1,000 is a pretty good guess.
UH could copy one of the Roughnecks’ promotions. I like $6 beers in the 1st quarter. Another Roughneck promotion is the “Guaranteed Win”. If the Roughnecks don’t win, tickets to the next home game are free.
100%
Saturday’s game was uncomfortable with the blazing sun. People were sitting in the last 4-5 rows of the lower deck to find shade. That had to make things on TV look really bad. Look, football is a cold-weather sport. Playing games in mid-May into June can be unbearable. I agree that the season should start in February.
The UFL wouldn’t have to worry about cold weather for the northern cities. Michigan and St. Louis play in domes.
Move to a smaller venue - adjust the dates - I wouldn’t mind summer evenings when the competition is less for eyeballs
We’re already oversaturated with football until late may so a brief 2-3 months season which ends before training camp keeps the palette wet but not overdoing it
I watched a little of the Houston Roughnecks home game against Michigan today. Michigan is 5-2, and Houston is 3-4, and Houston needs a win to stay in playoff contention.
I set the stage because the crowd size is embarrassing. You can count the fans in each section. I can’t imagine there are 1,000 fans in attendance.
If the lack of support continues, no way the Roughnecks can survive after this season.
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Spring football is a form of minor league. Spring football ought to play in non nfl cities.
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It was great before Covid and moving to rice for a season but for whatever reason hasn’t had a smooth landing.
Part of the reason is that they suck now is that for whatever reason, when the UFL was formed, they decided that they were keeping the Houston Gamblers, who sucked, so the original Roughnecks were folded. This was met with pretty large backlash from the fan base, and so the Gamblers were rebranded as the Roughnecks, but Wade Phillips et al had already moved on to San Antonio. Houston thereby wound up with a bottom-feeder USFL team painted with the old XFL team’s branding. When they came out last year and just sucked giant donkey nads all year, they lost a lot of the luster.
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This is true. The rebrand coincided with the move to Rice. The season before that, i went to a game and it had than a thousand people there. Once everyone realized the real Roughnecks had moved to San Antonio, it was a wrap.
No they sealed their fate when Wade went to SA.
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Clean up on aisle 5!
Michigan defender threw up for several minutes on the visitors side in fourth quarter. Going to need a good washing of the turf.
The Roughnecks were good back then but also, it was a time when Houston fans were tired of the Texans questionable moves and were looking to fill that void with another team to pull for.
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Move them to the burbs and treat it like minor league baseball and you’ll get better results
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Rumor only has them relocating along with Birmingham.
I saw over the weekend that the UFL has the rights to 4 team names from the original USFL I don’t know if it means they might expand I can’t really see how they could based on how many fans are going to these games.
It’s Minor League Football. It has not and will not ever work on a National scale. The original USFL had some big names and couldn’t make it…this one has no shot
I hope the Roughnecks stay. I enjoy watching them during the spring.
Why didn’t they follow the MiLB model and find small markets? Their only chance IMO is try to replicate that model. Des Moines is perfect example.
I would guess because of the tv money involved you want the people in big cities to have a interest in the product because thats where people are located and ad dollars is a big factor too.
They might get attendance in the smaller markets but its not for sure and in the big markets you just need a small portion to come out to fill the stadium.
The original USFL failed when they tried to move to the fall to compete with the NFL. They were doing well avg 30k plus in multiple markets playing in the spring.