Oliver Luck discussed as candidate for PAC-12 Commissioner

I think they mean he is familiar with the Houston market and the opportunities available for the PAC.

Plus, as the GM of the Dynamo in the early days, he did have a working relationship with UH as the Dynamo played on campus.

So he does have some indirect connections to UH and definitely within the city of Houston.

If he gets UH into the PAC I will reluctantly forgive him for “canceling” the Houston 1836 team name.

1 Like

I’m sure each and every P5 conference is well aware of the Houston market, opportunities available, etc. etc.

1 Like

He also knows the attendance woes we have always grappled with.

1 Like

Gadfly I honestly can not remember one positive comment that you have made over the years about U of H getting a P5 invite. What really gives?

4 Likes

maybe he is longhorn matt under a new name

2 Likes

Gadfly,

You don’t think that getting into a P5 with the increased recruiting, chance to play in big money bowls, be ranked, and play schools like UCLA, Oregon, be able to play for a natty, etc. would not increase our attendance? Really?

2 Likes

Gladfly

2 Likes

Attendance is barely relevant. A conference doesn’t make any money from butts in our seats.

It’s about TV watchers, first, second and third.

And I’d be stunned if attendance at many PAC games is appreciably higher than us (excluding the last year).

3 Likes

In my humble but strongly held opinion, we need to quit waiting for some event to fix out attendance.

As it stands now and how it has always been, we can draw big crowds when we have a good team and we are playing another good team. If either of those two things are not present we don’t draw. There is no sense debating it, because the facts are the facts. New stadium? did it, didn’t help. Comfort in the stadium? hell we played in the Dome, it didn’t help.

Ok so if we want to consistently draw big crowds we have to figure out what Houston wants and stop wringing our hands and wishing for deliverance that will help our attendance.

Can we get 40,000 Houstonians to come out on a Saturday 6 times a year. Absolutely we can, but just a football game by itself is not going to do it. Unless of course the Coogs are good and the team we are playing is good.

So is there anything in Houston that we can point to where people will show up in large numbers and it isn’t always about the quality of the sporting event? Yep, the Rodeo. I have never given a rat’s rear end about a Rodeo and couldn’t begin to tell you who won or what they won. But 70,000 people show up every night, including weekday nights.

People go to the Rodeo because of everything surrounding the event. Not the event. So we need to do a much better job of beefing up tailgating and making it the most fun for every age so people come out for the event. Tailgating was becoming a “thing” before the IPF. In fact large crowds were outside the stadium during the game when the tailgating was around the stadium. Now it is fragmented and spread out. We need to figure that out.

It can be done, we just haven’t done it. But we need to stop thinking of it as a football game and think of it as an event surrounding a football game.

7 Likes

Heck, more people attended the XFL Houston Roughneck games at TDECU than recent UH home football games. Some argue that desperate FB fans will attend/watch spring football, so it’s like comparing apples to oranges, but I still have a hard time believing we can’t pull a steady 25K to home games.

1 Like

100% agree with you.
Don’t you all find the following ironic?
Mr. Tillman Fertitta is Mr. entertainment. Can somebody explain to me why there has not been a “joint venture” about creating a better game day experience, a better marketing plan attracting fans and customers. Can somebody explain to me why there has not been a better marketing plan “selling” our sporting events?
Is Mr. Fertitta or Landrys, Inc involved with the above or not? I surely would like to know.

6 Likes

I totally agree. Heck if anyone can figure out how to sell the sizzle and not the steak it is the guy that owns a bunch of casinos and restaurants.

The steak doesn’t sell consistently.

Can someone, anyone let us know on this website if Mr. Fertitta/Landrys, Inc is involved or not to help us sell out our stadium, sporting events?

I think he is actually an Aggie. They’re the only fanbase that calls UT “T-sips”.

1 Like

Big thing in our favor is that Oliver won’t want to destroy the big12 by asking UT that already turned them down and to hurt west vir so he likely expands with UH, Tech then maybe New Mexico and one other to gain the tx market and not hurt the big 12.

My guess

gladfly is uncovered.
We have got an

Yes

hummm

I don’t think any P5’s are going to expand. That’s not just UH, but UCF, Memphis, Cincy and every other group of 5 program. The only expansion I see on the horizon is playoff expansion.

2 Likes

If they expand the playoffs to 16 , it’s all we need then we grow

Says the person who is bad at math.

Take a P5 program with an average attendance of 50k. Then take a conservative average of $20 a ticket for 7 home games. That’s 7 million dollars a year and I’m not even including concessions and luxury suites. Side note: a large group of P5 programs have an average attendance waaaaay higher than 50k and charge a lot more than $20 per ticket.

The point I’m making is that ticket sales is still a HUGE revenue stream for athletic departments. If PAC 12 administrators see empty seats at UH home games, why should they be confident that UH fans will sellout their ticket allotment for PAC 12 road games?

Not if you’re a 4-8 or 6-6 program in that P5. You’ve seen our fans check out early before.