The Mean Green have done their part – it’s time for UNT students to pack Apogee Stadium
The administration has done its part. The football team has done its part.
Now it’s on you, the students of the University of North Texas.
The football team could use – no – the Mean Green football team deserves your attendance at Apogee stadium six times a year for about three hours at a time. Doing so will create a real home-field advantage for the team and create a real college football environment.
I know, North Texas is not known around the country for its athletic history. UNT students are often focused on music, science, history and preparing for their rigorous courses because, historically, the university has far more to offer academically than athletically.
But we are talking about one of the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision schools in the country here. It’s an emerging program with fun players who make exciting plays to entertain everyone at North Texas. Those who are at the games, at least.
This is not Alabama or Oklahoma-level football, but it is high-quality football missing just one thing.
A high-quality atmosphere.
“It’s great to look up and see the fans there, believing,” senior running back Jeffery Wilson said. “We need that every week and even more. To see those stands packed and filled up, it gives us the energy to go that much harder for them.”
A decent crowd, which is what North Texas has by other FBS standards, helps the home team. It does not, however, disrupt the away team much at all. That’s what great crowds do.
You see it every week on TV. Opposing quarterbacks frantically wave their hands around motioning to receivers and lineman without using words because even yelling is pointless with a deafening crowd. Eventually, teams are forced to burn a precious time out or run the play despite lack of organization.
That’s what great crowds do. They impact the game.
“The fans are great, if we come out flat they’re right there behind us,” sophomore quarterback Mason Fine said. “We had a great turnout at our [last] game, hopefully there will be more fans [at the] next home game, but we just have to keep winning and they’ll have our back.”
Athletic director Wren Baker and associate vice president Jared Mosley have done everything in their power to increase interest in the athletic program. Whether it’s through marketing plans, enticing clubs and organizations to come out or a thoughtful promotional ploy, they’ve been extremely proactive in attempting to fill Apogee six times a year.
In the end, though, the university gives free admission to the near 38,000 students enrolled. It’s up to you to make those numbers jump in next four home games.
The only question left to ask now is: how good does this football program need to be for Apogee to consistently host an attendance closer to the capacity of just under 31,000?
In 2014, the football team went 4-8 and scored 27.2 points per game. Their average announced attendance per game was 19,271. During the dismal 2015 campaign, North Texas averaged just 13,361. Last season, with Littrell and company taking over, the Mean Green went 5-8 and averaged 24.8 points per game. They averaged an announced attendance of 19,878.
This year’s team is 2-2 and averages 37.8 points per game. They have explosive players and a lot of returners from last season’s team that advanced to a bowl game in the first year under Littrell. The excitement should be there. The seats should be filled. Right?
Not quite.
In two home games, this year’s football team has an average announced attendance of 19,867.
I’m calling you out students. The next home game is a big rivalry game against University of Texas at San Antonio at 5:30 p.m on Saturday Oct. 14.
I’ll see you there.
Featured Image: North Texas football fans celebrate after North Texas scores a touchdown against the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Sept. 23 at Apogee Stadium. The attendance of the game was 20,142. Sara Carpenter
Hell yes! Lets all get out there and support OUR team.
One cool thing about Apogee Stadium (many may not know this) is that it was designed with acoustics in mind. I’ve been in that empty stadium and you can literally hear 2 people talking across the field. So the advantage is 30k+ people in Apogee sounds like a lot more due to the design. In the first game there vs Houston, their QB couldn’t communicate to the other players the stadium was so loud. I can’t imagine the atmosphere if that thing was full. It’s a truly unique stadium. I would love to see what it looked like sold out. Teams would hate coming here…
Will you be in the press box away from us (fans) peasants?
Sorry, but this is so inaccurate. Beginning with the first sentence this article proves there is a complete disconnect with what the reporter sees versus what a student sees. The administration has done its job? Yeah…no. I’m a commuter student, which this school seems to completely forget about. We already pay ridiculous parking pass fees, yet I am forced to pay $10 on game day to park. I already paid the school $250, yet now I’m paying again to park on game day. Secondly, do not pretend like this is a power 5. It’s not Alabama…this team isn’t consistent. 2-2 and you say “the football team has done its job”? Look..my household has a Baylor grad in it, so I’m used to watching either great games or now, really horrible losses at McClane stadium. People still come out to watch Baylor play because even a horrible game there is better than a great game at UNT. Explosive players? You have two decent players, and the rest just stand around. Where were you last Saturday when we almost blew it against UAB? They haven’t even played in two years yet they were more entertaining to watch than UNT.
Students go to stuff all the time on campus that’s fun. UNT Football isn’t fun. Do you know how hard it is to get tickets through the stupid new system? Probably not, since you wrote a piece basically to call us out for not cheering on a mediocre team. I was there btw last week. That was Family Weekend and it was empty. If you ask students why they didn’t show, they’ll tell you about ticket issues, parking issues, etc. Above all, they’ll tell you that it’s boring.
It’s real easy to call us out when you’re in a press box. You want us to fill Apogee? Fix your issues. Recognize you are a COMMUTER SCHOOL, and treat them correctly. Don’t write articles about how a team with no D whatsoever has “done its job” with a 2-2 record. Don’t write a story when you apparently don’t have an idea of what it’s like to be a student there. If you think the administration has done its job, that shows me just how little you know about UNT.
Apogee will be full only when UNT fixes problems and the team is worth watching. I’m proud to be a UNT student FYI, and that’s in SPITE of the football program.
Morons?