| abstract | - Apogee Stadium is a college football stadium in Denton, Texas, at the junction of Interstate 35 East and West. Opened in 2011, it is home to the University of North Texas (UNT) Mean Green football team, which competes in Conference USA. The facility replaced Fouts Field, where the school's football program had been based since 1952. The stadium was proposed by the University of North Texas System Board of Regents after the 2002 New Orleans Bowl and designed by HKS, Inc. It was constructed at a cost of $78 million after a contentious student body election in 2008. It was originally named "Mean Green Stadium", but was renamed when ResNet provider Apogee purchased the naming rights in 2011. The stadium hosted its first major event on September 10, 2011 when the Mean Green lost 48–23 against the University of Houston Cougars. Official home attendance figures for the team's first two seasons at Apogee Stadium averaged around 18,900 per game, which is a little over 60% of its capacity of 30,850. The facility houses various amenities, including a press box, luxury boxes, and an alumni pavilion. It also uses environmental technology; it is the first newly built stadium to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification. It can be reached by road, but because of traffic congestion on game days, many visitors park on the other side of Interstate 35 and cross a pedestrian bridge to reach the stadium.
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