We just have to keep building interest in students and following it up when they graduate to build our fan base.
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Our typical offence that everyone enjoyed watching was replaced by a boring one. We lost to Tulane AND Tulsa. Let that sink in for a minute…Tulane AND Tulsa.
We need to come out on fire and keep the pedal down and score as much as possible against everyone as hopefully we will under Briles (as they did up in Waco).
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I’m still undecided on the coaching. Prices are weird, but I prefer watching at the stadium over my living room so I pay.
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There are like 6 million people in Houston area, we can’t even fill a 40000 seat stadium, WHY??? UH needs to market our product better to the city, tv commercials, billboards, etc etc. our prices are cheap, u people keep going to the boring Texans games and waste ur money on the nfl. Texas puts a poor product on field, and high prices. They draw more to a spring football game than we draw to a regular game, let that sink in, I’m tired of excuses by city of Houston!!!
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Prices cheap = no money for the ads
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Some of you are making this a referendum on broader support. That’s an ongoing issue that takes time. What the University and athletic department can control is filling the seats for the 2018 season. Yes, season tickets are relatively cheap compared to other tickets. That doesn’t mean that they’re cheap relative to past UH seasons. They added contribution levels and got rid of the family plan that was very successful.
The 2016 season had 20,000 season tickets sold and included 7 home games, including OU and Louisville and came off a 13-1 season. It’s absolute aloofness by the ticket office to assume that they can charge more for 6 home games, highlighted by Arizona and coming off of a 7-5 season. They did the same thing last year, and then had to scramble to give tickets away for $13 at the end of the season. Why would a casual fan buy season tix starting at $19.17 a ticket when there is a very good chance that you can buy better tix for a cheaper price when the season starts? The ticket office is giving zero incentive to the casual fan to jump on season tickets now.
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For those complaining about price…there are plenty of seats left for $125 a season.
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I don’t think any of us here mind paying $125, or much more, a season. Still, $125/6 games = $21 a game. Most games last year sold for $13 last year, and you could get lower level seats at that price. What incentive is there for the casual fan to lock in at $21 a game in the nosebleeds?
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Incentive is when we are undefeated late in the season amazed by our new offense, the price will be much more. At least I hope! On the bright side, I did get to move to seats that I am much happier with this season.
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There were resale sites that had our games for under $10 per ticket. My opinion is it is a combination of several things:
- The horrid start times in Houston heat
- The pricing tier restructuring and dropping the family plan
- Bad scheduling
- General apathy
- The constant increases in price despite poor performances
For me, I was pretty unhappy when the new ticket director came in and in his first full year blew up the seating chart and tried ticketing practices we had been using for decades for something new without having any market experience for what Houston fans were like and expected. And I am not some old codger who is just opposed to change, I actually am okay with change as long as it makes sense. The pricing restructure was absolutely moronic.
The increases to me are the least significant problem. We got a new stadium and it comes with a premium… is it sacrilege to say that I prefer the Rob? It was a better game day environment.
The new stadium brought with it a pro-style environment that I can’t stand; loud music during the game action, clubs where people hangout and don’t even sit in their seats, a concourse where people chill rather than watch the game, etc. We’ve lost the college football atmosphere.
TDECU is nicer and was needed - the Rob was falling apart - I just wish the design had been an upgraded replica of the Rob with ArtDeco motif and we had left all the music playback and flashy game day crap off the list.
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I agree with huge chunks of this. At the end of the day, no one should forget that we just don’t have a huge fan base yet. We will get there eventually, but we aren’t there yet, or really anywhere close.
Hell, even in 2015, Herman called out the fan base more than once to sell out the building. The good news is we actually sold 40,000 tickets to some of those games. The bad news is that the stars have to align perfectly for us to sell 40,000 tickets.
To me, the game day experience at the Rob >>>>>>>>>>>>>> at TDECU.
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On one hand, Louisville fans were complaining about the same issues we are currently dissatisfied with. They have something similar to the concourse where fans would go instead of watch the game. We should have learned from this and also planned the club in such a way that the other side of the stadium doesn’t look across the field at mostly empty seats as the haves dine on caviar and champagne.
On the flip side, for the money we had, maybe this is how it has to be designed.
But kowtowing to Herman and placing the practice facility where it is was simply a slap in the face. Not simply because the divot that was made in the stadium to view downtown was completely negated, this missing out on a couple of hundred seats, but it messed up the tailgating.
We are not Alabama or ut or even aTM. Administrators should cater to our unique market.
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We needed a new stadium. End of story. We got a 40,000 seat stadium with amazing site lines that can be easily upgraded to 60,000 when needed. It is a brilliant stadium that is as nice as any venue around.
My only complaint is the indoor facility (which was greatly needed and a recruiting game changer) is situated where I tailgated in the old yellow lot.
But if IPF brings in a higher quality athlete, i will cook my ribs and burgers in another spot.
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im 100 percent positive if we get in a major conference that will change. home games against p5 schools will boost the interest. thats a fact.
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Playing so many early games in the middle and hottest part of the day - ain’t helping attendance either!
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My only problem is having a bigger opponent and making the stadium a home game for them. Thats embarrassing. Almost like the tech game. We need more fans. point blank period only fix is winning.
Side note: The stadium was much needed for a better experience in my opinion as we grow and revenue comes in so will the stadium.
My thoughts:
- Recent success [12-0 season and Peach Bowl season] has been short-lived.
- When “fans” do buy in, shortly after that the coach leaves and the buzz is lost. I can see where you might be hesitant to invest in an up and down program.
- Tickets for the bigger names [e.g. Tech last year and Arizona this year] are available on game day. Why buy tickets for the “other” games when you can go a la carte?
The people on this board don’t fall into this mindset but I know plenty of casual fans that will watch from a distance and will choose certain times/games to get involved. Only one that I know eventually became a season ticket holder.
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When Applewhite came out of the closet and started preaching that old dribble that you have to run the ball in order to set up the pass my heart sank. Suddenly all those stupid and fruitless run plays that netted 1 yard made sense. Reality is without a run game Applewhite was saved by Greg Ward. In his delusions he seems to have believed not that Ward kept bailing him out but that his play calling was working.
Then at the beginning of last season he boldly proclaimed that passing teams “don’t win championships” and I knew we were doomed. I’m thinking, really? Tell that to Case Keenum. We were there. Applewhite wasn’t. And does winning a Heisman with a passing offense help? I mean, what about evidence? Real proof?
Then we get a new AD. A guy who actually played for Jugular John Jenkins. Who loves Jenkins. And believe me, I found out personally. Don’t diss Jenkins - even a teenie little bit - to Pezman. He’s very polite about it, but he leaves no doubt of his support for his old coach. And I presume for his coach’s offensive philosophy.
So suddenly Applewhite’s our shopping for an OC who can run a whiz bang pinball offense. The kind that has succeeded so often at UH. And I see Pez’s footprints all over Applewhite’s backside.
So last year had a few bright spots. But overall it failed to meet expectations. And I really doubt Applewhite suddenly had a change of heart. But when Chris Pezman took over the leadership of the UH Athletic Department most of us missed the real significance of his arrival. It signaled the beginning of a new day for UH football. Ask Major Applewhite.
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And Dave, you nailed it. Remember that until recently UH was primarily a commuter school. I lived on and around campus back in the 70s and the 2000 to 3000 of us who shared that experience totally bonded to UH. And many of the young commuting students did as well. And today we are the core of the fan base.
But even so we are overwhelmed with the challenges and opportunities of living in a major metropolitan area. There are just so many things demanding our attention that you gotta really want it to drive one hour in cross town traffic to attend anything at UH. To get and keep that fan base UH athletics can’t be ordinary. It has to be special.
And to make matters worse the 300,000 people who still read the Chron are blasted with coverage of professional sports. After the Chron fills the little space left over with coverage of UT and A&M, UH is lucky to get any attention. Now, to be “fair” when UH does something extraordinary then, yes, the Chron steps up and gives us really premier coverage. I’m thinking about last year’s basketball season.
And some may ask why that is important. And the answer is simple. Coverage is advertising. Plain and simple. Just talk to an advertising sales person and they will bury you in data about how much the frequency and amount of your ads impacts the sale of your products. But there really is little difference to the reader between a full page ad and a full page feature article which is the norm for professional sports.
Bottom line, win and the fans will come. And the Chron will feed off of that and more fans will come, even in this age of the Internet. We’ve been here before. This year I expect a whiz bang offensive show, lots of wins. A terrible loss somewhere along the way, but a season that will bring our fans back. Then we have to go through all the crap of P5 teams poaching our coaches. Nobody said it was fair.
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Mike, you are so right about the UH competition. I think we may be the only major school in the country that has to put up with general hostility from its own newspaper. I sometimes wish UH was located in some other city; don’t ask which one.
I never really read the Comical (I was a Houston Post guy), but those people are generally anti-UH. They are gung-ho for any of the professional teams, and then they fully support uta and atm because most of their management went to those schools; if they have any space left over, they might - just might - write something about the Cougars. Even then, they never miss an opportunity to point out our failures.
I call them “presstitutes,” because that is what they really are!
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