2010 Attendance Thread

ColoradoEagle · December 4, 2010

Looks like we're back on track in climbing attendance year over year if all else remains the same. It's a wonder what a better home schedule can do for you. :rolleyes:

I averaged the last two seasons' games between the second week in December and the last of the year and combined them with the five games already played to get the projected.

2005: 2,322
2006: 2,146
2007: 2,067
2008: 3,367
2009: 3,004
2010: 2,716
2011: 3,268*

*Projected

Looks like we're about on track to match 2008. It would be great if this turns out to be way off by the end of the season and we come out in full force for every conference game. I would be ecstatic if we could finally make it over the 4,000 hump.

The athletic department should really consider making the Arkansas State game a "Pack the Pit" event. Sell that thing out for once.

Edited December 4, 2010 by ColoradoEagle

CMJ · December 4, 2010

Looks like we're back on track in climbing attendance year over year if all else remains the same. It's a wonder what a better home schedule can do for you.

I averaged the last two seasons' games between the second week in December and the last of the year and combined them with the five games already played to get the projected.

2005: 2,146
2006: 2,067
2007: 3,178
2008: 2,997
2009: 3,004
2010: 2,716
2011: 3,268*
*Projected

Still could be better, especially if we had good marketing, but JJ's teams winning and decent scheduling looks like they will bump us over 1k higher attendance per game than we were in the '04-'05 season and up 500 from last year. On the other hand, it would be great if this turns out to be way off by the end of the season and we come out in full force for every conference game. I would be ecstatic if we could finally make it over the 4,000 hump.

The athletic department should really consider making the Arkansas State game a "Pack the Pit" event. Sell that thing out for once.

The 2007-2008 season had Oklahoma State - I remember thinking at the time it was our highest attended year in several. By the same token, our conference title year the previous year I don't believe we broke 3K. I am nearly certain you switched years somewhere or something.

EDIT: Just did a quick average of the '08 season and got the average to be 3119. I am wondering if you counted the first round of the SBC tournament (which was a home game) in your average. We had 4631 at that game, so I think that could be the difference.

DOUBLE EDIT: When I calculated the 2006-2007 season I got 2067. Since you got that for the 2005-2006 season I am wondering where and how you got off on the calculations.

Edited December 4, 2010 by CMJ

UNTflyer · December 4, 2010

Here's what I have so far:

Opponent Attendance

Henderson State 3245

Texas Tech 7105

Rice 3453

UTA 2652

Grambling 2446

Total 18901

Average 3780.2

KRAM1 · December 4, 2010

Sort of blows a hole right in that theory of "all you need to do is win and the fans will show up", doesn't it? When a "Christmas lighting on the square" is the reason there are so few fans at a BB game for a university with over 37,000 students (who some here have said they can't come because they are studying) and a community with close to or just over 100,000 (including students), well it pretty much points out the need for some marketing and promotions work, doesn't it? It's really hard to sell even as good a product as UNT basketball when you don't do anything in the way of marketing and/or promotions.

Oh, well, there are folks on the board who think UNT does all it can and has a great staff (I'll give you the "great staff" as far as personnel are concerned), but is that "great staff" actually charged with marketing and promotions or held in any way accountable as most folks are in their job duties and responsibilities? Is there a marketing/promotions budget centered around basketball? I really have no clue, but based on what I have seen and the effort made, I would say "no".

Maybe attendance is really pretty good considering that even the athletic dept. is doing a good job of keeping it a secret from the public.

OK, pound away, but I get more info on Denton HS, Guyer HS and Ryan HS sports activities (I am not talking about game reports here but rather pre-game news, events, etc.) locally than I do UNT. Jump on my case if you will for pointing out the obvious, but facts are facts.

If we want to keep JJ as UNT's head coach, there definitely needs to be a change in attitude around here to help bring rears into the seats at the Super Pit. JJ has done his job, the players have done their job, but the athletic department is lacking as are in the fans in "doing their part".

greenminer · December 4, 2010

Another chicken-egg argument

Marketing helps

Winning helps

Being a pro-active as a fan base helps

Pie helps

Not one single item listed is going to work by itself. They all go hand in hand.

Losing certainly hurts, though.

ColoradoEagle · December 4, 2010

The 2007-2008 season had Oklahoma State - I remember thinking at the time it was our highest attended year in several. By the same token, our conference title year the previous year I don't believe we broke 3K. I am nearly certain you switched years somewhere or something.

EDIT: Just did a quick average of the '08 season and got the average to be 3119. I am wondering if you counted the first round of the SBC tournament (which was a home game) in your average. We had 4631 at that game, so I think that could be the difference.

DOUBLE EDIT: When I calculated the 2006-2007 season I got 2067. Since you got that for the 2005-2006 season I am wondering where and how you got off on the calculations.

I went back and recalculated everything. I was probably still a little under the influence when I made the original post.

ColoradoEagle · December 4, 2010

Sort of blows a hole right in that theory of "all you need to do is win and the fans will show up", doesn't it? When a "Christmas lighting on the square" is the reason there are so few fans at a BB game for a university with over 37,000 students (who some here have said they can't come because they are studying) and a community with close to or just over 100,000 (including students), well it pretty much points out the need for some marketing and promotions work, doesn't it? It's really hard to sell even as good a product as UNT basketball when you don't do anything in the way of marketing and/or promotions.

Oh, well, there are folks on the board who think UNT does all it can and has a great staff (I'll give you the "great staff" as far as personnel are concerned), but is that "great staff" actually charged with marketing and promotions or held in any way accountable as most folks are in their job duties and responsibilities? Is there a marketing/promotions budget centered around basketball? I really have no clue, but based on what I have seen and the effort made, I would say "no".

Maybe attendance is really pretty good considering that even the athletic dept. is doing a good job of keeping it a secret from the public.

OK, pound away, but I get more info on Denton HS, Guyer HS and Ryan HS sports activities (I am not talking about game reports here but rather pre-game news, events, etc.) locally than I do UNT. Jump on my case if you will for pointing out the obvious, but facts are facts.

If we want to keep JJ as UNT's head coach, there definitely needs to be a change in attitude around here to help bring rears into the seats at the Super Pit. JJ has done his job, the players have done their job, but the athletic department is lacking as are in the fans in "doing their part".

What gets me is that we're averaging almost 1,000 more people in the seasons after we made the tournament for the first time this decade, but the promotions haven't really changed. I realize that we're probably operating basketball at a loss, but it would make sense to take that extra $50,000/yr or whatever it works out to and re-invest it in advertising the program and making improvements to the Pit.

I can understand that we're on a tight budget, but how can we expect to fill our new stadium and our arena when our marketing department waits for people to come to them? We need people out selling the program.

Another complaint of mine has always been that a lot of the diehard football alums will not take a single Saturday during the Spring to make a basketball game. Their reasoning is that they don't like basketball, which is fine, but their desire to get into a new conference would benefit from it. When you're in the position that we are, the more positives we can highlight, the better we look on paper.

Imagine if we could get one of our Saturday games to 9,000 or 10,000 people? Everyone would remember that game for the next decade.

Also, you might just like it. :thumbsup:

Edited December 4, 2010 by ColoradoEagle

Adub4ever · December 4, 2010

I went back and recalculated everything. I was probably still a little under the influence when I made the original post.

damn dog you need to get off that stuff.

the attendance numbers are nice... i went to the tech game just off of hear say and we packed 7k... UNT does very little marketing for there games so nothing is going to change there... we will average 3-4k for all games but we've proven when we schedule quality oppenents at home, the fans will show up....ie Texas Tech and Oklahoma St. >7k

if we played in the big XII we would average 7k

aztecskin · December 4, 2010

It is really hard to draw a crowd for basketball games no matter where you are with only a few exceptions. Remember we are in Texas, not Indiana or the East Coast where it is king.

Also remember that you can buy an extra ticket and bring somebody to the game. I know some of you do and so you have a right to complain about the marketing, but those of you who don't? You can stop bitching now.

ColoradoEagle · December 4, 2010

It is really hard to draw a crowd for basketball games no matter where you are with only a few exceptions. Remember we are in Texas, not Indiana or the East Coast where it is king.

So tired of this excuse. The Mavericks are one of the top 5 most attended franchises in the NBA. Out of eight million people, we should have no problem drawing 5,000 or more to basketball games.

Edited December 4, 2010 by ColoradoEagle

UNTflyer · December 4, 2010

So tired of this excuse. The Mavericks are one of the top 5 most attended franchises in the NBA. Out of eight million people, we should have no problem drawing 5,000 or more to basketball games.

I agree, but this really starts at home. The on-campus student population alone can fill The Pit. About 5% of the school-year population of Denton can do the same.

I don't expect a sellout for every game, but an average attendance north of 4500 would be nice.

UNTflyer · December 4, 2010

What we should do on the Denton ISD day is offer half off season tickets to parents and students who attend the game, one day only - they can announce it just before halftime and setup a sales table right outside the section.

ColoradoEagle · December 4, 2010

I don't expect a sellout for every game, but an average attendance north of 4500 would be nice.

Agreed. For the Arkansas State game, it would be nice to get as close to selling the place out as possible (January 22). The Texas Tech game was electric, but still 3,000 short of selling the place out.

I just checked the NBADL team from my home town (150,000), and they averaged 3,700 a couple years ago. That's a game where every single person has to pay attendance, takes place in an afterthought of a league, and plays in an arena that should have been torn down 30 years ago.