Houston’s population is still booming - Axios Houston
So why isn’t our population growth naturally translating into higher attendance. I would think there is a percentage of people moving here who are college football fans. So if the market is growing, why are we not seeing our fair share?
Most people do not decide to become college football fans after they hit 25 years old.
College football fans are more organically developed as a majority of them were watching it in their teens and undergrad.
The few ways for someone to be a late arrival to college football is if they become a parent of a college athlete or if they move to a college town with no other entertainment options.
Maybe if they’re moving here and are college football fans they already have a fav team(s) they follow–like on tv with all the options available to them now. I don’t think if I moved to Austin/College Station I’d be attending college football games. And another reason could be the outer space cost of just going to a game-even sitting in the cheap seats. Face it, some folks still budget their funds for silliness like eating and living.
There is no organized platform to appeal to, attract and connect with the significantly larger population. Where UH should stake that claim as its own, it has just been a resounding “meh” with respect to engaging in thst proactively. Thinking that they will come to us is the best strategy LOL.
That was part of what I did with the Junior Cougars from 96-02. Everyone thought oh it is just a nice little kiddies program, not understanding the method and impetus behind it. Mainly, connecting with the larger community and providing them a connection to UH. Not to mention the 10K kids in the stands and the 100K in the AD’s coffers.
Putting people in the stands is “easy” to do with a little work and some want to (ask Mike Pede). Want to is apparently the biggest obstacle. The athletic department lives in its own cocoon where mutual backslapping is the soup du jour.
We should own this city, but you have to prime the pump without pausing to think the work is done.
Because it doesn’t work that way.
If a person who doesn’t have a college education moves to Houston, chances are they only pay attention to professional sports. Even higher chance that they only follow professional teams from their original place of living.
If they are college educated, then chances are that they follow their Alma mater unless that school happens to be playing UH on campus.
I know where you are coming from, but expecting new Houstonians to start following UH football is more nuanced than it sounds. I hope that big marquee Big 12 teams draw more attendance, but attendance is still going to be driven by UH alumni
College fandom is more of a us vs them mentality compared to pro sports.
It basically represents a piece of your background whether it be politics, religion, social economics, traditional values, family ties etc.
Think of it the other way. If I move to another city, I’m not going to miss the Coogs playing on tv so I can attend the local college teams game in person. Might go on occasion if there is a good matchup or great team comes to town.
If they aren’t already college fans they probably only follow pro sports.
3rd Ward needs to continue developing to get alums closer to campus
Typically neighborhoods surrounded college campuses tend to be affluent. UH has an opportunity to build its area while still maintaining a metropolitan atmosphere
Majority of UH, A&M, UT, Tech, LSU, etc fans don’t live near their campus.
Look at Rice and how their surrounding area is more affluent than UH and they have worse attendance problems than we do.
This should equate to a unique business plan bringing us more season ticket holders. I have mentioned the above countless of times. We have all the ingredients to come up with a successful plan. The biggest question for me is. Why haven’t these three entities locked themselves into a room dedicated to come up with a unique plan? I have never read/heard that they did.
Tilman has a tv show dedicated to bring unique products to its restaurants.
Hilton specializes in bringing customers to stay at their properties.
Bauer is a business school.
What will it take to get these three together?
Yes and no, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Don’t let the media convince you that every immigrant is a criminal.
That being said, it’s why Yormark’s attempt to enter in the Mexico market is so important because it gives people from Mexico exposure to potential universities they might attend once they cross over, illegally or legally.
As more and more hispanics/mexican-Americans breach the middle to upper middle-class, the more they are going to start being considered hispanic-whites on census reports.
Also, there is a influx of people from outside of Texas and within Texas who are moving inside the loop.
Areas such as 3rd Ward, EaDo and Northside Houston, which are all experiencing gentrificaiton at different rates, are going to start seeing a new demographic inhabiting those specific areas once the current occupants, many of whom are baby boomers, start to die.
It’s likely that inner city occupants will be forced to move outside the Loop/Beltway.
Start winning. Look at our basketball team now and Texans tickets this year. Start winning
Yes I understand
but if we want to sustain a culture/atmosphere on campus we need people closer so that they have more incentive to actually come to games even if we arent 7-1 in-conference in a given season
Bear in mind, Kelvin Sampson is a unicorn. If he was younger, he would be at an SEC school now. He wants to be here. There’s not many like that in the market.
If Sampson didn’t have a 5 year show cause, I doubt he would have left Indiana to coach at UH.
Well that too, in a realistic sense. However, I’m sure Kelvin has had tons of opportunities that didn’t even make headlines in which we know nothing about.
We know about Arkansas, but what about the schools we don’t know that have reached out to him already?
Everything is situational based on the timing and such.
I remember when everyone on this board was wondering why we didn’t go after Fritz after Herman left to UT after the 2016 season but failed to realize that in 2016 that Fritz was already at Tulane.
I think I had just joined the board around that time, so i wouldn’t know what the board was asking for.
That being said, I think Herman is a great coach but he got lucky inheriting recruits that he didn’t have to recruit himself. I give Herman credit for Big Ed, Marquez Stevenson, Kyle Allen and D’Eriq King, but all the other big time players were already here. However, it’s not like Herman would’ve been able to recruit those players from scratch.
I think the BOR decided on Applewhite because they felt he would provide continuity given he was calling plays 2015/2016. Unfortunately, Herman took a lot of the staff with him and Applewhite was left with a gigantic mess in addition to our best players leaving for the NFL.
UH is not really growing in enrollment anymore in recent years. Our enrollment peaked in 2020
at 47,090. Currently it’s at 46,676 for Fall 2023. Football core attendance needs to come
from alums IMHO. City bandwagon fans certainly welcome, but they only come out for winning
big teams.
Too many of our undergrad students are detached part timers that are older. They mostly will
never become attending fans.
Interesting thing to me is that we’ve had around 10,000 students living on or near campus for
years now, and I’ve not seen an increase in football season ticket account holders, if at all.
That may imply UH is not providing a life long commitment experience that makes for lifelong
supporting fans.
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