Scott Sidway | Sports Editor

@ScottyWK

Fewer people are attending games for the three major sports at North Texas, with attendance in football, men’s and women’s basketball all showing declines in recent years.

Through three football games in 2015, Apogee Stadium has fielded crowds of 19,602, 19,801 and 10,155, averaging 16,519 officially per game. That is a 30 percent drop from when the team won the Heart of Dallas Bowl in 2013, which was the highest total since Apogee Stadium opened in 2011 at 23,509.

North Texas also ranks 12th out of 14 teams in Conference USA in football attendance, ahead of only Florida International University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. But Charlotte averages nearly a sellout for each home game, and FIU gets around 85 percent capacity each week.

In 2015, Apogee Stadium is averaging roughly 53 percent capacity.

“When seats start emptying out, I get worried,” UNT President Neal Smatresk said. “So I do want to see people engaged and in the seats.”

Additionally, a source close to the situation confirmed the actual attendance of the Thursday, Oct. 15 loss to Western Kentucky University was 5,422 – nearly half the size of the officially announced crowd.

Athletic director Rick Villarreal pointed to the fact that the game was on a Thursday, but the official number was still 40 percent lower than last year’s Thursday night game against Louisiana Tech University. It was also lower than a Thursday night game against Rice University in 2013 and a Tuesday night game against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2012.

The crowd, shown in the attached photos, was likely a response to the Mean Green’s record setting 66-7 loss to Portland State University on homecoming five days prior, where North Texas set a record for the biggest defeat for a Football Bowl Subdivision school by the hands of a Football Championship Subdivision team. That loss also resulted in the firing of former head coach Dan McCarney.

“I don’t blame people for leaving after that kind of performance,” Smatresk said. “Would I like to see better and more? Yes. Do I hope good fans will find reason to be hopeful now? Yes I do. But those things will come in time, and there’s a timing for all the things that are happening here.”

With basketball season right around the corner, the crowds at the Super Pit have declined in recent years as well. Compared to the 2011-2012 season where the Super Pit averaged 4,006 fans per game, attendance at men’s basketball games dropped 35 percent to 2,606 fans per game last season.

When asked about the declining basketball numbers, Villarreal pointed to a sinking national average in basketball attendance. But an NCAA report shows last season’s national totals were actually higher than the previous season and was also the eighth highest attendance total in NCAA history.

North Texas men’s basketball was 45 percent less than the national average of 4,754 fans per home game.

“Do I worry about the decline? I think the decline happens at every institution when you don’t win as many games,” Villarreal said. “But I think there is a lot of positive talk about basketball right now.”

Performance has likely contributed to both men’s and women’s basketball attendance. On the men’s side, the team has yet to finish with a winning record since Tony Benford became head coach in 2012 with a 42-53 record in the span.

The women’s side has been worse, especially dating back to 2008. The Mean Green have endured seven straight losing seasons with a 68-144 record, a 0.320 winning percentage.

They’ve also had four 20-loss seasons, have never finished conference play with a winning record, and posted two seasons where the team only recorded five wins.

As a result, women’s attendance has averaged 1,000 or more fans per game only twice in the last seven seasons, with the lowest total being 654 per game in 2013-2014. But even with declining attendance numbers in all three of the “money” sports, Villarreal remains optimistic about the progress North Texas has made, citing a picture of Fouts Field that was on his desk when he took the athletic director job in 2001.

“You could count the 22 people in the stands. We’re not in that place anymore, not anywhere close,” Villarreal said. “Are we where we need to be? No. But that’s a culture that was built right around here for a long time. It doesn’t change overnight.”

Denny Kalk is an annual donor who has donated upwards of $5,000 to $10,000 annually since the 1970’s and had a team meeting room named after him and his wife at Fouts Field because of his contributions. This year, he downgraded his donation to the bare minimum of $500 per year for his Mean Green Club seats on the 50-yard line.

But even he does not go to games anymore, instead giving the tickets to his daughter.

“I just couldn’t take it,” Kalk said of the state of athletics.

Kalk, who said he was close to Villarreal when he became athletic director, said one reason he and some of his colleagues have pulled back donations and attendance is because of promises they felt were not kept by Villarreal back when Apogee Stadium opened.

“A lot of us put in a lot of money into it, and we were told about scheduling, we were told about special events, we were told all of this stuff. And nothing is happening,” Kalk said. “We were told there would be concerts. We were told, like the first year with Indiana and Houston coming in, we would see that yearly. And yet we have Portland State and Incarnate Word. Some of the non-conference opponents are just terrible.”

Kalk and other donors have said some of their counterparts are apprehensive about publicly speaking out in fear of being shamed by the athletic department.

Villarreal on the other hand believes the outcry is not as widespread as publicly perceived.

“The reality is, it’s a minute few who are very loud,” Villarreal said. “If there was a concern of what was going on in the program right now, I don’t think people would be writing million dollar checks. I don’t think people would be buying club level seats and doing those things in season.”

Smatresk had similar thoughts on alumni engagement.

“Just because there’s a human cry, doesn’t mean that’s a truly representative view,” Smatresk said.

North Texas football has two more home games this season, the next being Saturday, Oct. 31 at 6:00 p.m against the University of Texas at San Antonio, and the final one being in late November. Men’s basketball has 18 home games this season, including the season opener on Friday, Nov. 13, and the women’s team has 16.

The priority for Smatresk is to improve on the recent declining numbers.

“Clearly we want more home games and more wins and big crowds because that’s just good business. It’s common sense,” Smatresk said. “But there’s another piece that is as important, or even more important. And that’s the engagement of our alumni and engagement of fans and people who are from the community who love to support this institution. It’s best when our athletic programs are being very successful, particularly with football and basketball.”

Featured Image: There were many empty seats at Apogee Stadium for the football team’s game against Western Kentucky. Dylan Nadwodny | Staff Photograph