Stadium Debate at UNT

[FootballCrazy727]

This coming year the students at UNT will be faced with the choice to either vote for or against a new football stadium. Being an avid football fan, Im naturally going to vote YES, but some students feel it is a waste of their money and the schools to build a stadium for a team that just went 2-10.
I hear their argument, but if students want to see an improved team then they need to get behind them and show support.
Fouts Field is literally a garbage dump and until a new stadium is built UNT wont be able to recruit quality players or convince bigger schools to play in Denton.
Lets discuss...

[chhspantherfan]

you are right. I have thought all along that UNT is one stadium away from making the South Florida type splash. Look at all the athletes within 4 hour drive !!!

[DrEdward]

Is the student vote at UNT important for some reason other than morale? What do the alumni think and the bigger buck donors think on the topic? I was under the impression taht the decision to proceed with a new stadium had virtually been made.

[chhspantherfan]

UNT coach Todd Dodge reiterated Monday his hope and desire to be in a new stadium no later than 2010.

"I’ve been told we’d open in 2010," Dodge said. "That’s when I’m holding them to it. For this program to go where it needs to go, we’ve got to get a new stadium."









http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/774327.html

[FarmerFootballPlayer]

That stadium does suck. It's not like they need to built a super BCS caliber stadium. Just a nice stadium, but not over the top, that holds 30,000-40,000.

[jtk1519]

Central Florida last year opened their new 45,000+ seat stadium on campus and they built it for $54 million which is about 25% of what Texas is spending on just the North endzone expansion. I know UNT doesn't have the greatest tradition and all, but that doesn't seem like a lot of money to get something like UCF did...

http://blogs.chron.com/longhorns/main_splash.jpg

[pied]

I remembre at UT we had to vote for fee increases all the time. I'm sure the 728 people that voted on it were well informed.

UCF's stadium was an upgrade and would be for perhaps the worst football stadium in America, but I do understand that it is not as nice as it looks on TV.

[FootballCrazy727]

Is the student vote at UNT important for some reason other than morale? What do the alumni think and the bigger buck donors think on the topic? I was under the impression taht the decision to proceed with a new stadium had virtually been made.

The school has kept everything hush-hush for the past year so its hard to tell exactly where they are, but I've heard that there is a design and its supposed to be unveiled soon. Some numbers I've heard are that early estimates on the stadium cost will be around 60 million. Seating capacity would be a minimum of 30,000 and option to later expand to 50,000.
In regards to the student vote, I've been told that the school wants to raise money by increasing the student service fee for athletics. Right now students pay $90 per semester, which is PATHETIC compared to other Sunbelt teams:
South Alabama: $253 per semester
Florida International University:$227.65
Florida Atlantic University: $206.25
Louisiana Lafayette and Louisiana Monroe: $208

[FootballCrazy727]

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g255/loxahatchee/FAU_Stadium_2_sm1.jpg

FAU's new stadium.

[pied]

FAU's new stadium.


I don't know, but it looks a little bit cartoonish to me.

[cajun]

Doesn't look too bad to me...

http://www.creativeanimation.com/main/featuredprojects/sports/unt/unt.htm

[AHSeagles]

I drove by UNT's stadium last weekend for the first time and that place is a dump! And small to boot! I've been to high school football games that had more people attend than that stadium could hold. And I'm talking about some district rivalries, not even playoffs.

[pied]

I drove by UNT's stadium last weekend for the first time and that place is a dump! And small to boot! I've been to high school football games that had more people attend than that stadium could hold. And I'm talking about some district rivalries, not even playoffs.

Fouts' capacity is 30,500. It's not exactly tiny, especially for HS games. It is a POS though. Who puts the long jump pits on the outside of the track?

[AHSeagles]

Fouts' capacity is 30,500. It's not exactly tiny, especially for HS games. It is a POS though. Who puts the long jump pits on the outside of the track?

Oh well never mind then. I thought it's capacity was closer to the 25,000 range. Shotwell stadium in Abilene has a capacity of of about 15,000 and there are normally a couple games a year (well maybe not this year with the new district) where there's about 21,000 people that overflow the stadium.

[DrEdward]

Fouts' capacity is 30,500. It's not exactly tiny, especially for HS games. It is a POS though. Who puts the long jump pits on the outside of the track?

Keller High School does.

[dragonsdaddy]

Keller High School does.

last time i checked, kisd stadium qualified in spades as a pos, too.

[DrEdward]

last time i checked, kisd stadium qualified in spades as a pos, too.

Yes, consistency matters. :D

[Maroondog]

The real issue is, can UNT get enough butts in a bigger stadium to fill it up? I feel like Dodge will eventually get the program turned around if he stays long enough, but I am not convinced that the overall support of UNT football is there.
They had some good teams not too long ago and nobody was scalping tickets outside before the games.

[UNT_Flyer]

The real issue is, can UNT get enough butts in a bigger stadium to fill it up? I feel like Dodge will eventually get the program turned around if he stays long enough, but I am not convinced that the overall support of UNT football is there.
They had some good teams not too long ago and nobody was scalping tickets outside before the games.

The support is there when we play the big games. But it's hard to muster up a good crowd when you have a stadium like Fouts and you're playing Florida International.

A new stadium may push us through an open door when realignment happens in 2010, which should bring better games and bigger crowds. Then we'll be talking about expanding to 50k by 2015.

[farmerfan]

The support is there when we play the big games. But it's hard to muster up a good crowd when you have a stadium like Fouts and you're playing Florida International.

A new stadium may push us through an open door when realignment happens in 2010, which should bring better games and bigger crowds. Then we'll be talking about expanding to 50k by 2015.

Lets not get too ahead of ourselves here. The need for a 50K stadium by 2015 is a bit of an exaggeration IMO.

[Firebird]

The support is there when we play the big games. But it's hard to muster up a good crowd when you have a stadium like Fouts and you're playing Florida International.

A new stadium may push us through an open door when realignment happens in 2010, which should bring better games and bigger crowds. Then we'll be talking about expanding to 50k by 2015.

What realignment is this? I haven't heard of UNT moving to a different conference in 2010, if it's happening can Farmer fill me in?

[farmerfan]

What realignment is this? I haven't heard of UNT moving to a different conference in 2010, if it's happening can Farmer fill me in?

haven't heard it either. Would be hard to get into C-USA with SMU alreayd being in there or the Mountain West with TCU, those two conferences alreayd have the DFW media market and I do not see them making a push for UNT, I do know that UNT would love to be in C-USA and if they were to add baseball that could possibly help. I have heard from several that baseball is in the works of being brought back.
But to answer your question, I have heard nothing serious as of now concerning realigning into a different conference. I wouldn't mind the WAC but travel and the budget would kill the athletic department financialy most likely.

[tmcran]

UNT is not going to be a major football prower and and the best stadium in the world will not chage that. I suppose a good season this year for UNT would be to win 4 games. Dodge is not going to stay at UNT very long with more losses than wins year after year.

[farmerfan]

UNT is not going to be a major football prower and and the best stadium in the world will not chage that. I suppose a good season this year for UNT would be to win 4 games. Dodge is not going to stay at UNT very long with more losses than wins year after year.

By major, nobody has ever said that they could become a OU or Texas or Tech. But hell, with the right influx of players, coaches and facilities, over the face of time could become what a Tulsa or TCU has become. The conference they play in as well as playing a few teams in non-conference not associated with BCS conferences can and will allow UNT the opportunity to win 7-10 games a year. Its been done before this decade and can be done again much sooner than later. A new stadium will help with that process a lot more than it would hurt it.

[tmcran]

By major, nobody has ever said that they could become a OU or Texas or Tech. But hell, with the right influx of players, coaches and facilities, over the face of time could become what a Tulsa or TCU has become. The conference they play in as well as playing a few teams in non-conference not associated with BCS conferences can and will allow UNT the opportunity to win 7-10 games a year. Its been done before this decade and can be done again much sooner than later. A new stadium will help with that process a lot more than it would hurt it.

Yep a new stadium would not hurt. I'm just saying UNT is not the "Field of Dreams".You can build it but nothing beats winning to get the school and fans excited.

[DrEdward]

The support is there when we play the big games. But it's hard to muster up a good crowd when you have a stadium like Fouts and you're playing Florida International.

A new stadium may push us through an open door when realignment happens in 2010, which should bring better games and bigger crowds. Then we'll be talking about expanding to 50k by 2015.

I have not heard any whispers of UNT moving to a new conference either. Is there another Shalala running around in Denton this time? But then, I am not all that familiar with the athletic programs at UNT. Does UNT participate in a sufficient number of other programs on a basis that would readily interest other conferences other than basketball and football? What have you heard on the horizon for 2010?

[FootballCrazy727]

I have not heard any whispers of UNT moving to a new conference either. Is there another Shalala running around in Denton this time? But then, I am not all that familiar with the athletic programs at UNT. Does UNT participate in a sufficient number of other programs on a basis that would readily interest other conferences other than basketball and football? What have you heard on the horizon for 2010?

I've heard that the school is trying to get a lot of things accomplished by 2010 to get moved to a different conference. Their goals for '10: new football stadium, baseball team+stadium, new track and field complex. Its being rumored by a bunch of sources that UNT really wants to move into C-USA, but also has their eye on the WAC and Mountain West.
Also, looks like an official press release on the stadium will be coming in the frst few weeks of the semester. Hopefully, its all true.