North Texas Football: New rules, same atmosphere

Harry · July 20, 2014

Kevin Sparkman stakes out a spot near the gates at Apogee Stadium each Saturday during football season, searching for that little edge that might mean enjoying a better view at kickoff.

Once Apogees gates swing open, the North Texas senior races with the most enthusiastic of his fellow students to reach the best spots in the open-seating student section, just a few yards behind the visitors bench on the east side of the stadium.

Thats where Sparkman cheered for UNT during a key goal-line stand in a win over Rice last fall and felt like he had an impact on games all season.

Sparkman and his fellow students will have to cheer a bit louder to have that same feeling again this fall, when a change in seating policy will make their sprint to the student section shorter and the seats they claim a little farther from the prime spot near the 50-yard line.

Conference USA rules dictate that the seats behind the visitors bench be reserved for anyone other than students like Sparkman because they often create a hostile environment for opposing teams.

Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20140719-football-new-rules-same-atmosphere.ece

DeepGreen · July 20, 2014

"Ticket manager A.J. Tomeny said UNT often struggles to reach its recent graduates because the school does not have contact information for many of those newly minted alumni."

Still a problem that just can't be solved. Unbelievable.

Keith7 · July 20, 2014

"Ticket manager A.J. Tomeny said UNT often struggles to reach its recent graduates because the school does not have contact information for many of those newly minted alumni."
Still a problem that just can't be solved. Unbelievable.

This is strange. I get calls asking for donations that would suggest otherwise.

Harry · July 20, 2014

Good write-up. Neat to see some of our board members participating. I think it very encouraging to see our younger fans show such a passion for the Mean Green.

DeepGreen · July 20, 2014

This is strange. I get calls asking for donations that would suggest otherwise.

Donations specifically to Athletics?

Keith7 · July 20, 2014

Donations specifically to Athletics?

Nope to the school of journalism but someone at the university has my information.

NorthTexan95 · July 20, 2014

Sounds like RV did a great job in getting the conference to dramatically reduce the number of seats in this "no student" section.

MeanGreenD · July 20, 2014

Dang, HeadhUNTer aka Optimus Dime aka Kevin is big time. Glad he'll be one of the ones in this section. Enjoy not having to sprint to your seat sir!

Christopher Walker · July 20, 2014

https://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/put-loud-fans-in-the-young-alumni-section

I reiterate: any donation toward the CrowdTilt is a good donation. For anyone looking to help make this campaign work, seeing that it is being actively contributed to by many others goes a loooooooong way.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Christopher Walker

outoftown · July 20, 2014

good piece by vito. Lets hope it gives some extra live to the crowdtilt drive.

jdennis82 · July 20, 2014

"Ticket manager A.J. Tomeny said UNT often struggles to reach its recent graduates because the school does not have contact information for many of those newly minted alumni."
Still a problem that just can't be solved. Unbelievable.

This amazes me as well.

We're, at the least, scanning IDs as students enter games or get their tickets, correct? Is this data being thrown away?

This article about the SEC studying pro soccer to solve attendance concerns was pretty interesting...

At a time when some colleges don't keep records on student attendance, Sporting KC collects data on everyone from season-ticket holders to single-game buyers through Sporting Innovations technology, which they offer to college clients. They now have close to 250,000 profiles of fans who have attended games, Heineman said, with information as detailed as when, where and how they bought tickets, what time they arrived at games and who they sat near.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/why-college-football-is-studying-major-league-soccer-1405556573

Time to get with the program.

Based on his expressed goals, I'm hopeful new Head of Development John Nitardy is the right guy to bring improvement to the department.

Eastwood Eagle · July 20, 2014

This is strange. I get calls asking for donations that would suggest otherwise.

I don't; neither does my GF. Class of 2012 and 2011 respectively.

Keith7 · July 20, 2014

I don't; neither does my GF. Class of 2012 and 2011 respectively.

That's odd. My ex (georgraphy major) and I both graduated in 2009 and we were hounded by calls only months after crossing the stage.

GMG24 · July 20, 2014

I graduated May 2013 never got one call or letter. Wife graduated spring 2012 she got a letter about alumni association and that was it.

greenminer · July 20, 2014

They made some rules for Apogee because of our atmosphere, and then follow up with an article about the rules to say the atmosphere is the same....?

CMJ · July 20, 2014

I get stuff from UNT on a monthly bases...at least.

Though somewhere along the line I received an honorary doctorate. No matter how many people i talk to, 80% of the mail I receive from NT is to "Dr. Courtland Jindra." It always cracks me up.

UNTFan23 · July 21, 2014

Wow, so the rule originally would have taken away 750 seats. I wonder if RV offered to put visiting fans in front of the students in order to help get the number down to what it is now. That or tell the conference it's on them when there is this huge empty space on TV behind the visiting bench.

trud1966 · July 21, 2014

So I have a couple of questions.....

1. Do other conferences have this rule also?

2. What happens when we play an OOC game, either at home or away, and the other conference doesn't have this rule? (Assuming they don't...)

Edited July 21, 2014 by trud1966

Cerebus · July 21, 2014

Alumni data is usually tracked by individual colleges within the University, some do a good job contacting, others don't. Nobody shares any of this info because they don't want people talking to their possible targets.

It's shortsighted and archaic and the University finally seems to be doing something about it. This being an enormous bureaucracy it will take a while to implement, but there should be a single source that tracks everyone from initial application to graduation within... five years?

At least it's been started, this has been a problem for decades, and started as an actual decision NOT to collect alumni data because they didn't want them to have undue influence over curriculum.

Aldo · July 21, 2014

New rule: No talking at football games. It's too distracting for the players.

Christopher Walker · July 21, 2014

Alumni data is usually tracked by individual colleges within the University, some do a good job contacting, others don't. Nobody shares any of this info because they don't want people talking to their possible targets.

It's shortsighted and archaic and the University finally seems to be doing something about it. This being an enormous bureaucracy it will take a while to implement, but there should be a single source that tracks everyone from initial application to graduation within... five years?

At least it's been started, this has been a problem for decades, and started as an actual decision NOT to collect alumni data because they didn't want them to have undue influence over curriculum.

Dat Raiser's Edge, bro.

Brett Vito · July 21, 2014

Here ya go, Trud1966

http://www.dentonrc.com/sports/colleges/north-texas-headlines/20140719-football-new-rules-same-atmosphere.ece

"The Sun Belt, where UNT spent 12 seasons before moving to C-USA in 2013, did not have a rule prohibiting students from sitting behind the opponent’s bench, but several conferences have similar restrictions on student seating."