UT tickets now available

[tylermeangreen]

I agree. How about a "GET ON BOARD WITH SCRAPPY" campaign? This thing, promoted well, could be very effective in getting fans to away games (UTSA, Rice, perhaps UTEP etc.). It would also be a lot of fun and the start of a new tradition {actually a return to an old one). The sight of hundreds of UNT fans boarding the train in Ft Worth And Dallas and then disembarking in Austin would be media worthy as well. Hells bells, it is even environmentally worthy for a school that is supposed to be pro environment. I could go on and on. Lets do this thing.

Incidentally, the Amtrak station is in downtown Austin and in walking to downtown hotels with many good bars in between.

It will take a lot of coordination, and luck, to pull this off.

Amtrak's Texas Eagle is packed during the summer months. On a normal train there would be little, if any, excess capacity to handle Mean Green fans for the trip to Austin and return.

For this to work Amtrak would have to allocate passenger coaches to deadhead from Chicago to Dallas/Ft. Worth to pick up Mean Green fans.

Since the trip would require fans to leave on Friday and return on Sunday, it would be necessary for Amtrak to disconnect the extra cars in San Antonio and put them in siding from Friday night until Sunday morning (since the Friday train would be returning to Chicago on Saturday morning), and then add the cars to Sunday morning's train north.

After our fans departed the train at Ft. Worth and Dallas, the cars would then have to be deadheaded back to Chicago.

An additional problem is Amtrak has a shortage of excess equipment, especially in the summer months when most of the extra equipment is added to its various trains to handle the summer crowds.

Amtrak might possibly be willing, but it would take a lot of coordination among a lot of entities for it to occur.

The Amtrak employee to contact to get this started is Griff Hubbard at the Longview, Texas station. Griff is the Revenue Manager for the Texas Eagle train (Chicago to Los Angeles) and would be able to help begin the process to pull this off - if it is possible to do so.

BTW, the last Mean Green Amtrak fan trip that I am aware of was in late September, 1979, when Mean Green fans, cheerleaders, and Scrappy boarded the Lone Star train at the old Sanger depot.

Amtrak had agreed to stop the train (Houston to Kansas City) in Sanger (Sanger was not a normal stop, but for Amtrak, and us, it was a simpler time) and load us for the trip to Lawrence, Kansas where the Mean Green played the Kansas Jayhawks.

Jerry Moore was the NTSU coach and we lost rather badly - and the Kansas fans were real asses to their visitors.

While it was not a pretty sight, the fans had a great time on the trip north and then roaming downtown Lawrence that Saturday night following the game while waiting for the 2 am arrival of what was the LAST Lone Star train going south. The train was eliminated from Amtrak's schedule the following day because of budget issues.

My group spent our evening at Paul Gray's Jazz Place. Great Jazz and it was the first place I had ever encountered INTELLECTUAL graffiti on the walls in the men's room - only Plato's and Aristotle's phone numbers found their way to the walls of that men's room.

GMG

[UNT90]

November game is over Thanksgiving weekend.

Tough sell

[tylermeangreen]

Tyler,

Less complicated for a Nov game in SA?

I wish i could say yes, but I don't think that is the case.

The UTSA game is on the 29th - Thanksgiving is the 27th.

The whole week of Thanksgiving is Amtrak's busiest time (at least for a concentrated period of time). Amtrak operates a lot of extra trains to carry Thanksgiving travelers and that always requires the use of any excess equipment capacity.

Honestly, I think having success in getting a deal with Amtrak would be far greater for the Texas game (what, Aug 30th) than for the UTSA game - And the Texas game would be difficult for the reasons I suggested in the earlier posting.

However, if there are those of you who are sufficiently interested in having dedicated Amtrak cars to either game, I again suggest that you contact Griff Hubbard at the Longview, Texas station. If it is at all possible, Griff can start the process to make it happen.

GMG

[UNT90]

I wish i could say yes, but I don't think that is the case.

The UTSA game is on the 29th - Thanksgiving is the 27th.

The whole week of Thanksgiving is Amtrak's busiest time (at least for a concentrated period of time). Amtrak operates a lot of extra trains to carry Thanksgiving travelers and that always requires the use of any excess equipment capacity.

Honestly, I think having success in getting a deal with Amtrak would be far greater for the Texas game (what, Aug 30th) than for the UTSA game - And the Texas game would be difficult for the reasons I suggested in the earlier posting.

However, if there are those of you who are sufficiently interested in having dedicated Amtrak cars to either game, I again suggest that you contact Griff Hubbard at the Longview, Texas station. If it is at all possible, Griff can start the process to make it happen.

GMG

This isn't something that can be done by a fan, this is something that needs to be done by the AD.

We shall see.

[ragpicker]

It is difficult to believe that Amtrak, given sufficient notice, would not gladly provide extra cars for an event like this. It a train, after all. not a stadium or theatre and cars can be added. Whether some part of the administration has the forethought, imagination or even the intelligence to pursue this or not, I will be disembarking at Austin station around six- thirty friday afternoon, fully refreshed following an afternoon nap and perhaps a few cold ones in the club car. I will be ready to rock and roll. For those of you who will be stuck in the traffic hell of 1-35 outside Austin following a tedious and dangerous four hour drive at that time, good luck and I will see you at the game. Oh, did I mention the ride home? I'll be snoozing and cruising. GO MEAN GREEN.

[SilverEagle]

It will take a lot of coordination, and luck, to pull this off.

Amtrak's Texas Eagle is packed during the summer months. On a normal train there would be little, if any, excess capacity to handle Mean Green fans for the trip to Austin and return.

For this to work Amtrak would have to allocate passenger coaches to deadhead from Chicago to Dallas/Ft. Worth to pick up Mean Green fans.

Since the trip would require fans to leave on Friday and return on Sunday, it would be necessary for Amtrak to disconnect the extra cars in San Antonio and put them in siding from Friday night until Sunday morning (since the Friday train would be returning to Chicago on Saturday morning), and then add the cars to Sunday morning's train north.

After our fans departed the train at Ft. Worth and Dallas, the cars would then have to be deadheaded back to Chicago.

An additional problem is Amtrak has a shortage of excess equipment, especially in the summer months when most of the extra equipment is added to its various trains to handle the summer crowds.

Amtrak might possibly be willing, but it would take a lot of coordination among a lot of entities for it to occur.

The Amtrak employee to contact to get this started is Griff Hubbard at the Longview, Texas station. Griff is the Revenue Manager for the Texas Eagle train (Chicago to Los Angeles) and would be able to help begin the process to pull this off - if it is possible to do so.

BTW, the last Mean Green Amtrak fan trip that I am aware of was in late September, 1979, when Mean Green fans, cheerleaders, and Scrappy boarded the Lone Star train at the old Sanger depot.

Amtrak had agreed to stop the train (Houston to Kansas City) in Sanger (Sanger was not a normal stop, but for Amtrak, and us, it was a simpler time) and load us for the trip to Lawrence, Kansas where the Mean Green played the Kansas Jayhawks.

Jerry Moore was the NTSU coach and we lost rather badly - and the Kansas fans were real asses to their visitors.

While it was not a pretty sight, the fans had a great time on the trip north and then roaming downtown Lawrence that Saturday night following the game while waiting for the 2 am arrival of what was the LAST Lone Star train going south. The train was eliminated from Amtrak's schedule the following day because of budget issues.

My group spent our evening at Paul Gray's Jazz Place. Great Jazz and it was the first place I had ever encountered INTELLECTUAL graffiti on the walls in the men's room - only Plato's and Aristotle's phone numbers found their way to the walls of that men's room.

GMG

You obviously have some inside information because of your friend in Longview. Back in 05 I made contact with the local (Ft Worth) person that coordinates "special" events. She indicated that arranging the extra car was not going to be as convoluted as you described. You know, I don't know this for sure, but I think they keep some extra rolling stock at the Ft Worth station for no other reason than to accommodate extra passengers who want to ride the heartland flyer from Ft Worth to Ok. City. I've observed that particular train with an extra car attached on more than one occasion.

Anyway, I stopped the conversation with the special events person with Amtrak when the game was re-scheduled for 11:00am. I couldn't imagine people wanting to spend the extra afternoon time, and evening time, in Austin before boarding the train the next morning. Especially since we were huge underdogs, and our coach at that time viewed those games as "go-through-the-motions-don't-get-anyone-hurt-and-pick-up-the-paycheck (off the night stand)-and-go-home".

[tylermeangreen]

You obviously have some inside information because of your friend in Longview. Back in 05 I made contact with the local (Ft Worth) person that coordinates "special" events. She indicated that arranging the extra car was not going to be as convoluted as you described. You know, I don't know this for sure, but I think they keep some extra rolling stock at the Ft Worth station for no other reason than to accommodate extra passengers who want to ride the heartland flyer from Ft Worth to Ok. City. I've observed that particular train with an extra car attached on more than one occasion.

Anyway, I stopped the conversation with the special events person with Amtrak when the game was re-scheduled for 11:00am. I couldn't imagine people wanting to spend the extra afternoon time, and evening time, in Austin before boarding the train the next morning. Especially since we were huge underdogs, and our coach at that time viewed those games as "go-through-the-motions-don't-get-anyone-hurt-and-pick-up-the-paycheck (off the night stand)-and-go-home".

I was just passing along what bit of expertise I have acquired, and no, it did not come from my "friend" in Longview - I have not spoken to Mr. Hubbard in years; but regardless, take the information or leave it.

Suggestion: Why don't you or ragpicker or someone else on the board - those with strong feelings that UNT fans can be accommodated via special equipment - follow up with the individual that I mentioned (as I said, he is the Revenue Manager for the Texas Eagle train) and see what you can work out - or the local person in Ft. Worth that you contacted before?

I would love to see it happen; as i said, great fun on the Mean Green Amtrak trip in '79.

BTW, one passenger coach holds about 80 passengers, so if the folks on this board are suggesting a large group going via Amtrak to Austin and back, one car is not going to help much.

Oh Silvereagle, you are right - there is often a passenger car, or sometimes two, sitting in Ft. Worth. It/they are used to "protect" the Texas Eagle and the Heartland Flyer (OKC to FTW) when there are service/mechanical problems with a car traveling on those trains.

[ragpicker]

The game is at 11;00 AM - In August? Are you sure? As Tessio said to Tom Hagen in Godfather 1, "This screws up all my plans".

[10Eagle10]

calm down there, triple post.

SilverEagle was referring to the '05 game in Austin being at 11AM

[SilverEagle]

Here is the summary about booking groups from the Amtrak website......

Group Travel Requests

• For parties of 20 or more passengers.
• Make travel requests at least four business days before departure.
• Group discounts may be available.

Make Your Group Travel Request Today»

Parties of 20 or more passengers traveling together can enjoy the benefits of traveling as a group. We can accommodate groups of hundreds depending on the train and time of year of travel.

Make Reservations Early

You must make reservation requests for your group at least four business days before departure. Book as early as possible for best fares and accommodations.

How Do I Book Group Reservations? Online

You can make a request for group travel using our online group travel form.

By Phone, Fax or E-mail

You can also call 1-800-USA-1GRP (1-800-872-1477), fax your request to 1-800-872-3298 or send an e-mail to the group travel department at groupsales@amtrak.com.

Riding the Train Seating and Sleeping Accommodations

We offer coach seating on all trains, and, on long-distance trains, a variety of sleeping accommodations.

Meal Choices

We also offer a varied menu with choices ranging from light snacks and sandwiches, to full meals in our long-distance dining cars. A variety of beverages and non-alcoholic beverages are also available, including a full bar selection on some trains.

Pre-boarding and Exclusive Occupancy

We can pre-board your group to add ease and comfort to the boarding process. We offer group seating and exclusive occupancy if your group is large enough to occupy an entire car.

Discounts

Groups may be eligible to receive discounts for each 20 paying passengers. The half-fare children's discounts may be applied to eligible members of the group. Discounts are not valid on all trains. Further restrictions may apply.

Group Leader and Chaperone Policy

We want you and your group to have fun and be safe. Please review these rules with the adult chaperones in your group and provide each of them with a copy of these guidelines.

Chaperones

A minimum of one designated chaperone is required for every six minors under the age of 18 aboard the train. Designated chaperones are adults specifically responsible and accountable for minors traveling on the train. Any adult traveling in connection with the group who is responsible for an infant will not be considered a designated chaperone. Chaperones are responsible for following all Group Leader and Chaperone Guidelines.

Station Arrival

Please call 1-800-USA-RAIL prior to leaving for the train station to make sure your train is on schedule.

Plan to arrive at the train station at least 60 minutes before your scheduled train departure. Your group will need to be ready to board as soon as the train pulls into the station. Some station stops are as little as two minutes. The trains cannot wait for late arriving groups or individuals.

• Present your ticket to the station staff or conductor.
• At staffed stations, identify yourself to the station staff to confirm boarding instructions.
• Identify your group to the conductor and follow his/her seating instructions. During your trip, feel free to contact onboard personnel for assistance.
• Group leaders and designated chaperones are responsible for the conduct and supervision of their group at all times during the field trip.
• Please remind your students to be considerate of the other passengers. Amtrak personnel cannot assist in the supervision of your group.
• Please use the trash and recycle bins and keep the area around your group clean and free of debris. Amtrak staff will provide extra trash bags for you to pick up your area before your group arrives at your destination.
• When your group exits the train, follow the conductor's instructions.
• Appoint one or two people to follow behind the group to check the seating areas and overhead bins for any items that may have been left behind.

We look forward to having you travel on Amtrak.

[tylermeangreen]

Here is the summary about booking groups from the Amtrak website......

Group Travel Requests

• For parties of 20 or more passengers.
• Make travel requests at least four business days before departure.
• Group discounts may be available.

Make Your Group Travel Request Today»

Parties of 20 or more passengers traveling together can enjoy the benefits of traveling as a group. We can accommodate groups of hundreds depending on the train and time of year of travel.

Make Reservations Early

You must make reservation requests for your group at least four business days before departure. Book as early as possible for best fares and accommodations.

How Do I Book Group Reservations? Online

You can make a request for group travel using our online group travel form.

By Phone, Fax or E-mail

You can also call 1-800-USA-1GRP (1-800-872-1477), fax your request to 1-800-872-3298 or send an e-mail to the group travel department at groupsales@amtrak.com.

Riding the Train Seating and Sleeping Accommodations

We offer coach seating on all trains, and, on long-distance trains, a variety of sleeping accommodations.

Meal Choices

We also offer a varied menu with choices ranging from light snacks and sandwiches, to full meals in our long-distance dining cars. A variety of beverages and non-alcoholic beverages are also available, including a full bar selection on some trains.

Pre-boarding and Exclusive Occupancy

We can pre-board your group to add ease and comfort to the boarding process. We offer group seating and exclusive occupancy if your group is large enough to occupy an entire car.

Discounts

Groups may be eligible to receive discounts for each 20 paying passengers. The half-fare children's discounts may be applied to eligible members of the group. Discounts are not valid on all trains. Further restrictions may apply.

Group Leader and Chaperone Policy

We want you and your group to have fun and be safe. Please review these rules with the adult chaperones in your group and provide each of them with a copy of these guidelines.

Chaperones

A minimum of one designated chaperone is required for every six minors under the age of 18 aboard the train. Designated chaperones are adults specifically responsible and accountable for minors traveling on the train. Any adult traveling in connection with the group who is responsible for an infant will not be considered a designated chaperone. Chaperones are responsible for following all Group Leader and Chaperone Guidelines.

Station Arrival

Please call 1-800-USA-RAIL prior to leaving for the train station to make sure your train is on schedule.

Plan to arrive at the train station at least 60 minutes before your scheduled train departure. Your group will need to be ready to board as soon as the train pulls into the station. Some station stops are as little as two minutes. The trains cannot wait for late arriving groups or individuals.

• Present your ticket to the station staff or conductor.
• At staffed stations, identify yourself to the station staff to confirm boarding instructions.
• Identify your group to the conductor and follow his/her seating instructions. During your trip, feel free to contact onboard personnel for assistance.
• Group leaders and designated chaperones are responsible for the conduct and supervision of their group at all times during the field trip.
• Please remind your students to be considerate of the other passengers. Amtrak personnel cannot assist in the supervision of your group.
• Please use the trash and recycle bins and keep the area around your group clean and free of debris. Amtrak staff will provide extra trash bags for you to pick up your area before your group arrives at your destination.
• When your group exits the train, follow the conductor's instructions.
• Appoint one or two people to follow behind the group to check the seating areas and overhead bins for any items that may have been left behind.

We look forward to having you travel on Amtrak.

Silver, I might point out that the following sentence from your copy-and-paste from the Amtrak website mirrors exactly the main point I have been making all along:

"We can accommodate groups of hundreds depending on the train and time of year of travel."

For what it is worth, my first posting and the subsequent postings, were just an attempt to help out the folks on the GMG board who were talking about getting a large group together to go to Austin via Amtrak. I gathered that such talk was suggesting several hundred people rather than 20 or so and given my little bit of expertise re: Amtrak, I just wanted the fans on here to know there are obstacles to getting this done on Amtrak.

Silver - go for it - take the reins and set us up to take what would probably be several hundred fans to Austin via Amtrak - I am looking forward to the fun - I will guarantee that my four folks will sign up to go - and I can probably come up with several more. I have spoken to several others on this board who are wanting to go if you can make the arrangements.

Again, a good place for you to start is the Revenue Manager for Amtrak's Texas Eagle, name and location mentioned in the prior postings...........I can assure you that if it can be done, he is the guy to talk to..............but your Ft. Worth contact from 2005 may be able to help you as well.

[ragpicker]

calm down there, triple post.

SilverEagle was referring to the '05 game in Austin being at 11AM

Sorry about the triple post, 10Eagle10, I'm not real proficient at this stuff. Thanks so much for the info though. I feel much better now.

[rws69]

Ordered two tickets yesterday. Will hold off on travel plans until game time is known. Ticket office does not yet know where UNT section will be, but said it will be open seating (no assigned seats) within that section.

[Moobs]

I've had friends from other schools tell me that it really shouldn't be hard to get a scalped ticket for $20-30 on gameday in Austin. They don't think much of us, so I don't think tickets will be hard to come by at all.

[eagle2014]

Remember that it is the first game of the Strong era though.

[Harry]

Yes -- this isn't going to be your typical UT opener -- this will be Strong's first game and there will be a lot of UT fans interested in seeing how his team plays. Not saying it will be a sell out but it could be close.

[All About UNT]

I've had friends from other schools tell me that it really shouldn't be hard to get a scalped ticket for $20-30 on gameday in Austin. They don't think much of us, so I don't think tickets will be hard to come by at all.

No offense Moobs but you guys took the cheaper way out for the HOD Bowl and sat on the 9/10 vacant opponents side.....$20-$30 gets you nosebleeds at UT and that was when people were giving up. I'm not heading all the way to Austin to watch the game through binoculars with t-shirt alumni standing around me.

[UNT 90 Grad]

No offense Moobs but you guys took the cheaper way out for the HOD Bowl and sat on the 9/10 vacant opponents side.....$20-$30 gets you nosebleeds at UT and that was when people were giving up. I'm not heading all the way to Austin to watch the game through binoculars with t-shirt alumni standing around me.

Plus you'll be sitting amongst UT fans instead of fellow Mean Green faithful.

[tylermeangreen]

Amtrak leaves Fort Worth at 2:10pm on the 29th of August and arrives in Austin at 6:22pm

Return trip, leaves Austin Sunday morning 9:31 and arrives in Fort Worth at 1:58

$28 each way.

Bus to substitute for portion of ‘Texas Eagle’ route for two months

Published: June 26, 2014

FORT WORTH, Texas – Due to track improvements being performed by Union Pacific and BNSF Railway, Amtrak’s Texas Eagle will not operate between Fort Worth and San Antonio for two months between July 4 and Sept. 3. Buses will substitute for the train at the Cleburne, McGregor, Temple, Taylor, Austin, and San Marcos stops.

http://trn.trains.com/Railroad%20News/News%20Wire/2014/06/Bus%20to%20substitute%20for%20portion%20of%20Texas%20Eagle%20route%20for%20two%20months.aspx

[vpackrats]

Man, I gotta call B.S. on UT for ripping people off on this shit. I did a double-take on the $100 ticket price because I'd never seen anything that crazy in all our years of going to the big "body bag" game on our schedule. For anyone who thinks this price is remotely close to prior years, um, no. Because I am a packrat (like the namesake I guess), here's the price on the ticket stubs for sitting in the UNT crowd for the previous 3 years of big games:

Alabama 7/17/11 Section MM $45.00

LSU 7/1/12 Section 612 $40.00

Georgia 7/21/13 Section 101 $45.00

Texas 8/30/14 $100.00

yeah, um, one of these #'s is out of line? Anyone want to take a wild-ass guess at which one it is? But, hey, I get it. Texas is Texas and ticket prices at bottom-feeder schools like Alabama, LSU & Georgia should be cheaper. Besides, everyone knows the SEC is a weak conference.

[Ben Gooding]

Yeah, I'm seriously contemplating driving down and scalping a couple tickets. I think $200 for my wife and I to watch a game such as this (COULD be ugly) isn't worth it to me. I'll scalp a couple tickets for a $100 and sit wherever I end up.

[10Eagle10]

Since yesterday (or Monday) was the last day to buy from the North Texas official allotment, I think...

and this thread was recently bumped...

it looks like prices on the secondary market have been coming down since late-April, when this thread was started. Tickets can be had for as low as $38, in the end zone nose bleeds, to the $60s-80s in section 31, which I've been guessing section 32 for the North Texas section (can anyone confirm this?)

If you want to sit on the visitor's sideline, but think $80/ticket is still a bit pricey, there are some to be found in the $60s on the second deck of the visitor's side (which might actually be a slightly better view than section 32).

StubHub and TicketCity offer electronic tickets, so they'll be in hand as soon as you purchase. I'm looking forward to having a big pool of green there in Austin on Aug. 30, so I don't care how you get there - just get there

GMG

http://www.ticketcity.com/austin-tickets/north-texas-mean-green-at-texas-longhorns-aug-30-2014-1123667.html

http://www.stubhub.com/university-of-texas-football-tickets/texas-vs-north-texas-8-30-2014-4456332/

http://www.vividseats.com/ncaaf/texas-longhorns-tickets/texas-vs-north-texas-8-30-1514228.html

http://www.ticketnetwork.com/tix/texas-longhorns-vs-north-texas-mean-green-football-08-30-2014-tickets-2227433.aspx

[Ben Gooding]

Good post. People need to take advantage of the cheaper tickets. Or just go ticketless and try to scalp. Or just go and tailgate. Just go.

[greenjoe]

I guess going is the most important thing, but to have a solid Mean Green section seems to show how committed we are to North Texas. the fewer splashes of orange we see in "our" section the better I'll like it..

Beat Texas

OO MEAN GREEN

[THOR]

I'm a decent fan but no way am I going...not a fan of crowds...yall raise some hell!