How to get attendance up this year

[marc_moffitt]

With the season only a few weeks away, there has only ben limited mentioning of the BBall program that I am aware of.

The program must be promoted on campus, and excitement must be generated.

If nothing else, tailgating, rediculous levels of noise, and heckeling, should be encouraged, as well as outfits that will make SportsCenter Top 10.

The Super Pit needs to obtain a reputation as being a very difficult place to play if you are an opposing team, specifically due to the level of "disrespect" that visiting teams receive from the fans.

I'm rambling now...

[MeanGreenBuzz]

With the season only a few weeks away, there has only ben limited mentioning of the BBall program that I am aware of.

The program must be promoted on campus, and excitement must be generated.

If nothing else, tailgating, rediculous levels of noise, and heckeling, should be encouraged, as well as outfits that will make SportsCenter Top 10.

The Super Pit needs to obtain a reputation as being a very difficult place to play if you are an opposing team, specifically due to the level of "disrespect" that visiting teams receive from the fans.

I'm rambling now...

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We know that, but the school doesn't. They killed, chopped into little pieces, and then buried in Abudabi the first student led spirit organization that really had the potential to be something great in the pit and that was really building momentum with fans.

[THOR]

We know that, but the school doesn't.  They killed, chopped into little pieces, and then buried in Abudabi the first student led spirit organization that really had the potential to be something great in the pit and that was really building momentum with fans.

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what did they do to kill it off?

[UNT_92_Fan]

Kill off is a tough word...

But i do know that there were alot of things that lead to the 'demise' of the group...

I dont wanna bring up all the sides of it because it owuld piss alot of folks on this board...

As far as the AD...when Gak, Dub, Strange, and myself decided to put it in motion and Gak led the way, they were very optimistic and helpful and we got our shirts and that was basically it. Jamie Adams was always a very helpful hand in it and i dont want him to think if he reads this we weren't grateful for HIS help...but it basically stopped there..

Pit Crew was AMAZING when it was what it was....But its real hard for a group of full time students pulling part time jobs to pay rent to fund something like that...so it died off...

REMEMBER THE TCU GAME!!!! WOW!

[UNT_92_Fan]

As Far as getting attendance off...before the thread went on it other direction...

Face it...Football is king and its hard to get people out to basketball games...The mavs camp enthused alot of student...BUT its gonna take some effort from us...

The AD does its thing when it comes to basketball but honestly WE as ALUMNI and STUDENTS need to get off our butts just promote the HELL out of this team...This year the team is shaped up for a good run hopefully...I said that last year but i see better things this year.

I am willing to donate some money and donate as much time as i need to the BASKETBALL Program.... I appreciate the things this baord does but when we can raise enough money to re-boot a program or upgrade or whatever but yet the Pit crew's out of pocket cost for TCU's pre-game rally were outrageous (Thanks for the donations we did recieve by the way) it shows somethings about the backing...

That topic is what i avoided in the previous post but eff it..ban me or flame me if you dont agree...

We tried to raise money and MANY people did donate and it was appreciated...but when we still (mainly Gak) had to front something like 250 bucks (dont quote me) for the things the people ON THIS BOARD ask for at the basketball games its alittle ridiculous. If it were a football related event, it would have ended up fully funded and then the extra money would have taken everyone to dinner at saltgrass afterwards. But some struggling college guys wanna change something and it takes begging basically to get most of it covered. Enough on that though...i am sure i have pissed enough people off...

Sorry....

But i only speak truths...

Flame on....

Let's get together and amke something special happen...even if it is just Myself Buzz and Marc....I am down! MrStrange, you can come toooo....bring your green hat!

[gksmith]

The biggest thing to do to increase attendance is to put a winning product on the floor.

Gimics and givaways are nice, but ultimately people are there to watch the game.

Edited October 31, 2006 by gksmith

[CMJ]

Agreed if we started winning consistently the SuperPit could be pretty full most nights. Even against Sunbelt competition. In those glory years of Hayden Fry they had a hard time filling Fouts, but the Colesium was nearly full all the time(though I think they only actually sold it out twice against Depaul and SMU) because Blakely's teams WON.

[e-bone ver2.awesome]

I have a dream that someday the athletic department will fully support basketball and go out and promote the games(EVERY game, not just one or two). It is truly sad that the best promotion for basketball since I have been going to games was put together by a few students. They had the heart and want-to to actually do something, and apparently the AD does not. I'm scared to find out the attendance for games against Bellhaven and the like.

But in response to recieving funding from people on the board for something for basketball, just post on the football board that you are trying to build a sand pit for the football players and the pledges of time and money will roll in.

To the Talons on the board: what plans are being made for the basketball season?

[CMJ]

As a Talon alum - I too would like to know that. Though I must say I went to more than a few games in my years where the Talon section would be 5 or less.

[MeanGreenBuzz]

As a Talon alum - I too would like to know that.  Though I must say I went to more than a few games in my years where the Talon section would be 5 or less. 

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You mean like last year? There were games I didn't see a single Talon or their banner...

[CMJ]

You mean like last year?  There were games I didn't see a single Talon or their banner...

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Well, I wouldn't know - seeing as how I haven't been to a game since 2001. Hard to fly in from Los Angeles, ya know?

But that sounds disheartening.

[Bryan316]

You mean like last year?  There were games I didn't see a single Talon or their banner...

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Before or after Christmas break? If it's before, then you're right, and it's been talked about on here already. If it was during the Spring semester, then I don't know what to say other than look behind the opponent's bench. There were many games when the section under the couch was either underpopulated or empty. It was prevalent at the women's games and a large part of the Thursday men's games.

[Buford_Julep]

Agreed if we started winning consistently the SuperPit could be pretty full most nights.  Even against Sunbelt competition.  In those glory years of Hayden Fry they had a hard time filling Fouts, but the Colesium was nearly full all the time(though I think they only actually sold it out twice against Depaul and SMU) because Blakely's teams WON.

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Today, winning is not enough. The modern NT fan also demands a strong home schedule.

Imagine the whining if there was a repeat of Blakely's 75-76 home schedule :

Texas A&I

Tarleton State

Sam Houston State

Arizona State

UTA

Virginia Commonwealth

Austin College

Wisconsin-Parkside

New Orleans

Southwest Louisiana

Trinity

Bradley

West Texas State

[Green Lantern]

The biggest thing to do to increase attendance is to put a winning product on the floor.

Gimics and givaways are nice, but ultimately people are there to watch the game.

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That's the biggest thing with NT basketball. We have to win more consistently. It's tough at the begining of the basketball season for attendance because of the Holiday season and the fact that football is still top of mind for most fans. In years past, we've been rearing up to go the New Orleans Bowl (not like that's going to be a problem this year) and people are just not into hoops at that point. Sad but true.

This year is different. Football is terrible for the second year in a row and NT has a very favorable schedule this year in BB in order to make some noise early. They have (on paper) the best team under JJ, so they must make the most of it and win as many early games as possible.

People will show up to the pit to see a winning product. In JJ's first year when he was winning a bunch of games towards the end of the year, the Pit had several games of 3, 000+ in attendance. That was to see a team that was around .500 that year.

We just need some consistency with the winning...especially at home and I think people will be plesantly surprised by the turnout. NT fans want something to hang their hat on and since football has "spit the bit", Basketball has a chance to really capatilize on that.

[gksmith]

A good schedule against winnable games will help in the future.

Not a lot of people want to see NT play some small 1-AA school. This years schedule is lightly sprinkled with those. I like the Indiana game a few years ago (though it was mostly UI people at the game ) and NT has scheduled tu and Texas Tech in the past. I would like to see those games gradually make it back on the schedule.

This is how you fund the basketball program...as opposed to the "paycheck games" (bodybag games, et al...what ever you want to call the NT vs. tu game this year for example). You play programs that are only slightly better then yours and hang with them. So I don't see a point in scheduling Kansas, Ohio State, Duke, North Carolina, UConn, et all any time soon.

[mwynn05]

A good schedule against winnable games will help in the future.

Not a lot of people want to see NT play some small 1-AA school. This years schedule is lightly sprinkled with those. I like the Indiana game a few years ago (though it was mostly UI people at the game    ) and NT has scheduled tu and Texas Tech in the past. I would like to see those games gradually make it back on the schedule.

This is how you fund the basketball program...as opposed to the "paycheck games" (bodybag games, et al...what ever you want to call the NT vs. tu game this year for example). You play programs that are only slightly better then yours and hang with them. So I don't see a point in scheduling Kansas, Ohio State, Duke, North Carolina, UConn, et all any time soon.

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Indiana only played here because of Bracey Wright....They told him they would get him a game close to home and thats what they did

Edited November 1, 2006 by mwynn05

[GrandGreen]

Agreed if we started winning consistently the SuperPit could be pretty full most nights.  Even against Sunbelt competition.  In those glory years of Hayden Fry they had a hard time filling Fouts, but the Colesium was nearly full all the time(though I think they only actually sold it out twice against Depaul and SMU) because Blakely's teams WON.

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This is a myth I continue to see stated. There has only been one sale out, SMU and no team in the Superpit has ever averaged over 4500 for a year. Having said that I can't believe how far the student attendence has dropped through the years. Even mediore NT teams in the Southland were better supported then the teams in recent years.

[CMJ]

This is a myth I continue to see stated.  There has only been one sale out, SMU and no team in the Superpit has ever averaged over 4500 for a year.  Having said that I can't believe how far the student attendence has dropped through the years.  Even mediore NT teams in the Southland were better supported then the teams in recent years.

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Hey, I'm just repeating what my folks told me(they were in school in the mid to late 70's). I'm sure their memories may have been generous thru the years, but I do know they have told me other stories that have been verified by other sources. In other words, they could very well be wrong, but I had no reason to think they were lying to me.

Hell Mom was the basketball beat writer for the Daily for around 6 months. She actually talked to Blakely within minutes after he found out that neither the NCAA or NIT invited us.

BTW - Mom went into labor with my brother at the SMU basketball game in January of 1977 and didn't leave till halftime, so you can't say she wasn't dedicated.

[GrandGreen]

Hey, I'm just repeating what my folks told me(they were in school in the mid to late 70's).  I'm sure their memories may have been generous thru the years, but I do know they have told me other stories that have been verified by other sources.  In other words, they could very well be wrong, but I had no reason to think they were lying to me.   

Hell Mom was the basketball beat writer for the Daily for around 6 months.  She actually talked to Blakely within minutes after he found out that neither the NCAA or NIT invited us.

BTW - Mom went into labor with my brother at the SMU basketball game in January of 1977 and didn't leave till halftime, so you can't say she wasn't dedicated. 

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No only did Blakely's teams not average anywhere remotely close to sell-outs, there was probably more concern about poor attendence expressed then today. Three straight 20+ win years and never averaged half of the pit being full. By the way I attended most if not all the games in the Blakely years. One of the attendence problems was that NT was an independent and played a very weak schedule.

The major reason that the SMU game was a sell out was a major article in the Dallas Paper about SMU's coach Sonny Allen refusing to play NT in the future titled "What Makes Sonny Run". This fired up the NT faithful and created NT's only Super Pit sell out.

Edited November 1, 2006 by GrandGreen

[CMJ]

Yeah, the no conference affiliation is something Mom never completely forgave Fry for.

How close were we to a sellout when DePaul came calling? That was near the end of Ray Meyer's career and he was a living legend by that point. The story I was told was he got some sort of standing ovation from the SuperPit crowd, and though Blakely understood, he was not happy about it.

At all.

[marc_moffitt]

Who has contacts within Talons??

[CMJ]

I'm pretty sure Bryan316 is IN Talons.

[GrandGreen]

Yeah, the no conference affiliation is something Mom never completely forgave Fry for.

How close were we to a sellout when DePaul came calling?  That was near the end of Ray Meyer's career and he was a living legend by that point.  The story I was told was he got some sort of standing ovation from the SuperPit crowd, and though Blakely understood, he was not happy about it.

At all.

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I don't remember any standing o for Meyer, but there could have been. Do remember Kenneth Lyons elbowing Mark Aguirre and knocking him all the way into the NT bench. Almost starting a brawl as Terry Commings quickly came to Mark's aid. Crowd was in the 8,000 range and it was a closer game than most expected as the NT team was not very good.

Blakely was a fun coach and played an exciting brand of basketball. However, he inherited probably the best recruiting class ever at NT thinks to Gene Robbins and Billy Tubbs and after they graduated he was basically a .500 coach.

[utamav91]

someone mentioned Southland teams...Lamar plays in a beautiful 10,000 seat arena down there and they average like 3000 a game. Not bad.

Meanwhile, our Mavs average a little under 1000 a game (the spring semester games vs. conference rivals draw about 1100-1500 if the team is playing well)

Would love to see the long-rumored new arena replace Texas Hall and see if our attendance goes up. I think winning and playing local rivals solves a lot of attendance problems--remember back in the 70s and 80s North Texas would come to Arlington and we'd have a full house of 3200. And when we won 20 games in a couple of different seasons, 2000 a game with a few sellouts was pretty common.

[good_ken]

Here's an idea for increased attendance that I stole:

Step 1: In each of the contests, especially the early one, score more points than the opponent.

Step 2: Repeat

Step 1 is especially crucial in important games, such as the first round of teh conference tournament.

This magic formula has been proven to work, especially over long periods of time (winning three OOC games against Cameron isn't going to cut it).