Thank God For Apogee

[emmitt01]

Im a big football fan so I decided I'd go up to Allen today to score a few tickets for their stadium opener Friday against Southlake. The ticket office opens at 7:30 so I drrve from work and got there at 7:15. there was already a line 100 people long! As I waited about an additional 150 lined up behind me...for general admission seats because their 5,000 season tickets are sold out! (Anyone think we have 5,000 season ticket holders?).

Anyway, the ticket office is in the end zone of the new stadium so I got a peek at it. wow! Let me tell you, if we hadn't built Apogee, we would be leaps and bounds worse off than Allen HS in the stadium dept. There is a 50 yard long indoor practice facility built into one end zone as well as a weight room that beats a lot of 1AA and some 1A schools. ULM, MUTS, ULL, and WKU only have this place beat in number of seats. We are sooooo lucky to have built what we did at the time that we did. It will be very soon that HS players will begin to thumb their noses at a lot of college programs because they don't want to take a step down in the facilities they play in.

It brings up an interesting question for me though. Were I not a rabid NT supporter, is there a single game on our schedule that I would pay $25 a ticket to watch in Apogee over $8 to watch Allen/Southlake in their new digs? Certainly not Texas Southern.

By the way, I only needed two tickets for Rudy and I but I bought two extra just in case. If you would like to go (and can get there by 6:00 when the gates open to get a decent seat) PM me. I'll only charge you $10 a ticket for the "convenience charge".

[Stan R]

I was an AHS grad from 1993. I'll have to see a game at the new facility this year. When I remember what we used to play in, that new stadium is kind of surreal. Both for UNT and AHS. Go EAGLES!.... Go EAGLES!

[UNT 90 Grad]

I plan to buy tickets to that game over lunch. (My wife went by but wouldn't wait in the long line.). I need 7 tickets though.

[KRAM1]

Emmitt...must we do this sort of thing and get the trolls fired up? Really...so hard to see what point you have in posting something like this other than to post just one more dig at a home schedule that most see as less than "stellar" for 2012, but which has been 'discussed" to DEATH already.

If you like HS football over college football good for you...but no way I'd pay $8 to see Allen play...I don't care where...I'd personally much rather pay the price to see UNT play at Apogee than any HS team...anywhere. Not that i don't like HS ball, I just like watching the Mean green Better...

So, if it makes you feel better we can all acknowledge as RV has even publicly done, that no one is overly excited about UNT's home schedule this season nor the number of games. Hope this helps. Enjoy the HS game in Allen...am sure it will be great fun and the new stadium is indeed AWESOME!

[UNTDude]

I'm also going to the Allen vs. Southlake game...should be electric! Living in Allen I went to the stadium's open house and like Apogee is a tier one stadium at any level. When you have a high school where the number of students approach the undergraduate admissions of Wake Forest and SMU, winning tradition, and have the support of 85,000 residents it's pretty easy to see why folks are lining up for tickets.....

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

I just see Allen Stadium from pictures [ have seen from outside though] ...but... it appears to have the Old Fouts problem that people here complained about.... so far from stands to the field.. or are the pictures misleading?

[emmitt01]

I just see Allen Stadium from pictures [ have seen from outside though] ...but... it appears to have the Old Fouts problem that people here complained about.... so far from stands to the field.. or are the pictures misleading?

From where I stood just outside the gate it has nowhere near the distance issues of Fouts.

[THOR]

i would much rather pay 25 a game for a north texas game, than 8 bucks for a high school game. high school sporting events don't interest me. can't say i've ever bought a ticket to a high school event. i have no connection to the high schools, nor do i have an interest. enjoy the game...i'll gladly pay more for a college game at apogee.

[UNT 90 Grad]

If I had to pick and had no dogs in the hunt, I'd take a $25 FBS game over an $8 Allen/Southlake game. In this case, I dont have to pick. Also, from looking at some of the Eagle Stadium schematics, it doesn't seem to have Fouts Disease. No track.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Why can't a football fan just go to both stadiums? They beauty of High School VS College ball is that they play on different nights!

This is like a Cowboys fan saying: "If you like college football, good for you, but I'm not paying $30 to see Apogee stadium over going to a Cowboys game." And, "The cowboys are professional football. I have no connection to UNT. I'll gladly pay more for my Cowboys tickets."

[10Eagle10]

I will also be there opening night, or maybe the next day/night if Friday night ends up being sold out (i think Melissa-Celina are scheduled to play there). I'm just a football fan, though. Including JH, JV, HS, NCAA, and NFL, BUT NOT any of that peewee or naia crap

but back to the real info lying in emmitt's post:

Anyway, the ticket office is in the end zone of the new stadium so I got a peek at it. wow! Let me tell you, if we hadn't built Apogee, we would be leaps and bounds worse off than Allen HS in the stadium dept. There is a 50 yard long indoor practice facility built into one end zone as well as a weight room that beats a lot of 1AA and some 1A schools. ULM, MUTS, ULL, and WKU only have this place beat in number of seats. We are sooooo lucky to have built what we did at the time that we did. It will be very soon that HS players will begin to thumb their noses at a lot of college programs because they don't want to take a step down in the facilities they play in.

do you agree after seeing this "wonder" of texas high school football that we MUST build an indoor facility?? the best baseball/soccer/tennis/golf kids are going straight to the pros. The best football kids go straight to Division I football. This just makes me feel even more strongly that we gotta take care of the cash cow

[UNT 90 Grad]

Just bought my Allen/Southlake tickets. We've had kids both from Allen and from Southlake go on to play at North Texas, so I consider this an opportunity to look at future recruits. The lines are significantly shorter now. I had to wait behind 4 people for my tickets.

By the way, the athletic center with the indoor practice facility and weight room was not part of the stadium build. That was built several years back. They built the stadium up to it, similar to how Apogee was done.

[shaft]

This thread is predicated on the idea that casual fans buy tickets to events because they want to see the stadium and not the actual game.

Stadium tours are for die hard fans. A new stadium may help a casual fan to decided to attend a game for their team to check out the stadium, but they don't just go for the stadium.

[emmitt01]

This thread is predicated on the idea that casual fans buy tickets to events because they want to see the stadium and not the actual game.

Stadium tours are for die hard fans. A new stadium may help a casual fan to decided to attend a game for their team to check out the stadium, but they don't just go for the stadium.

Thank you for proving one of my points. Putting a decent product (or decent opponents) on the field is a big part of it.

And to think that I would be anywhere but at Apogee if NT is playing is to grossly misread my post. My point is that Allen's new home, coupled with the attractiveness of that Southlake game would certainly give someone (AGAIN, not a die hard) a better option if they had limited entertainment dollars and had a game against Texas Southern as the other option.

Some of you have simply lost your minds if you think these things dont matter...or simply want to ignore them nd shoot the messenger.

[buff64]

Why can't a football fan just go to both stadiums? They beauty of High School VS College ball is that they play on different nights!

This is like a Cowboys fan saying: "If you like college football, good for you, but I'm not paying $30 to see Apogee stadium over going to a Cowboys game." And, "The cowboys are professional football. I have no connection to UNT. I'll gladly pay more for my Cowboys tickets."

+1

[UNT90]

Allen High School - Dallas's team

Is there any doubt their attendance numbers will far outdistance those of SMU?