Our Priorities

[NTPhiKap99]

We keep talking about building a new 40000 seat stadium and moving to a bigger and better conference but personally I think we should worry about taking care of business where we are first. Over the past 5 years we’ve won a couple conference titles and beat Baylor and SMU yet averages attendance is less than 16000 fans per game with a student body of 32000, and 26000 undergrads. In that same time Troy has averaged almost 20000 per game with only 17000 undergrads and wins over OSU, Marshall and Missouri all in their first 5 years in division one. So I think we should worry about our own image and start winning games and putting butts in the seats before we even worry about getting a new stadium or demanding what we don’t deserve. If we want into CUSA we have to worry about Troy they’re not only a better geographical fit they have also drastically out performed us over the past several years. Let's focus more on what we have control over like attendance numbers and win loss records; if we win some ball games people will show up forcing the need for a bigger stadium and therefore forcing the hands of other conferences to take s seriously. We have to beat Troy to the punch they currently have a huge advantage the only advantage we have over them currently is our media market and that’s not enough. They win big games we don’t and if we hope to beat them out for any conference bid then we have to start winning big games as well.

[SUMG]

Are you sure about the Troy numbers (enrollment)?

I could have sworn last night, they said Troy has 6,000 students in Troy (with others at campuses throughout the world). Anyway, if true, that makes Troy's attendance EVEN MORE IMPRESSIVE.

And btw, I agree with you....it behooves us to start having better season attendance averages, if we ever hope to go anywhere.

[UNTflyer]

And the key to improving home attendance is scheduling better teams. I don't care how good we become, nobody except die-hard fans will want to come out and see us play La-La.

[Mad Hatter]

To have a team like Osu there last night, they didn't have a very full stadium. Still a great product on the field, but if Osu comes to NT, we're sold out.

I've always thought NT's attendance problem stems from students who want to compete with the big boys. Even if we're going undefeated, I'm not sure we have a sell out against an FAU or FIU.

[GreenN'walinsVet]

Dont forget that TROY has a new stadium as well

[filmerj]

Boring Football + Bad Teams + Commuter School = low attendance

[LongJim]

To have a team like Osu there last night, they didn't have a very full stadium.

I agree.

I thought Troy played a great game, but OSU was predicted by some *cough* Chip Brown *cough* to be a 1-2 loss team this year, with a chance to win the B12. I would have thought Troy would have represented better.

[DeepGreen]

Cut Troy some slack. They had a huge dump of rain prior to the game and that could have driven off many fans on their way to the stadium. I thought the crowd was pretty good considering the weather.

On another post MadHatter said, "I've always thought NT's attendance problem stems from students who want to compete with the big boys."

You're correct. But the key word is compete, not get blown out. That tend to turn people off, especially with a boring offense.

[NTPhiKap99]

Are you sure about the Troy numbers (enrollment)?

I's really not sure I pulled that number of wikipedia and they may be wrong. Either way they're smaller, average higher attendance and are winning games straight out of D-1 AA

[Mad Hatter]

"You're correct. But the key word is compete, not get blown out. That tend to turn people off, especially with a boring offense."

I agree 100%. We've got to A) Not suck and Play teams that people have heard of. It all comes down to money. We need to be able to afford to not play the "Money Games" but instead schedule teams that are well known but not in the Top 10 every year. Then we've got to be able to win those games....Like Troy and now FAU.

[Green Lantern]

"You're correct. But the key word is compete, not get blown out. That tend to turn people off, especially with a boring offense."

I agree 100%. We've got to A) Not suck and Play teams that people have heard of. It all comes down to money. We need to be able to afford to not play the "Money Games" but instead schedule teams that are well known but not in the Top 10 every year. Then we've got to be able to win those games....Like Troy and now FAU.

Yep.