Sun Belt Talking Points

MeanGreen61 · July 25, 2007

Posted on the muts board by SpaceRaider.

> Posted by Ted Hutton at 9:35 AM

Well, the Sun Belt kicked off the football season with its media days Monday and Tuesday in New Orleans.

The ADs met Monday, and here is the talking points list they were given by commish Wright Waters:

BELT ON RISE

1 - We are closing the gap on other conferences. Case in point: we went 4-3 against CUSA in football including the New Orleans Bowl win, and we had 2 teams in NCAA Men’s Basketball post-season play while they had 1 (only Memphis). CUSA did not have anyone in the NIT. Even more dramatic in women’s basketball CUSA – 1 in NCAA, 1 in WNIT. SBC 2 in NCAA, 2 in WNIT.

2 - Our television exposure continues to increase – this year we will have 4 regular season football games on ESPN2, the most in the conference’s seven year history of football. Our regional network continues to expand, and we will have at least 30 football games reaching over 20 million homes. We also had a 6-week baseball/softball live television package last year for the first time and our web casts continue to improve in both number and quality.

3 - We have had two teams in a bowl game in two of the last three years, and we are currently exploring the possibility of a second guaranteed bowl game.

4 - We are achieving success on the field while also doing it the right way in the classroom. Nearly 1,500 Sun Belt student-athletes were honored for achieving a grade point average of 3.0 or better in 2006-2007. Furthermore, Sun Belt schools combined to have more than 650 student-athletes land on the Commissioner's List, which honors all student-athletes recording a 3.5 GPA or better. Also, 12 member schools are currently graduating its student athletes at a rate higher than their school’s student body.

5 - Facility improvement in football either has occurred or will occur on every campus:

ASU, ULM, and MTSU – have installed state of the art synthetic playing surface

FAU – future includes a new stadium

FIU – will be in a new stadium in 2008

ULL – have new indoor practice facility, only the second one in the state of Louisiana

North Texas – new athletic offices and plans for renovation of football stadium

Troy – state of the art stadium completed a few years ago raised the bar for everyone

WKU – major stadium renovations under way

6 - Home Games in 2007 against Memphis, SMU, Minnesota, South Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Tulsa, Virginia, Navy, Oklahoma State (every major conference except SEC, Pac 10, MWC, WAC)

7 - WKU enters the league giving everyone 4 home and 4 away every year in 2009. WKU playing IA football enhances rivalries in other sports.

8 - Attendance shows huge improvement: 2001 - 4 schools fewer than 10K average attendance. In 2006 - 4 schools over 20Kin average attendance. Average up 5K from 2001.

MORE MARKETING

I did talk with The Suit earlier this week. He didn't have the numbers with him, but said season ticket sales are up over last year, boosted by the tie-in with the UF game. (Tickets to the game in Gainesville will only be made available to season ticket holders).

Angelos also said FAU will be working with an ad agency this season to try and boost sales.

"We are trying to convert awareness into action, into having people buy tickets and show up at the games. This will add to our repertoire, and give us more of an advertising campaign than we have it the past," Angelos said.

We'll see. FAU has a history of ticket sales initiatives that have failed to translate into butts in seats. With Minnesota and South Florida coming to town, in addition to Belt foes, this is the most attractive home schedule ever for the Owls and should hopefully make it an easier sell.

Later...

Daddy Dumpsalot · July 25, 2007

BOOOO

PHSCoach · July 25, 2007

Posted on the muts board by SpaceRaider.
Sun Belt Talking Points
> Posted by Ted Hutton at 9:35 AM
North Texas – new athletic offices and plans for renovation of football stadium

Renovation????????

greenminer · July 25, 2007

nah too much

Edited July 25, 2007 by greenminer

Cerebus · July 25, 2007

Renovation????????

Interesting.

Let me head off a few things at the pass:

TXDOT is not going to ride in and hand us a new stadium. Any I35 expansion may come close to the Dillo, but it wont get near enough to Fouts for the state to even consider handing us any money.

You can't lower the stands. You can't dig down where the track is now to add stands. The cost of moving the stands would be better spent, if we raised it, on seeding a new stadium fund.

Bathroom/concourse upgrades would be a good idea. but only if you are giving up on getting a new stadium in the near future.

UNTflyer · July 26, 2007

Renovation????????

Yup... two public statements in 24 hours that indicate that a new stadium is NOT going to happen.

Maybe if we had continued our Sun Belt dominance in 2005 and 2006, things would have been different.

greenminer · July 26, 2007

My initial thought was WW has been misinformed. I'm not saying that's the case. Do we know where he got his info?

NT80 · July 26, 2007

Interesting.
Let me head off a few things at the pass:
TXDOT is not going to ride in and hand us a new stadium. Any I35 expansion may come close to the Dillo, but it wont get near enough to Fouts for the state to even consider handing us any money.
You can't lower the stands. You can't dig down where the track is now to add stands. The cost of moving the stands would be better spent, if we raised it, on seeding a new stadium fund.
Bathroom/concourse upgrades would be a good idea. but only if you are giving up on getting a new stadium in the near future.

I believe the I35E expansion plans are already in ink and the new access road only take a few yards away from Fouts' west parking, no structure loss = no major $ gained. Fouts has plumbing, electrical, and structural needs and a major renovation of that would be a waste compared to the cost of building new at Eagle Point. There is a new football locker room at the AC and terrace balcony that was built with the intention of a future stadium being there.

UNTLifer · July 26, 2007

Yup... two public statements in 24 hours that indicate that a new stadium is NOT going to happen.
Maybe if we had continued our Sun Belt dominance in 2005 and 2006, things would have been different.

Good Lord. No wonder RV cancelled the quarterly meetings and never posts on here. It amazes me what some people can make out of one comment they read in the paper.

UNTflyer · July 26, 2007

Good Lord. No wonder RV cancelled the quarterly meetings and never posts on here. It amazes me what some people can make out of one comment they read in the paper.

This wasn't meant as a shot at RV. But you can't deny that in a span of 24 hours there have been two public statements that indicate that the stadium isn't going to be built anytime soon.

LoveMG · July 26, 2007

Good Lord. No wonder RV cancelled the quarterly meetings and never posts on here. It amazes me what some people can make out of one comment they read in the paper.

maybe if he actually commented to fans first instead of newspapers the fans would not be so surprised at events they read about?

UNTLifer · July 26, 2007

No, I won't agree. I would attribute Waters statement to being uninformed and RV's recent statements as a "bag of nothing." RV was non-commital, vague, etc... in his responses. North Texas has never said it was going to renovate Fouts, never, ever. When RV arrived there were plans to move the athletic offices/locker rooms/training rooms to the physical plant building over near the intramural fields, but when Eagle Point came available those plans were trashed.

Facts:

NT has a new athletic center.

NT has a new tennis center.

NT has a new softball complex

NT has a new dining hall/dorm at the A/C

NT has new seats, scoreboards and flooring in the Super Pit.

NT has renovated Fouts with new turf, scoreboard, paint, signage and expanded deck.

NT has renovated the old Liberty Christian football stadium in to our soccer stadium.

NT has renovated the old Liberty Christian gym into our volleyball facility.

NT has renovated the old Liberty Christian campus to include offices, locker rooms, study halls and indoor practice facilities for women's sports and golf.

Please quit reading more into every statement someone makes regarding NT athletics.