, don't publish your totals out of embarrasment? Give me a break. NT has never stated their season ticket sales.

I rest my case.

[NT80]

So, don't publish your totals out of embarrasment? Give me a break. NT has never stated their season ticket sales.

RV's goal from Day 1 has been to have 10,000 football season tickets sold. I doubt we are close to that but since Dodge has been hired all the quotes about sales from Hank on down to ticket managers have been giddy. I expect fewer places to stretch out in section E this season.

Edited July 6, 2007 by NT80