That would be considered a “short story” . . . . .
The NFL is a 24/7/365 hype machine. Buy a jersey, that’s your team. You’ll be reminded all the time on the remaining sports radio stations. I know there’s some overlap with UH and Texans fans, but the Texans are a PR behemoth. No way we could match it.
1 Like
I’m guessing many folks here were in diapers or not even yet born during the era
you mention. It sounds logical that being P5 will drive our fan base, but they don’t have your
historical perspective. I expect our normal attendance to be around 30k, ±2k. If ranked in
top 15 and playing a top 10 ranked team we will hit stadium capacity. For year 1 I think
we will be near capacity for the Baylors, TT, Okie State, BYU, and of course OUT if they are
still around.
Well Texans sellout but the stadium is not always full.
That said, when the Oilers left, everyone realized how much they loved and missed pro football. So I think people are just scared and don’t want that to happen again.
Finally, everyone, Coogs, Aggies, Tsips, Bears, Mustangs, and all the people from out of state colleges who now live in Houston, can root for the Texans. Those non-UH fans are not really going to go out of their way to watch UH games unless we give them a reason.
CDH has not done that and therefore you have to depend on students and alumni. Well those people have not been convinced either. So here we are.
attendance going to be low today me thinks. coogs off of 2 loses and its going to feel like 97 at kickoff, in autumn. 97 is only autumn in houston, high is 64 in detroit today; thats more like autumn.
1 Like
I am not sure why people want to overlook that factor. Look at any school in a top 10 city and you will see that unless the team is winning big time, they struggle with attendance. There is simply too much other things to do. UCLA is an extreme example of this. We are never going to be OSU or ISU. In the sports new economy, you could argue that TV/stream views may be more important than having butts in seats.
Like it or not, unless UH is winning or have a nationally recognized opponent, I think 25k (paid, not butts in seats) is going to be the average. Let UH start winning and have a coach who is not so divisive, and that 25k jumps to 35k. You have to get the casual fan interested, underperforming and having a head coach with the charisma of a cactus doesn’t do that.
5 Likes
That’s not possible. We could have a coach that walks on water and half our fans would complain that he didn’t walk fast enough.
8 Likes
There is a lot of city pride in NFL fandom. If you want to rep Houston, Texans gear is universal, not UH. Just the reality of the situation.
Destroying the tailgate village has been more detrimental than they realized.
Just another example of not analyzing the future consequences
14 Likes
UH has been its worst enemy. In my experience it all started with the capital campaign of the late 80’s and early 90’s and the waste involved due to a lack of strategy.
Cactuses from Texas to California asking what did they ever do to you?
2 Likes
They also get to sit around, playing dominos and watching their vehicle bumpers rust . . . . .
Big 12 will help as there are a lot more of their various alums in Houston than say a Memphis or a Temple.
Also, having been in a non-P5 league, the locals know there is NO chance of playing in the CFP, the Big 12 helps with that perception.
Once we stabilize and begin winning, getting better recruits, ranked each year, go to a decent bowl, etc., the fans will come.
But as others have said, it has to be a fun pre-game atmosphere.
3 Likes
The problem with UH has always be fans, the lack of it. The only reason we are in big 12 is because of a very productive administration starting with Renu and Tillman. But they will not be here forever. So, our fate is limited unless we change the fan support magically.
And folks who do not understand the difference between fans and attendance being look respectable because of fans of UT for example need clue of what matters in college athletics.
3 Likes
KU sold out their little stadium for today’s game for the first time in years…
1 Like
The Texans fill the stadium by selling a huge amount of corporate tickets that businesses buy then give them out to employees who can’t help but go bc it’s a free perk. Our boss did this with rocket and texans tickets so I went to a bunch of those for Free and it was just date night and fun.
UH could pull this off once in the big 12 but not this yr. If I was working at let’s say chevron etc, and they gave me free tickets to UH vs Baylor, west vir , tech , tcu etc , I’d for sure go bc the game is bigger time. Right now, this yr, we can’t pull that off bc of the schedule of who we play.
1 Like
Bob McNair started the corporate sales big time bc the old oilers had too many empty seats in bad times.
He was revolutionary in selling corporate tickets. So that is how the Texans help fill the stadium even if they suck or get more fans.
Once in the big 12 , we could do some of that
1 Like
We will hover in the us to upper 20s in the B12 by default. If we want solid crowds in the 30s or sellouts we need some big names to come in or be a really good team. That’s just the way it is.
2 Likes
They need to schedule better teams. No more Rice or cup cake teams.Go get P5 teams.
4 Likes