Stadium

[houstonmeangreen]

Just looking at some of the stadium stuff...Baylor, UofH, K state, etc....so , how long, if ever, before UNT expands Apogee with a Deck and add'l suites on the student side....of course we have to get attendance up, win games, etc...all of these necessary for consideration of a more major conference opportunity...a larger stadium would also be necessary....so....how long before we put the pieces together and expand the stadium,....2-3 yrs, 5-7 yrs, 10-12 yrs,,,never...? and why do you feel this way.

OK...after reading a few hostile post, perhaps I should rephrase this as....do you feel the current plan in place will create the demand for add'l seats/suites in the future and if so, how long would that be..2-3 yrs, 5-7 yrs...etc...I'm am not advocating expansion of the stadium...interested in what people think about the current situation and how long before DEMAND outstrips SUPPLY of available seating/suites...creating a need to expand...if ever. (will attendance increase next year, will season ticket sales increase, etc)

Edited January 8, 2014 by houstonmeangreen

[meangreener]

Just looking at some of the stadium stuff...Baylor, UofH, K state, etc....so , how long, if ever, before UNT expands Apogee with a Deck and add'l suites on the student side....of course we have to get attendance up, win games, etc...all of these necessary for consideration of a more major conference opportunity...a larger stadium would also be necessary....so....how long before we put the pieces together and expand the stadium,....2-3 yrs, 5-7 yrs, 10-12 yrs,,,never...? and why do you feel this way.

12+ years. You create demand first. There is no demand for a bigger stadium.

Also expansion could jack with the homefield advantage.

Edited January 8, 2014 by meangreener

[forevereagle]

I believe that the current version of the UNT master plan has Apogee expansion as part of the plan. Not sure if that means that it is guaranteed and when, but it is in the plan.

EDIT: Here is the link to the 2013 master plan. Page 8 shows the map with changes. Page 120 shows the expansion in slightly more detail.

Edited January 8, 2014 by forevereagle

[oldguystudent]

Can we get at least one sellout before even starting this conversation?

[meangreener]

Personally, I never support expansion to 50K. Look at TCU. This town can not constantly support a team unless it's the Cowboys.

Edited January 8, 2014 by meangreener

[Green Mean]

Personally, I never support expansion to 50K. Look at TCU. This town can not constantly support a team unless it's the Cowboys.

Why compare a large public school with 36K students to a small private school with 10K students?

[meangreen15]

Go to 8+ bowls in the next 10 years and maybe we can talk about it. I would much rather have a packed small stadium instead of a half filled expanded stadium.

[oldguystudent]

Personally, I never support expansion to 50K. Look at TCU. This town can not constantly support a team unless it's the Cowboys.

I wonder if people noticed how silly the Cotton Bowl looked with nearly 40,000 people in it. Apogee as is, with current demand, is pretty sweet. Wait til mid-September when we have the annual threads about filling up the wing zone with buckets of chicken and free car washes. Why add a sure to be empty upper deck to that? Addition suites might be nice for a fundraiser, but they wouldn't do anything for home field advantage. I'm not entirely sure existing suites are even sold old. I think there may be one or two available. (I could be wrong on that, I'm really not sure).

[meangreen15]

Why compare a large public school with 36K students to a small private school with 10K students?

Until we can fill our own stadium we are in the same boat they are. Win consistently and people will show up, lose and then you have the problem TCU has faced the last 2 years.

[Green Mean]

Until we can fill our own stadium we are in the same boat they are. Win consistently and people will show up, lose and then you have the problem TCU has faced the last 2 years.

Oh I don't disagree however the ceiling and filling 50K seats every home game is easily attainable for us than it would be for TCU and SMU and other schools alike. Even with huge success consistently selling out 50K at Amon Carter won't be the easiest task when they're playing spare OOC games and spare teams.

[meangreen15]

Oh I don't disagree however the ceiling and filling 50K seats every home game is easily attainable for us than it would be for TCU and SMU and other schools alike. Even with huge success consistently selling out 50K at Amon Carter won't be the easiest task when they're playing spare OOC games and spare teams.

I agree it is way more attainable for us, but its only attainable as long as we win. We have an extremely fair weather fan base. It took until the UTEP game for the team to get the crowd it deserved this season. I hope we can capitalize this season following the excitement of the bowl victory and keep the fans in attendance.

[houstonmeangreen]

Oh I don't disagree however the ceiling and filling 50K seats every home game is easily attainable for us than it would be for TCU and SMU and other schools alike. Even with huge success consistently selling out 50K at Amon Carter won't be the easiest task when they're playing spare OOC games and spare teams.

I think Amon Carter is more on the order of 40K seats, not 50K

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

Personally, I never support expansion to 50K. Look at TCU. This town can not constantly support a team unless it's the Cowboys.

The Mavericks are 2nd in NBA in attendance and the Rangers are 4th in MLB. This town supports any team that wins.

Edited January 8, 2014 by ChristopherRyanWilkes

[forevereagle]

I think Amon Carter is more on the order of 40K seats, not 50K

According to their AD, it seats 45K.

[SilverEagle]

We are always going to have a problem selling out/filing up Apogee early in the season as long as we have 103 degree temps at kick-off. The students and visitors in the wing section absolutely fry the first half of the game. I was re-watching the Ball St. game yesterday and I was shocked at how few people there were in the stands, especially the student side. The announcers mentioned that it was 88 degrees at kick-off.

Edited January 8, 2014 by SilverEagle

[oldguystudent]

The announcers mentioned that it was 88 degrees at kick-off.

Really? That was one HELL of an 88 degrees! Maybe my mind is just comingling the brutal temps of the Idaho game with the Ball St. game. I remember both being just unbearable.

[Green Mean]

The Mavericks are 2nd in NBA in attendance and the Rangers are 4th in MLB. This town supports any team that wins.

And from 1993-2008 the Stars consistently sold out and had a stretch of I believe 300 or 400 something consecutive sellouts. And for a few years they generated the most revenue of any team in the league. With the exception of a few teams you have to win to get butts in the seats and that's the way it should be.

Edited January 8, 2014 by Green Mean

[ChristopherRyanWilkes]

And from 1993-2008 the Stars consistently sold out and had a stretch of I believe 300 or 400 something sellouts. With the exception of a few teams you have to win to get butts in the seats and that's the way it should be.

It's just a sports town and like he said the only consistent team we support is the Cowboys, who have 5 Superbowls. But we will jump on the bandwagon of any of the 4(maybe even 5 if soccer becomes more popular) sports teams if they win.

Edited January 8, 2014 by ChristopherRyanWilkes

[SilverEagle]

Really? That was one HELL of an 88 degrees! Maybe my mind is just comingling the brutal temps of the Idaho game with the Ball St. game. I remember both being just unbearable.

Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same thing.

[Green Mean]

It's just a sports town and like he said the only consistent team we support is the Cowboys, who have 5 Superbowls. But we will jump on the bandwagon of any of the 4(maybe even 5 if soccer becomes more popular) sports teams if they win.

Before the Cowboys got good in the early 90's Texas Stadium never sold out for the years that they were really bad. If they ever went back to the 1-15 season and full and total rebuild the Cowboys would not sell out. Or at least people wouldn't show up. As I stated no other sports city is very much different. You need to win for people to consistently to show up.

Edited January 8, 2014 by Green Mean

[emmitt01]

Amazingly, though you qualified your question to include all of the respnses you received, no one actually answered your specific question you asked...so allow me.

10 years. I think the trajectory of this program, the coaches currently in place and the awakening of this fan base will push us toward that goal. But I too have a few qualifiers.

First, we need to abandon the "if you win they will come" mentality because winning alone will not fix the problem. Until we promote this program in a manner that draws in potential fans who are looking for the "window dressing" we won't approach sellouts. When Mark Cuban first took over the Mavs one of the things he did was to make a Mavs game an event. There were blimps that dropped khakis on you, music during every timeout, giveaways if the mavs reached a certain milestone, etc. I know we can't afford to drop khakis but have you ever noticed that the loudest cheers you hear at our basketball games (especially these days) are when everyone wins a free Wendy's frostee? Why? Because it's an added bonus, something to get excited about, other than the on field product. When Silver goes on and on about pageantry (and you all dismiss him) you miss the point. Pageantry makes it feel like an EVENT. The idea that we are going to have to rely on bringing in big names and winning consistently alone is counter-intuitive. It's a long tiresome process and it's just not reasonable...Texas and Nebraska etc are not coming to Denton, they're not.

[SilverEagle]

Amazingly, though you qualified your question to include all of the respnses you received, no one actually answered your specific question you asked...so allow me.

10 years. I think the trajectory of this program, the coaches currently in place and the awakening of this fan base will push us toward that goal. But I too have a few qualifiers.

First, we need to abandon the "if you win they will come" mentality because winning alone will not fix the problem. Until we promote this program in a manner that draws in potential fans who are looking for the "window dressing" we won't approach sellouts. When Mark Cuban first took over the Mavs one of the things he did was to make a Mavs game an event. There were blimps that dropped khakis on you, music during every timeout, giveaways if the mavs reached a certain milestone, etc. I know we can't afford to drop khakis but have you ever noticed that the loudest cheers you hear at our basketball games (especially these days) are when everyone wins a free Wendy's frostee? Why? Because it's an added bonus, something to get excited about, other than the on field product. When Silver goes on and on about pageantry (and you all dismiss him) you miss the point. Pageantry makes it feel like an EVENT. The idea that we are going to have to rely on bringing in big names and winning consistently alone is counter-intuitive. It's a long tiresome process and it's just not reasonable...Texas and Nebraska etc are not coming to Denton, they're not.

An event that you are part of. THAT is what keeps people (well most of them) coming back during lean times.

[houstonmeangreen]

Amazingly, though you qualified your question to include all of the respnses you received, no one actually answered your specific question you asked...so allow me.

10 years. I think the trajectory of this program, the coaches currently in place and the awakening of this fan base will push us toward that goal. But I too have a few qualifiers.

First, we need to abandon the "if you win they will come" mentality because winning alone will not fix the problem. Until we promote this program in a manner that draws in potential fans who are looking for the "window dressing" we won't approach sellouts. When Mark Cuban first took over the Mavs one of the things he did was to make a Mavs game an event. There were blimps that dropped khakis on you, music during every timeout, giveaways if the mavs reached a certain milestone, etc. I know we can't afford to drop khakis but have you ever noticed that the loudest cheers you hear at our basketball games (especially these days) are when everyone wins a free Wendy's frostee? Why? Because it's an added bonus, something to get excited about, other than the on field product. When Silver goes on and on about pageantry (and you all dismiss him) you miss the point. Pageantry makes it feel like an EVENT. The idea that we are going to have to rely on bringing in big names and winning consistently alone is counter-intuitive. It's a long tiresome process and it's just not reasonable...Texas and Nebraska etc are not coming to Denton, they're not.

The "EVENT" of the day..must be there...the pageantry (TAM, UT, etc) , the tailgating (this is become very special at UNT now) and the game...it is all about the SOCIAL activities with a great ball game. UNT will need to get the city much more involved, get intouch with alumni (with something they can see or hear, not just a postcard that says "come to a game". It will be sad if we don't capitalize on our current situation.

[oldguystudent]

Emmitt, I don't know how I feel about that.

Personally, I can't stand that stuff. Have you ever been to a UTA basketball game in their new arena? They've got this remote control blimp that poops out coupons for a free Rudy's taco. I thought it was super bush league, and the whole experience felt like a child's amusement park much more than it did a basketball game.

But, I also understand that I'm not the average sports fan. Hell, the Frisco Roughriders have a SWIMMING POOL in the outfield! a freaking SWIMMING POOL! For a baseball game! I don't understand that one bit. Not one bit. But damn if that section wasn't booked for ever Frisco game I ever went to. And those incessant mid-inning spin you head around a bat game, complete with Tony Robbins Jr. ear mounted microphone announcer guy. Unbearable for me, but it packed seats.

So, yeah. This fan base is never gonna be Nebraska or Ohio State where the sheer existence of a team, its colors and its fight songs are enough to draw 100,000 people win, lose, or draw. I cringe at the gimmicks. I hope I can see past them when they inevitably happen.

[golfingomez]

We are always going to have a problem selling out/filing up Apogee early in the season as long as we have 103 degree temps at kick-off. The students and visitors in the wing section absolutely fry the first half of the game. I was re-watching the Ball St. game yesterday and I was shocked at how few people there were in the stands, especially the student side. The announcers mentioned that it was 88 degrees at kick-off.

the announcers were high then... maybe they meant 88 in the press box... that game was hot as eff...