From when I can remember we have always had a weak fan base. They will only come to the band wagon if something exciting happens.
Otherwise many of our alums are too busy going to the college games their kids and grand kids attend
5 Likes
Some really good points. The mid-90s through early 2000 were definitely the dark ages for UH sports. Many schools are struggling with low student attendance at sporting events.
It can also be the conference UH plays in.
2 Likes
A team like the Texans sell out even with the mess they have.
Agreed but we once played in the SWC, one of the best conferences in the country. When we won they came…when we lost it was a major problem.
You can look at every Coog sport and basically say the same.
So let’s win some dang games.
3 Likes
Sure we could win games as the most obvious answer, but have we ever thought about black jack and hookers?
7 Likes
There is a banner ad for a strip joint at the top of this webpage, right?
I like both and watch both college and pro football. However, I go to the UH games and much prefer college football to pro, which I have only gone to with free tickets from vendors since the Oilers left. Same for basketball. Well, sort of, I haven’t watched pro basketball at all since Hakeem and Clyde retired.
I made the mistake of going to a pro game the morning after a Coog game and kept saying to myself, this is so slow paced.
Butch, when we won big, they came for big games against UT, TAMU, and Arkansas. For the other games, not so much. 1976 SWC champs pulled only 23,498 for West Texas State, 18,263 for TCU, and 20,849 for Miami. After winning the SWC in '76, we opened the 1977 season in the dome against #11 UCLA and drew only 38,131. I can’t remember selling out any SWC home games against any team other than for UT or TAMU and then it seemed like we were the visitors. When those teams were not ranked high, they didn’t sell out either. There’s a reason we moved from the dome to Robertson.
When I came to UH as a former LSU fan, I just thought sellouts, or at least near sellouts, were the norm for all college sports. I even came over from Baton Rouge for a couple of LSU-Rice games that were either sold out or close to it. Of course they looked like LSU home games as for as how the crowd was divided. Going to UH games was a shock, but I got used to it. Our poor attendance is the reason we are in the AAC, not our record.
4 Likes
Yes sir unfortunately you are correct.
2 Likes
Sadly, we’re just a tough sell beyond the 10-15K hardcore fans. That base will come pretty much regardless of whether we are winning or who we are playing. But the rest needed to fill the stadium want to come only if we WIN, and it helps to have an early W against a name opponent, and if there is a fun atmosphere attached. During Herman we were winning AND the tailgating was off the chains. As a result, the stadium was near full. And the student section was AMAZING. I’d say they likely came as much for the PARTY as the game. If we’re not winning, the “average” fan just isn’t coming out for the Conference opponents we have. The average fan doesn’t give a flip about Tulane, SMU, Cincinnati as an opponent. Unfortunately that’s our average alumni “fan”. Winning will increase attendance will improve atmosphere will bring even more fans. Go Coogs!
2 Likes
I don’t know that you can compare attendance from 1976 and now. The Houston metro population in 1976 was 2.1 million people. The Houston metro population now is 6.5 million. We are 3x larger.
We shouldn’t be having attendance issues. But we are. Selling out a 40k stadium every game shouldn’t be a problem. If the % of the population that went to the West Texas State game in 1976 went today, we would have a waiting line for season tickets.
The reality is that we are losing market share. It is not acceptable and it should be priority #1 for our AD.
We can do this, but you have to win consistently which we haven’t done. There is no reason we shouldn’t be talking about expanding the stadium in 10-15 years.
2 Likes
It’s the only fix. Everything else is just leverage to justify higher prices and additional revenue streams.
1 Like
3x larger but filled with the same people. Front running, band wagon fans including our own alumni also lots of transplants.
Houston and Atlanta have a lot in common just really crappy sports towns, in terms of consistent loyalty and turnout.
2 Likes
One problem is UH continues to jack up ticket prices in the face of declining attendance. I had to give up my tickets this year because of price. I hope I can go to a couple of games.
4 Likes
Joe you bring up the post of the year. Why?
What has our school done to positively market our program on a regular basis?
Like it or not we are a pro program. Yes, tickets are not free. Coaches are not free therefore a specific budget has to be spent. a specific strategy has to be put in place.
Fans can’t wait to get back to the stadium.
Safe?
Did the school offer a mask give away for example?
You could print historical U of H athletes on them and sell them. Thus generating profit.
Youth sports program can’t wait to start again. Are we fully involved with them within the Houston area?
You can get Monopoly tickets at your grocery store? What about creating a U of H version?
People in front of their TV’s? We do have some major donors that could buy TV ads promoting our school. Possibilities are endless.
Coaches have public appearances clauses in their contracts. People can’t wait to get out. Have our coaches go toward them.
Carl Lewis is one of the planet’s most recognized figure. He should be with Andre Ware all over town and in the media.
You spend money to make money. This is the perfect and ideal time to do this. I mentioned countless of times. The Landry Group (Fertitta), our ticket office, our athletic department and Bauer business school have to be locked up in a room for a week and come up with a specific plan. Our program wanting a sold out stadium for every game is by itself a “business study case”
When is this going to happen? We have no excuse for it.
Thank you for posting Joe. We are in almost mid March. How many tickets have we sold? This question should not come up a few days before we play our first game. This attitude has got to stop.
It is freaking time that we think outside the box. Is anybody listening or reading what Joe posted?
Mods that might be a good idea to find out where we are. Don’t you think?
3 Likes
Some of those things are happening, but I don’t get why people are so focused on trying to get random people in Houston to games. Schools with smaller student and alumni populations have tried it and failed (SMU, TCU when not playing UT/OU/Tech). We have a big enough alumni base to just focus on Coogs. When the team is rolling, we can get some of those bandwagon fans. I think the school taking over the alumni association was a great move. Continuing to go directly after that group and continuing to build up school spirit with students is the long term goal. Creating the section next to the student section for recent grads was smart. We are making good moves with our fanbase. I agree we do need to keep working on a better gameday experience.
Has always been true that night games draw way better than day games.
TV forces us to have day games and attendance suffers.
UH is in the Entertainment business. And that market starts and stops with pricing and Product.
Men’s Basketball will completely sell out next Season due to superior Product.
I would start with not selling the upper deck seats and thus make our crowds look and sound larger.
And cut the prices. When we have a superior product raise prices and sell the upper seats.
Ours local fans live 1 hour or more from the Stadium, each way, and have other things to do. And we are on TV.
OurMarketing is detached from reality.
To be fair this year… Our marketing department has a beyond huge challenge this year. On paper right now the only thing we can do is cut prices to the break even point and run some serious gimmicks.
I agree that the focus should be on alumni and students; however, I would argue that UH should have the same appeal to casual “t-shirt” fans in the city, just like any other school. Plus, I would bet that our players and potential recruits prefer playing in packed stadiums, as opposed to mausoleums. I just did a quick search and found that during the 2019 season our fellow AAC members UCF, Cincy, Memphis, and even ECU all averaged in the mid to high 30K attendance for FB home games. Louisville and Miami, both city schools similar to UH are in the top third in FB attendance in the ACC, leading me to believe that these teams have broader appeal in their backyards than just to the alumni and students. The same with Boise State, which routinely fills their stadium as well. I agree with other previous posters that winning is the most important factor. If we start winning again folks will buy tickets.
FYI, you mention other Texas schools such as TCU and SMU face similar turnout challenges when not playing OU or UT. UH with a current enrollment of almost 46K, is the third-largest university in Texas, while TCU and SMU average close to combined undergrad/grad numbers of 12K and 13K, respectively. UH is a big-time university compared to these two private schools.
1 Like