Increasing attendance / Developing areas near campus

Our attendance issue isn’t new. There are a lot of factors. Success (or lack thereof), fair-weather fans, commute, etc. I think a bigger factor is the lack of things to do around the stadium within walking distance. Our alum don’t tend to live very close to campus. Most of us have to drive into the city for a game, watch a piss poor performance, and drive all the way back out the burbs. But if alum were coming in for more than just the game, I think we’d see a big increase in attendance. Within walking distance, what kind of things can people do before the game? What about after the game? For me, I’d like to go grab a bite and maybe pregame a little in an air-conditioned environment. After the game we may want to go bar hopping. I’m sure there are plenty of younger alum that would love to live near campus if it were more developed. Easy attendance increase if you have alum within walking distance of the stadium.

I just wish the University would start buying up part of Third Ward and develop some Mixed-Use projects, i.e. restaurants, bars, shops, apartments, etc. Yea there’s the issue with gentrification, but I’ll let some smarter folks propose some solutions.

8 Likes

We had attendance problems when we had good teams and played in the Astrodome.
There are plenty of great places to go in Houston and I would venture to say our fans and students have no problem finding entertainment

2 Likes

The key aspect for me is “within walking distance.”

Yes as the 3rd largest city in the nation, we have lots of things to do in the city. But it’s a fan experience when you know all of the Coog Fans will be hanging out in the same area nearby. I’m thinking about other schools that I’ve hung out around like UT, A&M, and Baylor. I’ve even hung out around UF and FSU and they have similar fan experiences.

I agree, we need that type of atmosphere but it’s years away if ever, the area needs some major cleaning up and a revitalization, nobody would feel safe on Scott street after dark, our game day experience and college environment is poor

5 Likes

It has to start with tailgating and getting crowds to the area around the stadium. Those crowds can help drive surroundings businesses, but the businesses are not going to drive attendance.

Fix the gameday experience first, and worry about throwing billions of dollars at real estate later.

2 Likes

That’s not a bad point, but I think it would be a combination of both. You can’t bring more people out to tailgates if we can’t get them out to the game in the first place. If they start doing some development, you start attracting more people. They pump up the experience at the stadium and tailgates, then they start spending more money in the surrounding areas. Multifamily developments would easily be successful given the short distance to downtown. Build luxury apartments, bring in young professionals, then build shops, restaurants, and bars. The people living at those new apartments start spending money in the area. The area starts growing and developing faster.

Also we already have the rail line that goes to downtown. That makes the area attractive to young professionals working in downtown.

2 Likes

Which is why its is important for us to find someone to develop a City Centre type development across the street from the stadium on Scott Street.

Imagine the foot traffic and synergy in a walkable district like that where people go to 7 days of the week.

2 Likes

Scott is getting better but I wish it would develop faster.

2 Likes

Another reason for the issues is Playoff bound Astros have been home 2/3 home games, and that is a better sell to people. Only other time that will be an issue this year is if the Dodgers get bumped before the WS and Astros are hosting game 2 of the World Series.

Seen us fill the stadium during Astros playoff games and Rocketgames. Them playing has minimal effect on our attendance

For decades the University of Houston has owned a lot of real estate between the Gulf Freeway, Cullen, Scott, and the bayou. Much of it is still undeveloped. Some of it is non-contiguous, small residential lots. Using the power of imminent domain the university could acquire the rest of it, but (A) the property thus acquired would have to be used for some necessary public purpose (not private, for-profit development), (B) the Texas legislature would need to appropriate the needed money, and (C) Sheila Jackson Lee would pitch a fit. For these reasons the area in question will likely never become a student-centric commercial area such Rice Village, or Dinkytown (Minnesota - Minneapolis), or University Hill (Syracuse), or The Drag (UT Austin).

As a young Alumni (class of '21) that lives close to campus the problem with building a bar strip is we (young Alumni, students) already have so many options (Midtown, Montrose, Washington Heights etc.) if we want to go out. Maybe we could develop the area near the Nook and put a few bars there but just like UT students have 6th Street we have Midtown. As far as tailgates go I just think things will get better year by year starting next year. There’s a slow culture shift starting with the Big IX news and it will spread to casual fans and the frat boys hosting the tailgates. I’m confident we will see more tents covering more area as the years go. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they add in some game day gimmicks with the new football building for fans. As far as developing something near campus goes I know the East River development is happening in the same general area so that may halt any “City center third ward edition” plans. As of right now I might go to Pinks after a game if it’s early enough but that’s it lol.

2 Likes

I’m all for developing the area near campus, but don’t want to kill the housing around here. At least incentivize the areas to keep the rent the same while paying the residents more if there were food jobs and such around campus.

Pipe dream - the displacement is real already - the east river thing in 5th Ward is the closest we’ll get to a city centre concept unless someone comes in with a whole lot of cash to buy land and successfully move folks to comparible housing

We want a city center thingy but we complain about no one coming to the game when your removing thousands of folks within a 5 five mile radius to move further out with high gas prices

Like someone said you can drive down Elgin and in less than 3 miles you have the same concept there - you have it in 4th Ward, soon in 5th Ward and the suburban type feel in gulfgate

2 Likes