(05-01-2012 09:10 AM)Crump1 Wrote: (05-01-2012 08:49 AM)laxtonto Wrote: (05-01-2012 08:13 AM)cajunhawk Wrote: Attendance reasons? No one goes now and no one will go 5 years from now. As if CUSA is some magical pill that will all of a sudden make people care about UNT athletics.
And this is is why no one ever understood why UNT fans were unhappy in the Belt. There is nothing against the Sun Belt but Texas teams want to play Texas teams. It is just that simple. Thinking that adding Texas teams will not change the culture around the program implies that you really know nothing about the state and people of Texas.
The greatest mistake the Sun Belt ever made was leaving UNT all alone in Texas. No Texas teams, no local buy-in. When the closest conference game you have is 330 miles away, and not in your state (which is huge coming from the local culture of Texas) then fan apathy will be rampant. It is what it is.
That is the same reason why I feel for TSU. At least this time over they have UTA and they might eventually start football, but their will be some in state rivalry and comradery.
Troy and UNT were the last 2 stand alone geographic outliers. Troy now has GSU and SA and UNT is gone and the outliers have been replaced by FAU and TSU.
Having regional teams to play can help but it doesn't matter unless you win. I don't think UL drew 29K a game last year because ULM was in the conference or they would have done it before.
Playing Memphis has always been good for ASU's attendance but they brought 1000 fans last year because they stunk.
Getting regional teams on the schedule is a very good bandaid but ultimately if you aren't winning then people are not going to show.
I am not upset that UNT is leaving. I liked that it was an easy trip from Little Rock and there were some epic football games over the years. I am ready to move on and make the Sun Belt even stronger. I will root for UNT once a year when you guys play LT.
You do realize that UNT won the Belt 4 years running an attendance was still down?
Prior to last year, these were the top crowds ever to play in Denton. I am not going to post the offsite ones because that is pretty much cheating.
Attend. Opponent Date
1. 29,437 Baylor Sept. 6, 2003
2. 28,315 Baylor Aug. 31, 2000
3. 26,012 Navy Nov. 10, 2007
4. 25,231 SMU Sept. 9, 2006
5. 23,647 Army Nov. 21, 2009
6. 23,112 Tulsa Sept. 17, 2005
7. 22,837 TCU Sept. 1, 2001
8. 22,785 Tulsa Sept. 22, 2008
9. 22,750 SMU Oct. 6, 1990
10. 22,346 Middle Tennessee Sept. 26, 2009
Unfortunately MTSU is the lone Sun Belt opponent on that list and it is dominated by Texas schools and service academies (which draw well here in DFW).
Average attendance over that same span was:
Year Games Attendance Avg.
2009 .............6 ..................109,367 ...................... 18,228
2008 .............5 ..................84,778 ........................ 16,956
2007 .............5 ..................88,672 ........................ 17,734
2006 .............5 ..................78,249 ........................ 15,685
2005 .............5 ..................82,232 ........................ 16,446
2004 .............5 ..................75,921 ........................ 15,184
2003 .............5 ..................93,469 ........................ 18,694
2002 .............5 ..................76,302 ........................ 15,260
2001 .............5 ..................73,844 ........................ 14,769
2000 .............5 ..................70,900 ........................ 14,180
The difference between the average and actual of those games is right around 10k, not even talking about how these pull up the overall season average. Every Texas team that has played in Denton since 2000 is on that list.
Trust me, it is real important to have Texas teams come to town.