Coog Fans review Apogee

[Harry]

Putting execution aside... the facility UNT has built is OUTSTANDING. I hope we take some cues from it because they did alot of things right.

The first thing they did right was that the bleachers had lots of leg room in between rows and you could get by people much easier than any stadium I have ever been in, not to mention the leg room. Also just getting around anywhere in the stadium was easy. They had great spots and platforms for disabled or otherwise folks who have a harder time getting around.

Really good site lines... the luxury boxes looked 1st rate javing both an indoor and outdoor section to each box with their own HD TV in them...and the way the tiered the stadium was unique and effective.

The tail-feather bleachers actually was way cooler in person and much less hokie looking in person IMHO.

Concessions were easy to get, and the prices were not absurd.

And man, clean, well-ventilated and large bathrooms... whodda thunk it?

Lastly, everyone was super friendly to us from UNT.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=215&f=2804&t=7907674&p=1

[ColoradoEagle]

With that said...I truly hope we set our sights higher than what UNT built.

The UH fans I talked with were very complimentary of the stadium and tailgating. I'm sure most of them don't think like this fool, but if they do, they're going to be disappointed when their stadium opens as only Cowboys Stadium would meet their expectations.

[Green Mean]

The UH fans I talked with were very complimentary of the stadium and tailgating. I'm sure most of them don't think like this fool, but if they do, they're going to be disappointed when their stadium opens as only Cowboys Stadium would meet their expectations.

I may be wrong but I am guessing he meant a much bigger stadium capacity wise. As far as amenities it's hard to beat since we have everything a college stadium would want I am thinking.

[tylermeangreen]

As I sat in the stadium and looked at the UH crowd I thought, perhaps, I was observing a really significant reason it will be difficult for UH to be invited to the Big 12 (should the Big 12 survive).

I was surprised by the relatively dismal UH turnout for the game.

Denton, Texas/UNT - about a 4 1/2 - 5 hour drive from Houston.

UH - former Southwest Conference member; a Conference-USA member; a relatively large alumni base in the DFW area; a helluva exciting football team;; whipped UCLA in their first game of the season; and they bring only 4,000 fans to Denton.

So, if you are the Big 12 Conference, are you going to take that heavily into consideration when considering which universities to ask to join the Big 12? Is that also true if you the Mountain West conference?

[KRAM1]

As I sat in the stadium and looked at the UH crowd I thought, perhaps, I was observing a really significant reason it will be difficult for UH to be invited to the Big 12 (should the Big 12 survive).

I was surprised by the relatively dismal UH turnout for the game.

Denton, Texas/UNT - about a 4 1/2 - 5 hour drive from Houston.

UH - former Southwest Conference member; a Conference-USA member; a relatively large alumni base in the DFW area; a helluva exciting football team;; whipped UCLA in their first game of the season; and they bring only 4,000 fans to Denton.

So, if you are the Big 12 Conference, are you going to take that heavily into consideration when considering which universities to ask to join the Big 12? Is that also true if you the Mountain West conference?

Spot on comments. I, too, thought the Houston crowd was poor with relation to their thoughts of "greener pastures". Houston fans have never traveled well it seems. This game was a short drive for them considering some. If they can't make it to Denton, they darn sure aren't going to Manhattan or Stillwater for that matter.

I did enjoy talking with several Houston alls. All had great things to say about our new stadium and the Mean Green fans and game-day atmosphere.

[NTXCoog]

As I sat in the stadium and looked at the UH crowd I thought, perhaps, I was observing a really significant reason it will be difficult for UH to be invited to the Big 12 (should the Big 12 survive).

I was surprised by the relatively dismal UH turnout for the game.

Denton, Texas/UNT - about a 4 1/2 - 5 hour drive from Houston.

UH - former Southwest Conference member; a Conference-USA member; a relatively large alumni base in the DFW area; a helluva exciting football team;; whipped UCLA in their first game of the season; and they bring only 4,000 fans to Denton.

So, if you are the Big 12 Conference, are you going to take that heavily into consideration when considering which universities to ask to join the Big 12? Is that also true if you the Mountain West conference?

Meanwhile Baylor only bought 800 seats for their aTm allotment and returned the rest. If you think 4k is low, you're crazy. I know there are schools that do travel that, but we're not Nebraska. And if you need a school to travel 7k+ to fill your stadium (almost 1/4 of the stadium) on opening night, UNT might as well give it up.

[TIgreen01]

4k is nothing to sneeze at. Not a bad turnout from UH when considering what they brought back in the late 90s when we played them in Fouts.

Seems most Big 12 schools only allocate 5k to visiting teams fans, anyways. UH would have nearly sold that out with what they brought to Denton.

Just wish we could have sent them home with a loss...but we'll get there.

[glick1980]

How do we even know there were 4k there? It seemed like not very many at all to me.

[tylermeangreen]

Meanwhile Baylor only bought 800 seats for their aTm allotment and returned the rest. If you think 4k is low, you're crazy. I know there are schools that do travel that, but we're not Nebraska. And if you need a school to travel 7k+ to fill your stadium (almost 1/4 of the stadium) on opening night, UNT might as well give it up.

Sorry to upset you, old buddy - guess the truth hurts, huh?

I was not speaking to Baylor - we all know they got into the Big 12 through the political generosity/strong-armed tactics of Ann Richards and Bob Bullock, and UH was left out.

Believe me, most of us hope that you go to the Big 12 or elsewhere - and take SMU with you - but if you think traveling 4,000 or less fans is going to get you there (and I was being generous; I really don't think there was anywhere near 4,000 UH fans there) - especially given all of the positives for UH that I mentioned in relation to this game - sir: you are the one that is crazy!

[UNTLifer]

I hope we continue the series with Houston. The fans I ran into were all very nice, complimentary of our stadium, our support, the tailgate set-up, etc... One or two made some smart-a$$ed remarks, but that's to be expected from any fanbase. I would guess they had 4,000 to 4,500 there.

[NTXCoog]

Sorry to upset you, old buddy - guess the truth hurts, huh?

I was not speaking to Baylor - we all know they got into the Big 12 through the political generosity/strong-armed tactics of Ann Richards and Bob Bullock, and UH was left out.

Believe me, most of us hope that you go to the Big 12 or elsewhere - and take SMU with you - but if you think traveling 4,000 or less fans is going to get you there (and I was being generous; I really don't think there was anywhere near 4,000 UH fans there) - especially given all of the positives for UH that I mentioned in relation to this game - sir: you are the one that is crazy!

Big XII schools generally don't care how many opposing fans travel. You have to fill your own stadium. Most of the Big XII schools don't have large sections available for opposing fans. Why would you if you can sell out with your own fans which increases season ticket sales and allows for mandatory donations for seats?

Worrying about how many opposing fans come to your stadium is the same mentality UH used to have. We used to complain that no one in CUSA (with the exception of UTEP) brought fans to UH. Now we're finally getting to the point where if the opposing team brings zero fans, it can still be a sell out.

Hopefully UNT gets to that point too. The stadium will help. Winning will help some too. Once you get momentum, it starts snowballing. One sell out leads to another. That leads to games selling out early which leads to higher season ticket sales. But don't complain about the number of fans your opponents bring. That just makes your fan base look weaker because your attendance depends on something outside of your control.

[andrewrozell]

regardless of UH's thoughts (though glad they are generally positive) I was very proud to host UH; nothing to be ashamed of at apogee. nothing.

side note on UH fans: though friendly, they need to step up their cornhole game; Zeke and I dominated them.

[ColoradoEagle]

side note on UH fans: though friendly, they need to step up their cornhole game; Zeke and I dominated them.

WHAT?

[DeepGreen]

Visualize the main pockets of Houston fans at the game. Sections 125 and 124 were solid. Across the way, 102 and 103 had some fans in red, and the wing zone had a small but rowdy group; 115 & 116 had a solid contingent of UH fans. Other than that, ya'll are being way too generous with UH attendance.

The student side sits 8,000. If you put all the UH fans in one area, there is no way they would fill up half of the student side. There were not 4,000 UH fans in attendance. No way. I'd guess 1,500 to maybe 2,000. Ya'll are giving them way too much credit. But............those that did make the trip, I'm glad they came.

[Green P1]

Visualize the main pockets of Houston fans at the game. Sections 125 and 124 were solid. Across the way, 102 and 103 had some fans in red, and the wing zone had a small but rowdy group; 115 & 116 had a solid contingent of UH fans. Other than that, ya'll are being way too generous with UH attendance.

The student side sits 8,000. If you put all the UH fans in one area, there is no way they would fill up half of the student side. There were not 4,000 UH fans in attendance. No way. I'd guess 1,500 to maybe 2,000. Ya'll are giving them way too much credit. But............those that did make the trip, I'm glad they came.

Agreed. I couldn't see 4,000 there.

[Green Crazy]

I hope we continue the series with Houston. The fans I ran into were all very nice, complimentary of our stadium, our support, the tailgate set-up, etc... One or two made some smart-a$$ed remarks, but that's to be expected from any fanbase. I would guess they had 4,000 to 4,500 there.

Yes, I definitely want to play them as much as we can. We recruit Houston pretty heavily or at least we used to and I think it's the second best area to pull recruits from in Texas. It would be awesome if we could play either Houston or smu once a year to develop some sort of rivalry with them.

[Eagle1855]

I hope we continue the series with Houston. The fans I ran into were all very nice, complimentary of our stadium, our support, the tailgate set-up, etc... One or two made some smart-a$ed remarks, but that's to be expected from any fanbase. I would guess they had 4,000 to 4,500 there.

To be fair, I heard plenty of idiots on our (UNT) side making unwarranted jerk-wad remarks to UH fans, too. But I agree 100%, more games with UH is a good thing for all parties involved. DO IT, RICK.

[fastball]

side note on UH fans: though friendly, they need to step up their cornhole game; Zeke and I dominated them.

Wow. Distance...

[SHOSS]

To be fair, I heard plenty of idiots on our (UNT) side making unwarranted jerk-wad remarks to UH fans, too. But I agree 100%, more games with UH is a good thing for all parties involved. DO IT, RICK.

if we were in their conference, we'd play almost every year, right?

I bet nobody has thought of that one! man, I'm sooooooo funny.

So, does Houston object to us joining CUSA as much as smooo?

[NTXCoog]

if we were in their conference, we'd play almost every year, right?

I bet nobody has thought of that one! man, I'm sooooooo funny.

So, does Houston object to us joining CUSA as much as smooo?

Probably wouldn't be top choice for UH, but I think CUSA East teams would raise the biggest objections. Most of them think we already have too many TX schools. They want more eastern based teams if possible if expansion occurs.

[MDH]

Meanwhile Baylor only bought 800 seats for their aTm allotment and returned the rest. If you think 4k is low, you're crazy. I know there are schools that do travel that, but we're not Nebraska. And if you need a school to travel 7k+ to fill your stadium (almost 1/4 of the stadium) on opening night, UNT might as well give it up.

Meanwhile Fresno St travels over 20k for UCLA & Cal games.

[GrandGreen]

Of course UH in their fan's eyes are multi-levels above NT. The truth is that NT is most like Tech and Houston in the state. Big state schools below UT and A & M with similar enrollments, standards and missions. NT is at big disadvantage never having been included the SWC and playing in the lowly Belt and until recently not even close on the commitment to athletics. Yes, UTSM, UTSA and perhaps even UTA could get to that level in time but are going to have to suffer years to get there. It is at least conceivable to me that in time there will be an alliance of like Texas schools. NT is going to have to get a lot better but at long last there is hope.

As an aside, I though many of the UH message board comments about the new stadium were predicable but very juvenile. UH is going to build more expensive and bigger and therefore will be better, Maybe, maybe not; but that does not change the fact that NT has a great venue.

[NTXCoog]

Meanwhile Fresno St travels over 20k for UCLA & Cal games.

When?

UCLA? The last time Fresno played UCLA was in 2008. Attendance at the game was 74k. UCLA's season average was 73k. Their lowest attendance of the year was 65k. So unless EVERY opponent brought at least 11k or about 10k UCLA fans didn't come to that game, I doubt Fresno brought 20k.

Cal? This year the attendance at Fresno/Cal was 31k per ESPN's and Cal's websites. Am I supposed to believe that 2/3 of the stadium was Fresno fans, especially since Cal averaged 58k last season? The only other time Fresno has played at Cal was in 1995.

For home games, Fresno St averaged 34k last year. If 20k was correct, either 2/3rds of all their fans make road games or a lot of them don't bother with home games.

[ColoradoEagle]

UH is going to build more expensive and bigger and therefore will be better, Maybe, maybe not; but that does not change the fact that NT has a great venue.

Bigger? Sure. Quality? I dunno. We spent $2,593 per seat. After the pseudo-athletic center they're talking about building (just assume $5m on the low end), they're looking at $2,875 per seat. That doesn't include demolition of Robertson, which I imagine would drop that total even more.

By all accounts we got one hell of a deal due to the recession, and at the very earliest, they would be breaking ground two years after us. Maybe up to five years after us.

I don't think their budget will let it be as nice, but who knows until the project is finished. I'm not wishing ill will or anything, but I think their expectations are nuts, especially considering it's the same architect and possibly even lesser budget per seat than we used.

[UNT Mean Green]

There's plenty of larger venues, but I've been to numerous college and professional stadiums; and Apogee is right at the top of the list. My unbiased opinion is that $79,000,000 was an absolute steal and that "dollar for dollar" this is the nicest sports facility/arena in the country.