I hate to say this but we have some of the cheapest and most fickle fans that I have ever seen in my life compared to other P4s.
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UCLA and Miami are probably the best two comparisons given the size of the cities, this is not specifically a Houston issue. We’ve always struggled with attendance going back to the dome days. We’ve never solved the issue in all my days being a Coog and I don’t expect we ever will. I do me and I go to the games. I always see a lot of people taking the wrong approach and lashing out at the people that do show up. I’ve always thought that before we moved back on campus we should’ve bought all the properties along Scott to Wheeler and opened pubs and gathering places to have a more inviting atmosphere but it is what it is. 20 years from now this argument will be the same.
I blame this on Cedric Dempsey the former AD.
Make the admissions test SAT style that is monitored with an administrator lol.
But the serious issue is that getting into football is not something you can do overnight like basketball or soccer.
I played middle school and high school football growing up so I knew the ins and out of college football landscape.
Pick some random kid who didn’t play youth or grade school football and they would have a hard time understanding the game, rules, positions, format etc.
Yesterday in my section, there were seasoned football fans that didn’t know that the first down gain in college football stops the clock momentarily until the ball is set.
Then a few fans did not know about the 2 minute timeout that was implemented at the college level.
I know new fans in the sport of football will watch the NFL first before college football especially if they did not attend college.
Plus betting and fantasy football keeps fans engaged with the NFL more than college.
Our attendance is so pathetic that playing at home has turned into a distraction
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problem is not the students, they are coming and filling the student section and not the casual fan, should not be expected to pick them up in a pro sports town with horns, aggies and tigers headlining college sports most of the time, problem is the alumns; supposedly 80k in Houston; only way to get them to come is to win and keep winning.
if the coogs stay in the top 25, they will come; watch baskeball; if not; they will not. that will never change, it’s up to UH admin to admit this to themselves and decide if they will stay on board with it longterm; seems the current admin is onboard with that. will the next admin do that same ? is UH’s eternal battle. imo, given the rate the money is seperating football have and have nots, eventually UH will be washed out, but it probably has 5-10 years to do something special and make it thru like the run with KK and CK did.
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You don’t have to be a ball-knower to enjoy a football game in most places, though. There are a substantial contingent of folks that watch and attend games as a social event. Plenty of Texans fans, for example, don’t know that a free kick out of bounds is a penalty, and couldn’t tell you how the new kickoff in the NFL works.
I said this in another thread, but the SEC has figured out that college football game days are not about the football. That’s just window-dressing. The on-field product is unambiguously worse than the NFL. To combat that, we need to figure out a way to make our games an event that people want to attend.
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If you ask the average person which major sport in the USA is the easiest to follow, a lot would say basketball due to less people on the court and the rules being more direct.
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Exactly. The huge stadiums around the country aren’t filled eith die hard football fans. A big percentage of them are attending a social event that is cool to be seen at.
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And yet Football remains by far the most popular sport in the country.
You can thank fantasy football and sports betting for that.
Without those 2, you can bet they would lose a number of fans.
Many of our conversations at work about football revolve around our fantasy teams, parlays, and odds.
The college football conversations at my work mainly involve topics of potential NFL players, coach hirings, and where NFL players got drafted from.
Not much about game days, homecoming, conference realignment etc.
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Fantasy Football is only popular because Football already was; fantasy baseball was a thing first and yet is nowhere near as popular.
This! The attendance problem has been here forever and I am afraid our true fanbase is dying off.
The only solution is to win the lottery and get a coach like Sampson. We got him at a bargain and at his age he wasn’t going nowhere.
Yesterday was awful but we can only hope we hit the jackpot with Willie.
Bottom line is we will most likely never be a destination or traditional school and folks in the suburbs will always talk about crime rates and ghettos when referring to our great University.
Just suck it up and be the Coog you can be and enjoy hoops while you can!
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Younger people these days worry too much about their social media reputation lol.
They all want to be seen at events rather than the events themselves.
I see countless kids come down to my section at the first row to take pictures and then leave the game early just to say they were there.
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UH has not supported growth of fraternities and sororities in many years. Except for a small area, no fraternity/sorority housing. In short, frats and sororities are treated just like the chess club. That lack of support over 50 years has now come back to bite them. I know, I was in a frat at UH in the 70’s that later died due to lack of housing and university support. To date, despite several efforts the university has STILL not worked with a national fraternity to return to UH Central Campus.
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I’m not really sure why attendance matters. Game times are dictated by the networks. If we really wanted fans in the seats no game would ever be scheduled before 3.
When you can catch most games on tv for the cost of your subscription why go?
I get that games are an event, and I gladly pay every year, but I know some casual fans who never miss a televised game but who will not or cannot attend games for health reasons.
We are not a traditional market and never will be, but we add value to the conference with our location.
Accept the tv money and run, if that is all that really matters.
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Worth noting that at the end of year 2 Sampson was 1-4 against noted basketball power Tulsa, and 4-2 against Tulane. We should have some patience.
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Low attendance isn’t because UH is a “commuter school” — that’s an outdated view. Attendance depends on factors like recent performance, weather, kickoff times, and the many entertainment options in Houston. The university has invested heavily in housing, facilities, and student life, making it far more residential and engaged than in the past. UH’s working-class and first-gen student base is a strength, not a weakness, and the move to the Big 12 was a smart, forward-looking step. The real issue isn’t UH “pretending” to be a Power Four school — it’s continuing to grow into one. Look at the attendance numbers on the games that we Sat evening. Time matters for these games.
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It is about cost vs value, and it always will be. If you are trying to sell your house but aren’t getting any viewings booked or offers, you are overpriced.
If you are not getting butts in seats, it means your cost point is too high for perceived value. This isn’t hard. Drop the price ridiculously low, get people hooked on a solid product and give them value for what they paid, then start creeping the price back up until you meet your equilibrium.
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Students get free tickets and still didn’t show up yesterday. Our prices are lower than anyone who could reasonably be called a competitor and it’s not close. At some point you have to consider why people just do not want the thing you’re selling, irrespective of price.
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